Interesting comment from a coach on Friday

[waltjp]

In a game earlier tonight - very wet and sloppy field.

K is in punt formation. The snap is low and skips along the ground. R's coach is yelling from the sideline, "You can hit him!"

The punter cleanly fields the snap and gets off a fine punt.

Later in the game, the same team is punting. Again the punt is low and skips to the punter. R's coach is yelling again, "You can hit him."

The punter fields the ball cleanly and punts it away. Bang! He's hit by a K player. R flags it.

The coach goes nuts. "The ball was on the ground! He can be hit."

As I'm walking off the penalty the R players are all protesting, saying that the ball was on the ground and the kicker could be hit. Obviously they're just repeating what the coach told them at some point.