Punt, fair catch, return, late hit

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by brainbrian

The referees did not kill the play when B recovered the kick. I think the A coach was trying to argue that if they did kill the play the late hit would have never occurred. Should they still enforce the late hit penalty by A2?

So the coach is saying that because his player was unaware the ball was dead because of the recovery after the fair catch -- which is very plausible -- that that should exonerate him from hitting out of bounds?!