Quote:
Originally Posted by insatty
Even under NFHS rules, K may not touch the ball or R "while the kick is in flight." A kick ends when R gains "possession" of the ball. Player "possession" is defined as the player "holding or controlling" the ball.
Thus, K may not touch R until R holds or controls the ball. For consistency and safety, NFHS officials should officiate KCI as NCAA officials do. A defenseless R should not be clocked until he has the chance to touch, secure, and then control the ball. Only then may R protect himself from oncoming tacklers.
As the NCAA rule expresses, when in doubt it is KCI.
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I disagree with your reasoning, but agree with your conclusion. The NFHS rules state that while "...any scrimmage kick is in flight beyond the neutral zone to the receiver’s goal line, K shall not: Touch the ball or R, unless blocked into the ball or R, or to ward off a blocker;" The rule goes on to say "This prohibition applies even when no fair-catch signal is given, but it does not apply ... after a scrimmage kick has been touched by a receiver who was clearly beyond the neutral zone at the time of touching." Since touching precedes possession, the K players do not have to wait until the kick has ended.
As I stated in my original post on this, when K contacts R at essentially the same time that the ball gets there, then the official should ere on the side of KCI. K should not be allowed to get a cheap muff and recover the ball after they had failed to reach the LTG on their previous series.
If you use the logic that K has a completely unmolested opportunity to make a "Catch", which is gaining possession of a loose ball in flight, then I would teach my return man to muff the kick into the air all the way down the field because K could not legally touch him until the ball hit the ground or he gained possession.