11/17/24
April 15, 2018
College Football Modifies Kickoffs for Player Safety: The NCAA has modified kickoffs in college football: Any player can make a fair catch inside the 25 yard line for the ball to be ruled a touchback, just like when a player takes a knee in the end zone. Former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, who has for years crusaded to eliminate kickoffs, would like to replace them with the scoring team getting the ball on its 30 yard line in a fourth-and-15 situation. They could go for it or punt.
The NFL will likely not adopt major changes to kickoffs as long as teams like the Jets and Steelers want to keep providing their coaching staffs with opportunities to take out opposing players during returns.
posted by beaverboard at 08:16 AM on April 16, 2018
Why not adopt a football version of the face off or jump ball? Line up the two teams at midfield, facing each other about 5 yards apart in straight lines. There need not be 11 in each line, one or more backs may be used. For an opening face off, have the winner of the coin toss roll the ball in a-la a rugby scrum. This would be done by a twelth player who could then not enter the field until the face off is complete and play is dead. For face off after a score, the team scored upon gets to roll the ball in. Once the ball is clearly possessed by either team, it is dead and may not be advanced. This will allow for some violent collisions, but will avoid the high-speed collisions that are frequently the cause of serious injury.
posted by Howard_T at 01:19 PM on April 16, 2018
I don't think it'll be long before NCAA and the NFL gets rid of kickoffs altogether.
posted by Johnson919 at 08:51 PM on April 17, 2018
I don't think it would take long to get used to the game without kickoffs.