Onside kick rule question

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by bisonlj

Your point (as I tried to understand) was that a trained official should be able to easily distinguish a immediate kick into the air and an immediate kick into the ground. If the NCAA recognized with their higher trained officials it's not easy or discernible then how would our much larger population of high school officials (who have a much broader range of experience) be more qualified to do it?

Far be it from me to try and discern the NCAA's concerns about, "their higher trained officials", but even a struggling, not quite as effectively trained HS official, standing on K's free kick line, observing the ball as it's kicked (without sacrificing other pre-kick requirements) is capable to clearly see whether a ball is kicked directly into the ground, as opposed to up into the air.

If, and only if, a flag is thrown related to the catch downfield, and when the up official (usually the HL) has observed that the kick, did in fact, be driven into the ground initially, the up official can consult with the calling official, inform him of the kick's trajectory to assist in determining whether that has a bearing on his call.

If not, "no harm, no foul". It's not rocket science, and sometimes 4 or 5 man crew members simply have to multitask, despite their limited "range of experience" and "qualifications".