2 situations that happened.

1. Punt that goes up high and short but over the ENZ. An R player points at the ball and then drops his hand. No waving just a point straight up and then hand right back down. Would you flag for an illegal fair catch signal??


2. Offense in non-scrimmage kick formation. Snap direct to running back who takes a 3 steps and punts the ball. He gets tackled by the defense right after he kicks the ball and the ball is not touched at all. Is this roughing the kicker or does he have to be in scrimmage kick formation to get that protection? I say he does get it per rule 9-4-5.

First, this wouldn't be an illegal signal. It might be an invalid signal.

Difficult to say if it would draw a flag or not without seeing it. Personally, I would be less inclined to throw the flag if this is done by an R player who is nowhere near the vicinity of the spot where the ball will land.


He does not have to be in scrimmage kick formation to get the protection. The only person afforded protection because of a scrimmage kick formation is the snapper.

Once a kicker puts his foot to the ball, he is protected. Once it was apparent he was kicking the ball, the defense is restricted. It is truly a judgment call.

We had a similar situation last week where the punter would take the snap and start running while holding the ball out in front of him with 2 hands. At times he did run out of this formation but he usually punted on while on the run.

The opposing coach asked us about this during the pre-game conference. We told him that we'll rule on this similar to someone throwing a pass on the run. If the ball is kicked just prior to getting hit legally by the defense the kicker will not receive the same protection as a kicker who has established himself in kicking position.

There was one time during the game where the kicker got the kick out just before a defender tackled him. The kicker looked up to see if he might get a flag but the R just shook his head 'no'.

We've discussed this in our association because of a school that likes to have the punter receive the snap, pretend to be a passer, then quick kick the ball. The rule of thumb our WH's use is whether the kicker established himself as a kicker with sufficient notice to the defense. In the case with our kid, he lines up as a kicker, so is provided protection. The moment he pretend to be a passer, he loses that protection. However, if he decides to kick and begins the action of kicking early enough for the defense to react, he is protected. So in the case where he is under a heavy rush pretending to be a passer, then quick kicks, he has no protection.