National Federation New Kickoff Mechanics
 

Could someone please tell me what the new mechanics are for kickoffs is for national federation games. Thnaks for your help in this.

Here you go :

KICKOFF MECHANICS AND COVERAGE
Significant changes were implemented by the NFHS Game Officials Manual Committee regarding kickoff mechanics and coverage. As a result of the addition of the new NFHS football rule 9-3-8, the committee is emphasizing the new mechanics and coverage on the kickoff.
The rationale for the changes has to do with the addition of NFHS football rule 9-3-8 and the number of deep kicks that are occurring throughout the country. The Umpire and Line Judge have reversed their positions. This will allow for the Line Judge to be on the line during runbacks and allow him/her to make the calls on the line he/she would typically make during the other plays of the game. In addition, the positioning of the Line Judge has been moved back to the 10-yard line to help with kicks in the deep corner. The Referee has been positioned closer to the sideline to take care of deep kicks to his/her deep corner. The Linesman has been moved up to the receiver’s free-kick line to have a better look at the legality of blocks if an on-sides kick occurs. As in other situations, the crew should consider other factors such as wind conditions, skill of the kicker, etc., in adjusting their positions on the kickoff.

Our association has used an old mechanic till this year. Under our old mechanics the umpire is with the kicker in the middle of the field. With the line judge having the kickers restraining line and the linesman having r's line and the back judge and referee deep with receivers. In the new mechanic is the umpire deep with referee and line judge and the back judge with K's line. Just wondering since this is new to me this year.

I think now the BJ has K's line at the 40, U and Linesman have the R line at the 50, the LJ is at the 10 on the sideline and R is at the goal line on the sideline.

Prior, the BJ has the K line at the 40, LJ has the 50, the Linesman was on the sideline at the 30, the U on the opposite sideline at the 20-10, and R was on the linesman's sideline at or near the goalline.

SO the U and LJ flip and the Linesman moves up 20 yards to the 50 with the new mechanic if I am reading it correctly.

Are we talking 5-man mechanics here?

yes for the federation it is the 5-man mechanics. The new mechanic is also 5-man.

bcl has it right.

I am wondering why the Fed thinks the L has to be so far forward. Having 2 guys on the 50 in a 5-man crew doesn't seem to make sense.

Actually it does, when you take into consideration the new rule on when K can legally block R. Since K can not initate contact with R until the ball has gone beyond R's restraining line, or K has a legal right to recover the kick. It would be too difficult for one official, to determine if/when the ball crossed the restraining line and when/if K initiated contact with R. I am the U in my crew and we have discussed if the ball comes my direction, I have the ball and the L has the blocks. It would be reversed if the ball goes to the L side of the field.

And there's the rub. How many unexpected on-sides kicks do you see in a year? I can remember entire seasons without seeing an attempted on-sides kick, let alone one that was unexpected. And when we expect it we put 2 guys on each restraining line.

I don't see the reasoning behind putting 2 officials on R's line in a 5-man game for something we'll be lucky to see once a season.

Agree. Ohio doesn't use this mechanic.

As a BJ I have clearly seen onside kicks, but not where we are surprised in any way.

I think coverage down field is more important. Then again maybe this will show some that 5 man crews are going to be flawed in our current game with the focus on safety and passing. I can only wish.

Peace

At present, Illinois will only have the LJ and U switch positions. HL stays at the 30.

Reasoning for the LJ-U switch (as explained by NF and IHSA) is the LJ has more experience with forward progress during the game and is thus more accurate. To this I do not agree.

I am glad I will get to stay at the 30 and keep the coverage as it was. But moving the U seems odd. Cannot wait to see some of the U's chasing after a long return down their sideline...

I agree 100%. No need for all the attention at the R line. I've never seen the attempted blocking by the K team and certainly don't expect any now with the new restriction. We'll talk about this in our local association as we normally don't get much direction from our state association.

If you are doing it right the U should have a shorter run. The deep official should have forward progress to the K2 and the K/R official would work like a deep wing and get to the goal line on a break away. Using that mechanic the U should have gone from the R20 (or deeper as many do) to the K2 (78 yards). Now they only have to go from the 50 to the goal line (50 yards). If you did some handoff of the runner around mid-field then you weren't using a solid mechanic.

I think it makes complete sense for the L to work deep since it is most like his normal position on running plays. I always thought it was odd that as a U I normally worked in the middle but on free kicks I was now on the sideline and had to rule on forward progress.