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Is this a new rule?

NNDman

VaPreps All District
May 29, 2001
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I've always thought a kickoff that goes out of bounds before the receiving team's 35 yd line would be spotted at the point it goes out of bounds or a re-kick after a five-yard penalty. Last night, a kickoff went out of bounds at the 39 and the refs marked off five yards from that spot giving the receiving team possession at its 44. I swear I've never seen that type of enforcement previously.
 
That option came in last year.

The options for the receiving team on a kickoff out of bounds are:

--5 yards back and rekick
--25 yards in advance of the free kick line (if there is a foul that moves the free kick line off the 40 also moves this sport of enforcement. Last year we had an unsportsmanlike conduct that moved the free kick line back to K's 25. It was kicked off out of bounds and R got the ball at the 50. We almost had another unsportsmanlike on the coach who insisted the ball should be at the 35.)
-- The ball at the spot where it goes out of bounds. (no reason to take this)
--The ball at the spot where it goes out of bounds, plus five yards.
 
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I noticed in college the ball is brought out to the 25. I was wondering if that was applicable to HS ball.
 
In an effort to reduce collisions, the NCAA has a rule that a fair catch on a kickoff that's fielded between the goal line and the 25 yard line will be placed at the 25.

There is no such rule in NFHS. Might show up one of these years, but not here yet.

The powers-that-be are always saying the kickoff is a play with such high velocity collisions that it's the most dangerous play -- so they're trying to do more and more to get it out of the game. It seems logical to think that, but I cannot recall a single injury on a kickoff in any of my games. It's probably happened but not so often I even remember it happening.
 
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The powers-that-be are always saying the kickoff is a play with such high velocity collisions that it's the most dangerous play -- so they're trying to do more and more to get it out of the game. It seems logical to think that, but I cannot recall a single injury on a kickoff in any of my games. It's probably happened but not so often I even remember it happening.

Dislocated a shoulder on kickoff duty as an 8th-grader on WP JV team. But that was because of bad technique from a kid who didn’t know how to hit yet (me). I agree, there’s little gained safety-wise in eliminating kickoff run-backs.
 
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