Nobody questions that. They're just questioning whether it was from the correct spot.

But there is a restriction. The kicker may cross the neutral zone when he kicks the ball, but otherwise no encroachment is permitted during a free kick. To pick up the ball would constitute encroachment.

Your ignoring this restriction does not render it silent.

K is also permitted a holder who may be in the neutral zone. If the holder were to stand over the ball and then toss it back for it to be used as a drop kick, would the holder then still be encroaching?

What if the holder tosses it back and then moves backwards to a point between the 40 and the drop kick location? Or to a point completely behind the ball and kicker? What if he does these things before the RFP? (This last one is obviously legal.)

I'm mentioning these because with as much press as these things get, it is just a matter of time before you find it happening in your own games. If you don't discuss them in your associations, and make clear what your enforcement will be until it's in the case book, you'll end up with Dwight Shrute on your sideline busting the play because "he thought" something that wasn't correct.

Only if putting it down to begin with is also!

Wrong again, as the neutral zone does not exist then.

I agree that these kicks need to be addressed. I also recognize the exception allowed for a holder to encroach without penalty.

However, a holder by definition holds the ball, and his permission to encroach covers only the holding of the ball: he may not be a runner or passer. So, no, I don't regard the play you reference as legal.

As I read the rule, once the ball is placed on a tee, the next legal touch by K must either be a hold or a kick. Intentionally removing the ball from the tee is not legal.

When NFHS revises rule 6 and makes these kicks either clearly legal or clearly illegal, or when I get definitive guidance from the state, I will be happy to conform to that rule or guidance.

On the Free Kick Line
 

I think I have to disagree with Robert, when one looks at the actual language of the rule, read the rest of the rule where you find the reference to within 1-yard, it says the free kick must be made ON the free kick line. There is no option. ON is ON not near.

Rule 6
Section 1 The Kickoff and Other Free Kicks
ART. 1 . . . For any free kick, a free-kick line, corresponding to a scrimmage
line, is established for each team. These lines are always 10 yards apart. Unless
moved by a penalty, K’s free-kick line is:
a. Its 40-yard line for a kickoff.
b. Its 20-yard line after a safety.
c. The yard line through the spot of the catch after a fair catch.
d. The yard line through the spot of an awarded fair catch.
ART. 2 . . . A free kick shall be made from any point between the hash marks
and on K’s free-kick line. A punt may not be used for a free kick other than after
a safety. Once designated, K must kick from that spot. When a punt is used following
a safety, the ball must be kicked within one step behind K’s free-kick line.
In an emergency, such as a pool of water on K’s free-kick line, the referee has
authority to move the ball to a playable line. in which case, both free-kick lines are
moved to compensate.

NCAA: free kick must be a place kick unless after a safety. Its a live ball foul, though. However, we're going to stop play when the ball comes off the tee and reset without a foul -- unless he does it again, which we'll call delay.

Aggie, I disagree. Per the Rule 2 definition of a kickoff, it may either be a place kick or a free kick. The Redding Guide agrees.

Doesn't it exist as soon as the ball is ready for play?

Then do you think they intended a drop kick to be that much more difficult than a punt, when used for a free kick?

Yes it does. But you asked whether it was encroachment while a player was setting the ball on the tee. And at that time the ball is NOT ready for play, and the NZ does not exist.

How do you know the ball isn't ready for play? The ball being on the tee has nothing to do with it being ready for play.

Can a ball be placed sideways on the tee during a free kick?

Yes. I know of nothing that disallows a ball being put on a legal tee anyway they like.

Peace