KICK STARTS Reviewing the Rules Regarding Free Kicks

By George Demetriou

Although every game begins with a kickoff, free kicks occur much less frequently than passing or running plays. Add the fact the kicking game has many special rules and you’ll recognize an extra effort is necessary to master kick plays.

A kickoff is a specific type of free kick used to start either half and to resume play after a try or successful field goal. Two of the three kicking methods (placekick and dropkick) can be used on a kickoff. A punt may not be used for a kickoff but may be used for the kick that follows a safety, which is from team K’s 20 yardline. A kickoff can never score.

The most visible kickoff difference between the codes is the spot of the kick: It’s team K’s 40 yardline for NFHS and team K’s 35 yardline for NCAA, if not relocated by penalty. When the ball is kicked, both teams must have all their players behind their free-kick (restraining) line except the kicking team may have the kicker and any holder over the line. Encroachment is a dead-ball foul in NFHS and a live-ball foul in NCAA (NFHS 6-1-3; NCAA 6-1-2b). Under NCAA rules, if team K is offside, the penalty may be enforced from the previous spot or from the spot where the ball becomes dead in team R’s possession.

Formation. There are a couple of formation requirements on the kicking team and one on the receiving team. Team K must have at least four players on either side of the kicker. In NCAA only, all team K players must have been between the numbers after the ready-for-play signal.

Although not mandated by rule, it is accepted procedure to have team K use a holder for a free kick if the ball blows off the tee twice. The kicker and holder are not subject to encroachment (NFHS) or offside (NCAA) rules.

In NCAA only, it is illegal for two or more members of the receiving team to intentionally form a wedge for the purpose of blocking for the runner except when the kick is from an obvious onside kick formation. A wedge is defined as two or more players aligned shoulder to shoulder within two yards of each other. There is no restriction on the initial formation before the ball is kicked, but the rule applies after the ball has been kicked, even if the wedge is formed after the kick has been caught (6-1-10).

Illegal kick. In NFHS, it is a dead-ball foul if a free kick is immediately driven to the ground or strikes the ground once and goes into the air in the manner of the ball kicked directly off the tee (pop-up kick) (2-24-10, 6-1-11). In NCAA, such a kick is legal , but the receiver has the same kick-catch and faircatch protection as if the ball were in flight (6-4-1f).

Fair catch. In NFHS, any receiver may signal for a fair catch while any legal kick is in flight. Any receiver who has given a valid or invalid fair-catch signal is prohibited from blocking until the kick has ended. In NFHS, the penalty is 15 yards , but it is 10 yards in NCAA. In NCAA, the prohibition is for the entire down, but only if the signaler does not touch the ball (NFHS 6-5-1 Pen.; NCAA 6-5-4 Pen.)

Fair catches are covered in depth in the column starting on page 16. The end zone. If the kick goes into team R’s end zone, the ball is dead in NFHS and it is a touchback. Force is not a factor. In NCAA, the ball is also dead for a touchback when the ball touches the ground on or behind the goalline untouched by R (NFHS 4-2-2d-1; NCAA 6-1-7).

Play 1: R1, standing on his five yardline, touches a kickoff as the ball bounces past him. The ball (a) rolls into the end zone where it is recovered by K2, or (b) bounces into the end zone, where K3 recovers before the ball touches the ground. Ruling 1: In NFHS, it is a touchback in (a) and (b). The ball is dead when it breaks the plane of team R’s goalline. In NCAA, it is a touchdown for team K in both (a)and (b). Because R1 touched the kick in the field of play, either team may legally recover. When team K recovers in team R’s end zone, it is a touchdown.

Play 2: A kickoff bounces off R1’s chest at his three yardline. The ball is at rest on team R’s two yardline when R1, in his haste to recover the ball, muffs and forces the ball into the end zone and across the sideline. Ruling 2: In NFHS, that is a touchback. Force is not an issue on kicks going into team R’s end zone.

Quicktip

When the tackle or guard on the opposite side of the line false starts and is flagged by the wing official on that side of the line, the opposite wing should avoid throwing the flag. Doing so indicates the official is not locked in on his or her own side of the line. Moreover, it may cause confusion, leading to the belief the opposite wing has a different foul. If the responsible wing blanks out and misses an obvious false start,

DID YOU KNOW?

In early NFL rules, the full five yards was always assessed outside the five yardline when the defense was guilty of being offside. Starting in 1934, the defense was only penalized half the distance to the goal if the foul occurred inside its own 10 yardline. Four years later, the rule applied to any defensive foul inside the defense’s own 10 yardline, not just offside. The half-the-distance enforcement used today did not become the standard until 1940.

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Test Yourself

In each of the following you are given a situation and at least two possible answers. You are to decide which answer or answers are correct for NFHS and NCAA rules, which might vary. Note: In kicking situations, K is the kicking team, R the receiving team. Solutions: p. 85 a. Team A must decline the penalty in order to keep the touchdown. b. Team A does not have the option of having the penalty enforced on the second-half kickoff. c. Team A may have the penalty enforced on the second-half kickoff or on the ensuing try.

1. A1 runs for a touchdown on the final timed down of the first half. During the run, B2 is flagged for a personal foul.

2. Under no circumstances is it legal: a. For a team A lineman to receive a forward handoff. b. To have more than one player in position to receive a hand-to-hand snap from between the snapper’s legs. c. To use a punt as the free kick after a safety. d. To have more than seven team A players on the line of scrimmage. a. Legal play. b. Illegal forward pass.

3. Quarterback A1 is under a heavy rush and scrambles toward the line of scrimmage. His passing arm and one of his feet are beyond the neutral zone when he throws a forward pass to eligible A2.

4. Fourth and six from team K’s 10 yardline. With team K’s punt in flight, K1 is flagged for holding at team K’s 10 yardline. R2 makes a fair catch at the 50 yardline. After the whistle sounds, R3 is flagged for a personal foul. As a result: a. The fouls offset and the down is replayed. b. Only the penalty for team R’s foul is enforced. c. Only the penalty for team K’s foul is enforced. d. Both penalties will be enforced. a. R1 is not guilty of roughing the snapper because team K didn’t kick. b. R1 is guilty of roughing the snapper even though team K didn’t kick.

5. Fourth and seven at team K’s 27 yardline. Team K is in scrimmagekick formation. Immediately at the snap, nose guard R1 contacts snapper K2. Punter K3 takes the snap, fakes a kick and runs. He is downed at team K’s 30 yardline.

Under NCAA rules, that results in a safety. The ball remained live and team R supplied the force that put the ball in the end zone.

Kicks out of bounds. If the ball is kicked so that it goes out of bounds untouched by the receiving team in the field of play, it is a foul on team K. The receiving team has four choices:

• A rekick after enforcement of a five-yard penalty from the previous spot.

• Accept the result of the play and take the ball at the yardline where it went out of bounds.

• Begin a new series 25 yards (NFHS) or 30 yards (NCAA) from the previous spot.

• Accept a five-yard penalty from the spot where the kick went out of bounds (NFHS 4-3-1, 6-1- 9 Pen , 6.1. 9 C; NCAA 6-2-1).

If penalties create a situation in which placing the ball the prescribed yards from the previous spot would put the ball in team R’s end zone, that option cannot be offered (NFHS 6.1.9H; NCAA 10-25f).

Play 3: A team R player muffs a free kick. An airborne team K player gets his hands on the ball and comes to the ground out of bounds. Ruling 3: The ball became dead when the team K player possessed it out of bounds. But because team R touched the kick before it went out of bounds, there is no foul on team K. It will be team R’s ball at the spot the team K player went out of bounds.

Other fouls. For fouls committed during free kicks, almost all penalties for fouls by team K have an option for enforcement. If team K commits a live-ball foul, other than kick-catch interference, team R may elect to have the penalty enforced either from the previous spot (and the down replayed) or at the subsequent dead-ball spot (NFHS 10-4-2 Exc.; NCAA 6-1-8).

The option to have the penalty enforced at the subsequent deadball spot still applies if there is a change of team possession. The only requirement is the ball belongs to team R at the end of the down. A penalty for a foul by team K can be enforced from a spot of first/illegal touching if that spot is also the dead-ball spot.

First/illegal touching. When team K touches a free kick and is not entitled to possession, it is a violation termed first touching (NFHS) or illegal touching (NCAA). That occurs when team K is first to touch the ball after it has touched the ground, but before it has traveled 10 yards, or before a team R player touches it. That violation gives team R the option to take the ball at any spot of first touching, as long as it does not touch the ball and subsequently foul (NFHS only), or there is an accepted penalty for a player foul, or offsetting fouls (NFHS 6-1- 7 ; NCAA 6-1-3).

Play 4: K1’s kickoff goes five yards and is downed by (a) R2, or (b)K3. Ruling 4: In both cases it will be team R’s ball, first and 10 at the spot of the recovery. In (b), team R will choose to take the ball at the spot of first (illegal) touching.

Play 5: K1’s kickoff goes eight yards and is muffed by R2. The ball is then downed by (a) R3, or (b) K4. Ruling 5: In (a), it will be team R’s ball, first and 10 at the spot of the recovery. In (b), it will be team K’s ball, first and 10 at the spot of the recovery. First touching or illegal touching only applies when team K touches the kick before team R and prior to the ball traveling 10 yards. T he ball travel ing 10 yards is one of the requirements for team K being eligible for recovery

Play 6: K1’s kickoff is short and high and goes about 20 yards. There are no team R players near the descending ball. The ball is caught by K2. Ruling 6: In NFHS, that is kick-catch interference. It is not first touching because the ball traveled beyond team R’s free-kick line. In NCAA, there is no foul because a team R player was not in position to catch the ball. Team K keeps the ball, first and 10 at the spot of the catch.

George Demetriou has been a football official since 1968. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colo. *

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