The ideal kickoff type is going to change.*

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Hawk central touched on it but I personally hadn't put much thought into the rule change. Right now the ideal kickoff man sends a ball on a nice arc deep into the endzone, however, with the rule change that might not be the ideal kick next year. If the NCAA wants to put everything on the 25 why wouldn't teams get a kicker who can drive through the ball and squib kick it into the deep/return man? (Fwiw: this does take way more leg strength and requires hitting the ball much different. Think 9 iron from the fairway vs driving a 7 iron through the rough) You have to return it because the ball bounced, and because the 25 start is the rule I would expect a brief dip in ST return play. What think you?

 

[Herkmeister]

If the ball is not touched by a player, can you not have a touchback if the ball touches the ground before the goal line?

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

I guess if it went to the endzone it would still be a touchback but that would take a ton of power, if you could hit it to the 5 or 10 it's a live ball and would take some serious time to get there.

Edit: I changed endzone to "deep" to clarify. Good catch herk.

 

[Herkmeister]

I guess if it went to the endzone it would still be a touchback but that would take a ton of power, if you could hit it to the 5 or 10 it's a live ball and would take some serious time to get there.

Edit: I changed endzone to "deep" to clarify. Good catch herk.

Respectfully I doubt it would take more power. Because altitude is not required my guess is that leg speed would be very similar.

 

[DaCDiggity]

Think I still prefer the lob kick to the 5 or 10 as it seems safest to me and still gives a ton of time for coverage to get down there and stop them possibly inside the 15 as the returner most likely isn't going to fair catch it

Not to mention the possible weird bounces with squibs that I guess could cause muffs but at the same time possibly going out of bounds causing penalties

 

[JStandefer]

But even if you lob it to the 5, the returner can fair catch it. The ball would still be placed on the 25

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Respectfully I doubt it would take more power. Because altitude is not required my guess is that leg speed would be very similar.

You would have to hit the middle of the ball and wouldn't get the "carry" of the spin. It's why some guys use one type of wood bat in baseball to get more carry on the ball compared to the harder wood to thump it..... let's not worry about that part... there are going to be some serious impacts happening around the 10ish yard line with this style of kick and because it's a squib it's a live ball so everyone should be doing it. Like coach levar said more dangerous than a return is an onside kick. Imo this is basically an onside kick with even more impact.

Edit: I should have provided some more info. The new rule is if you have a touchback or fair catch a ball anywhere inside the 25 yard line the ball is placed on the 25.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Incase this part isnt translating:

The reason I think we are going to see bigger collisions is the kickoffs will be a slower developing play. So now you have a return man wait on a bounce while the kicking team is baring down on him. We will see more "bang bang" plays, and because it's a live ball the returner has to grab it. With the "lob" style kick the ball is moving faster, the returner has time to "get his eyes up"(take his eyes from the ball to the tackler) and make moves to protect himself. We are going to see more defenseless returnees. It's going to be this but on a bigger scale.

 

[anon_2zMXH429BhxV1Npk]

Just from an untrained eye watching tons of college football over the years, more often than not if you "squib" kick it the opposing team will get the ball much further up than the 25 yard line. Rarely do you see college kickers squib kick it as you are describing and have it reach inside the 20.

Now that's not to say that kickers can't start practicing that type of kick and get much better at it. But I still think it's much more difficult to kick the low line drive that hits the ground, without another player grabbing it, before it reaches inside the 25.

I do like your idea though. If kicks continue as is, players would be foolish not to fair catch and coaches would be foolish not to coach their kids to fair catch on 90% of the kicks. But we all know players will still try to return, they do now when they catch it in the end zone and are guaranteed 25 yards if they just kneel it but don't.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

This gives a decent look at it, because you are hitting the middle of the ball in order to get the distance we are talking about you have to strike it and drive through it harder.



I think the ideal kick in 2018 is going to look something like this



And we are going to see returners get BLOWN UP.

 

[myteamcanbeatupyourteam]

Hawk central touched on it but I personally hadn't put much thought into the rule change. Right now the ideal kickoff man sends a ball on a nice arc deep into the endzone, however, with the rule change that might not be the ideal kick next year. If the NCAA wants to put everything on the 25 why wouldn't teams get a kicker who can drive through the ball and squib kick it into the deep/return man? (Fwiw: this does take way more leg strength and requires hitting the ball much different. Think 9 iron from the fairway vs driving a 7 iron through the rough) You have to return it because the ball bounced, and because the 25 start is the rule I would expect a brief dip in ST return play. What think you?

I hope we have an ideal ball catcher man this year!

 

[Slappy Pappy]

Just have the players strap on flags for this play. Problem solved.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

I hope we have an ideal ball catcher man this year!

Sorry for the language but I instantly thought of this. Great movie.

 

[Gonzo Bloor]

The best kickoff is high and right to the goal line.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

It was but that is going to result in a fair catch and the ball going to the 25 in 2018.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Just from an untrained eye watching tons of college football over the years, more often than not if you "squib" kick it the opposing team will get the ball much further up than the 25 yard line. Rarely do you see college kickers squib kick it as you are describing and have it reach inside the 20.

Now that's not to say that kickers can't start practicing that type of kick and get much better at it. But I still think it's much more difficult to kick the low line drive that hits the ground, without another player grabbing it, before it reaches inside the 25.

I do like your idea though. If kicks continue as is, players would be foolish not to fair catch and coaches would be foolish not to coach their kids to fair catch on 90% of the kicks. But we all know players will still try to return, they do now when they catch it in the end zone and are guaranteed 25 yards if they just kneel it but don't.

Part of this is that kickoff teams get complacent expecting the knee. I don't remember which game but one time the returner caught the ball in the end zone and paused ever did briefly. You could see the coverage team staying to slow down. Then the returner took off and made it to the 35.

 

[myteamcanbeatupyourteam]

View embedded media

Sorry for the language but I instantly thought of this. Great movie.

Sorry, I cracked up when I read "Ideal kicker man".

 

[paladinhawk]

I'm not certain every kick inside the 20 will be fair caught.The returners will likely have the 'jitters' and think a crease exists that could lead to a big gain. Are coaches going to 'settle' for starting at the 25, or will they gamble that they might get a big return?

As erratic as IA's return game seemed to be last year I'm torn about how I think KF should handle this.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

But even if you lob it to the 5, the returner can fair catch it. The ball would still be placed on the 25

Is this a new rule?

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Yes.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

I'm not certain every kick inside the 20 will be fair caught.The returners will likely have the 'jitters' and think a crease exists that could lead to a big gain. Are coaches going to 'settle' for starting at the 25, or will they gamble that they might get a big return?

As erratic as IA's return game seemed to be last year I'm torn about how I think KF should handle this.

Coach Woods will be the one making this decision, but IMO I think I would return the ball more often than not.

 

[milehighhawkeye24]

Yes.

Just eliminate the kickoff all together than, just have offenses start at the 25 and be done with it.....they are trying to eliminate returns and that is obvious, just go and do it already. Not that I am for that, but being it is the most dangerous aspect of football (and our society gets softer and softer) I am sure that is the reasoning. However, pretty sure anybody who chooses to play football is well aware of the adherent risk of injury, it would be like boxing outlawing upper cuts and hooks to the head, sure its dangerous but nobody is forcing you to box

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

The only reason they have not outlawed kickoffs yet is they cant remove the onside kick from the game. Money makes the world go round and when a team is down by two scores and doesnt have a chance to onside it TV's shut off.

 

[MepoDawg#]

The only reason they have not outlawed kickoffs yet is they cant remove the onside kick from the game. Money makes the world go round and when a team is down by two scores and doesnt have a chance to onside it TV's shut off.

They could still do onside kicks, it would just eliminate the surprise onside kicks that rarely happen. They just have to ask a team if they want to give the ball at 25 or will they be attempting an onside. If the ball goes past a certain point on the onside then the receiving team automatically gets it at a certain point.

 

[rivercityjazzman]

I can only comment from the KO perspective at the moment. Don’t know what’s going on from KOR perspective.

They are looking at a lot of different options right now. Mortar balls (high trajectory kicks), squibs, onsides, etc. Since the formation alignments weren’t changed with this new rule, I think the risk of serious injury is actually going to increase, because all the kick options I just mentioned are going to favor a semi-stationary returner or blocker getting blasted by a coverage guy. Leistikow just wrote about this:
https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...ir-catch-levar-woods-special-teams/581558002/

I think the NCAA handled this decision poorly. I appreciate, and support, the notion to try and make the game safer, but this isn’t the way to do it, IMO. I really like how the NFL, on the other hand, is handling the same issue. They are getting ST coaches’ input, who quickly made suggestions regarding changes to formation alignments, to try and minimize moving player vs stationary player (see link above).

Side note: I do like Leistikow’s suggestion to reward KOs that go out of the end zone by placing the ball on the 20 rather than the 25.

Squibs take more energy, @Herkmeister , according to my source ; )

 

[Herkmeister]

I can only comment from the KO perspective at the moment. Don’t know what’s going on from KOR perspective.

They are looking at a lot of different options right now. Mortar balls (high trajectory kicks), squibs, onsides, etc. Since the formation alignments weren’t changed with this new rule, I think the risk of serious injury is actually going to increase, because all the kick options I just mentioned are going to favor a semi-stationary returner or blocker getting blasted by a coverage guy. Leistikow just wrote about this:
https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...ir-catch-levar-woods-special-teams/581558002/

I think the NCAA handled this decision poorly. I appreciate, and support, the notion to try and make the game safer, but this isn’t the way to do it, IMO. I really like how the NFL, on the other hand, is handling the same issue. They are getting ST coaches’ input, who quickly made suggestions regarding changes to formation alignments, to try and minimize moving player vs stationary player (see link above).

Side note: I do like Leistikow’s suggestion to reward KOs that go out of the end zone by placing the ball on the 20 rather than the 25.

Squibs take more energy, @Herkmeister , according to my source ; )

Thanks. I've been telling Mrs. Herk I might take a physics course when I retire. (True Story)

I certainly hope the kickoff stays a part of football. There are few things in sports as exciting as the opening kickoff.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Thanks jazz man, my concerns exactly. And thanks for providing your source. I could not speak directly towards hitting a football but with a soccer ball when you hit them under what I will ianaccuralty label the equator your flight path is much more of a lob and requires less energy to get distance. Striking directly on the equator, requires much more force to get the same distance, but does make the ball dance or knuckle in the air. (As shown in the squib video above)

I'm calling it right now this rule last 1 year, because as mentioned Kick off returner men are gonna get crushed waiting on a ball while the kicking team gets a full head of steam.