What is the call
 

Heard about this today. What's the call. NFHS rules.

K kicks off and R touches the ball at the 1 yard line (no possession), and thinking the ball is going to go into the endzone just lets the ball roll away. K attempts to recover the football and in the process the ball ends up in the endzone where K recovers the ball.


What is the proper ruling on this play.

Touchback.

NFHS: touchback

K should have been more careful not to bump the ball into the EZ.

One KEY to this situation is to remember that ANY and ALL kicks that break the plane of R's goal are touchbacks, so in essence K can NEVER (EVER) score on a kick that enters R's EZ.

The other KEY is that a kick REMAINS a kick until someone POSSESSES it. Muffs, multiple people touching a kick DOESN'T END the kick, so the instant it touches R's Goal line plane, it's a touchback.

Of course, after being muffed or touched by R, K can recover the kick IN THE FIELD OF PLAY, BUT THEY CANNOT ADVANCE IT, so if K recovers a kick touched by R in the field of play, they keep it, 1st and goal (or 10). If that kick touches the goal line plane, it's R's ball 1st and 10 on their 20 yl (touchback)

I was discussing this before our basketball meeting last night, with a guy officiating the D2 state finals in Michigan Friday. He said from what he heard the kicking team should have batter it back into the field of play rather than trying to recover the ball. When they dove to recover it, apparently it want into the endzone. Had they batter it back towards their goal line the best situation is they recover in the redzone and the worst situation is team R starts deep in their end. They tried diving on it and it went into the endzone and became a touchback.

The other complain I heard was the ball may have come to rest on the field.

Am I correct that if the ball had come to rest the ball could be ruled dead at the 1 where it came to rest. In that case it would be team R's ball at the 1.

To do that, it'd have to not merely come to rest momentarily, but have nobody of either team trying to play it. It'd have to be like everybody thought, "Oh, a penny laying on the ground? Not worthwhile picking up."

The exception for illegal batting doesn't apply on a free kick. 15-yd penalty from previous spot, rekick.

As is ALWAYS the case, which Rules Code you're referencing can have a significant effect on the answer you receive. Your question referenced NFHS rules, which in many situations differ CONSIDERABLY from NCAA rules. One such SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE is kicks going into End Zones.