The NCAA is using the Ivy League as a test bed for kickoffs this year. Not only will they move up to the 40 but they will move a touchback back to the 20, from the 25. I am not sure how much contact that will prevent as you still have collisions even on touchbacks.
Ivy League to kickoff from the 40
- Thread starter RU from Jersey
- Start date
This is gonna hurt the Ivies in the eyes of the selection committee.
You could react that way, but Head injuries are serious business and they could potentially destroy the entire sport (dwindling youth participation, which eventually means fewer high school programs). You have to do what it takes to preserve the game as something people can feel safe playing.
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Eric could have been hurt on any play because the main problem was that he put his head down. That's the biggest no-no in football and I was almost pissed off watching the play because I knew the injury was avoidable. In fact, in a heated scramble you can hit wrong by mistake - like when NY Jet Dennis Byrd hit his head against another Jet when the QB moved out of the way. EL however ran straight and just put his hat down for some reason.
EL wrote about play in SI:
"I ran downfield after a kickoff and collided with the returner, Malcolm Brown. I hit him pretty good -- I learned later that he broke his collarbone on the play. But I tucked my head."
http://www.si.com/college-football/2011/10/14/eric-legrand
Over the last years there's been a lot of bad coaching and players often don't train to keep their head up like they should. Dangerous technique will get you hurt faster than certain plays
Of course it can happen on any play. The difference is these injuries are far more common on special teams. It like saying we should not worry about driving drunk because you can get hurt driving sober. This is one of the reasons schools don't go live on special teams in spring games.
Kick from the 40? Just eliminate kickoffs and stop wasting practice time and fans time.
From the 40? Just kill kickoffs already
From the 40? Just kill kickoffs already
Rather than eliminate it, this still leaves open the possibility of an onside kick while kicking off. Also, the kickers can develop an ability to kick it high and drop it on the 10. What do you do as the return team? Fair catch it at the 10? That ball is live and the coverage team will be down there in a hurry coming from the 40.
At first blush, I like the idea.
At first blush, I like the idea.
my guess would be that there would be few returns and teams would put their "hands guys" up front to guard against the on-side kick, making it very difficult to accomplish. I wish someone would come up with an alternative that keeps the kickoff, but makes it safer. Maybe Saran is right, and the only thing to do is to emphasize going in heads-up.
Yeah, there needs to be a mechanism to get a turnover (i.e. onside kick), otherwise a team has no option to get the ball back late in a game. To eliminate the crushing contact, maybe go with a free kick on the 40, with an option of trying to get it through the uprights for a change of possession? If the kicker misses, then it goes to the 35yd line. Or they can do a drop kick and start the next possession where it stops, unless it goes out of bounds (penalty to start on 35yd line), or goes into the end zone for a touchback.
Give them an extra timeout..if you cant get stops and stop the clock, you lose. No trickery with an onsides.
Doug Flutie had no problem making a drop-kick extra point. A drop kick requirement for a kick-off sounds interesting.
sorry, don't know. He's long-retired from teaching so I imagine it was in the early 1940s or so.
Didn't we have a 60+ yard onside kick in the Garden State Bowl in 1978 ? That provided plenty excitement - momentarily. It was a fun play except for the penalty.
I always thought Schiano's suggestion of it being a 4th and 15 play from scrimmage at the 25 line where the team could either punt the ball, or they could take the chance of trying to convert the 4th down was a good alternative idea.
When my son played ball, I told him that if there is one thing he should NEVER do is to duck your head. If you do, you'll have someone cleaning your mess for the rest of your life.
Longer than that. It was moved from the 40 to the 35 to encourage more kick returns in the mid-70's.
Why couldn't they just do that now? But instead of the 10, the 15?
I had the same thought! I couldn't believe the poster was right until I looked it up. Yep, it was 1974 or so.
More proof most talking heads in the radio usual have no clue and just like to stir up controversy. First if it was so easy to do why aren't teams doing it now to the 15 yard line? Every coach goal is to pin the team inside the 29. We are talking move it up 5 yards not 10 or 20 yards. Secondly do they not realize you can call for a fair catch on a kick off? Why do they think onside kicks have high bounces? If the ball didn't hit the ground the other team can fair catch the ball.
Catching a fair catch inside the 10 or worse, the 5 , is really bad for a starting spot for the offense , duh . Kicking off from the 40 instead of the 35, makes it easier for the kicker to place a high kick inside the 10 , duh. Most KR's have a 'run it back' mentality, duh.
Yeah but kicking from the 35 to the 15 is the same as kicking from the 40 to the 10, so why aren't teams currently trying to kick to the 15 to pin the opponent deep?
If the 15 isn't deep enough (or Deep Enough???) then why are they content with blasting the ball into or beyond the end zone? Wouldn't forcing the opponent to either take a fair catch or get obliterated at the 15 be better than letting them take the ball out to the 25?
They call it Foot-ball for a reason - take the foot out of football and you have Pokemon Go!
Just sign your boy up for the band and be done with it!
Just sign your boy up for the band and be done with it!
They will often kick for a touchback kicking off from the 40 like HS , when the KO team decides it wants to go for field position, it will be easier kicking high for it to land with in the 10, burying the receiving team with bad offensive ball position, or if the KR is brave or foolish enough to risk a return thats when the danger of a hard , brutal tackle occurs. Those 5 yards might seem inconsequential , but for D1 kickers with fast Gunners, it actually means a lot.
I still don't understand why if this is so easy, they haven't been doing this already. Yeah the 15 isn't as deep as the 10, but it is a lot deeper than the 25.
Wait a minute. I might be having a senior moment here. I understand moving the kick off spot back to the 40. That will result in more kicks into the end zone which will result in touchbacks. So far so good.
But moving a touchback back to the 20 from the 25 will discourage teams from taking the touchback. Is the idea that the kicking team can put it deep into the end zone whenever they want to, and therefore you don't want to discourage them from doing so by moving the ball back to the 20? I honestly don't see kicking deep into the end zone as all that automatic. Certainly never has been for us.
But moving a touchback back to the 20 from the 25 will discourage teams from taking the touchback. Is the idea that the kicking team can put it deep into the end zone whenever they want to, and therefore you don't want to discourage them from doing so by moving the ball back to the 20? I honestly don't see kicking deep into the end zone as all that automatic. Certainly never has been for us.
Good point about the onside kick.
Heres some stupid suggestions about kicking from the 40 that may actually turn out to be a good idea:
-Give the kickoff team one point if they kick it through the uprights on kickoff. And/or
-Take away the illegal kick out of bounds on kickoffs. Kick the ball in the air off out of bounds like they do in rugby. If it go out of bounds at the 10 or the one, start from there. Treat it like a punt.
Ok, maybe not good ideas.
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