High School Punt

[UJoking]

We had a play happen the other night where the punt team lined up for the punt and somehow the receiving team suspected a fake. Moving the Punt Returner up to double cover a gunner. The Punter received the long snap and was obviously trying to pass the ball, cocking it back and looking at the potential receiver, he was double covered so the Punter at the last minute then decides to punt the ball, as he is trying to punt a player rushing him tackles him as he punts the ball. IS THIS ROUGHING THE KICKER?

 

[White hat]

I cannot provide a blanket statement on this because there are factors that fall to the judgment of the referee.

As you describe it, I would say no, it's not roughing.

Rule 9-4-5 describes roughing the kicker and holder, but spells out a few times when roughing is not applicable, including:

a. Contact is unavoidable because it is not reasonably certain that a kick will be made.

That is the rule reference that tends to let the defensive team off the hook in your play.

HOWEVER, some people mistakenly believe that a running punter, a punter who bobbled the snap or fumbled the ball is fair game, Not so. If the referee deems conduct after the kick was avoidable and believed the hit was an unnecessary shot, he could flag it.
This post was edited on 11/13 6:35 AM by White hat