NCAA kickoff

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

I bet they don't expect to take this rule literally as prohibiting all players of A/K from being more than 5 yds. behind their line the entire time the ball is RFP. They probably meant it to apply only when team A/K "shows" ready or begins an actual run to kick off & cover. They probably don't mean that once the ball is RFP, their players can't still be huddling, for instance, >5 yds. back.

I agree that it's worded poorly - but the rule is obviously not meant to prohibit anything you just said. (My wording issue is that the final sentence says IS, and not was. Since it says IS, if the previously offending player is within 5 yards when it's kicked, it's not a foul --- but we all know they meant it to be. Should say "If one player other than the player who kicks the ball was, at the time the kicker began moving forward, more than five yards behind the restraining line, it is a foul.")

Any indication of why they made this change? Just to make the coverage a tiny bit slower?

Yes ... and more than a tiny bit. Most players will not be at full speed when crossing the kicking line now.

Doesn't really matter now though, since every single kick is a touchback. It will affect onsides kicks, that's about it.