Well, it's out. The rules changes have been released from on-high. I won't copy the entire press release but there are a couple interesting things.
1. Players whose helmets come off during a play must sit out a play.
2. Receivers must land inbounds to complete a catch.
3. Members of the kicking team cannot block receivers during onside kicks until the ball is touched or goes 10 yards.
Those are the biggies. There are a few other things that polish up the wording here and there but I'll get into those later if need be.
My take:
1. Great change. The reason is more and more players are wearing loose chin straps wanting their head gear to fly off in big hits for dramatic effect. Now they have to sit a play. When I started seeing this trend I talked to coaches about it and reminded them the chin straps have to be tight. If I saw a helmet come off with all straps buckled, I made the player leave until he had the straps tight and that took a lot longer than one play. I did the same thing if I saw a player raise and lower his halmet like a ballcap with all straps buckled. Glad to say I got 100 percent support form coaches in this.
2. No more force-out rule. A defender who pushes a player out before he touches inbounds has made a great defensive play. This is how it's been in NCAA for many years and NFL changed two years ago, leaving high school ball with the only remaining force out rule.
3. This also comes in line with the NCAA rule but I don't like it because it's hard to officiate. WHen the NCAA changed about 10 years ago, the NFHS used Virginia as an experimental state and put the rule in here to see how it worked. It didn't. Now they're saying after successful experimentation in Iowa and Minnesota the committee decided to change the rule. Oh well.
Thoughts on the changes?
1. Players whose helmets come off during a play must sit out a play.
2. Receivers must land inbounds to complete a catch.
3. Members of the kicking team cannot block receivers during onside kicks until the ball is touched or goes 10 yards.
Those are the biggies. There are a few other things that polish up the wording here and there but I'll get into those later if need be.
My take:
1. Great change. The reason is more and more players are wearing loose chin straps wanting their head gear to fly off in big hits for dramatic effect. Now they have to sit a play. When I started seeing this trend I talked to coaches about it and reminded them the chin straps have to be tight. If I saw a helmet come off with all straps buckled, I made the player leave until he had the straps tight and that took a lot longer than one play. I did the same thing if I saw a player raise and lower his halmet like a ballcap with all straps buckled. Glad to say I got 100 percent support form coaches in this.
2. No more force-out rule. A defender who pushes a player out before he touches inbounds has made a great defensive play. This is how it's been in NCAA for many years and NFL changed two years ago, leaving high school ball with the only remaining force out rule.
3. This also comes in line with the NCAA rule but I don't like it because it's hard to officiate. WHen the NCAA changed about 10 years ago, the NFHS used Virginia as an experimental state and put the rule in here to see how it worked. It didn't. Now they're saying after successful experimentation in Iowa and Minnesota the committee decided to change the rule. Oh well.
Thoughts on the changes?