Rule changes for 2012

[CenTexSports]

Have you seen or talked about the rule changes for 2012?

1) Blocking below the waist:
a) Restricted offensive players can not block back toward their own goal line (in a nutshell, restricted means lined up outside the tackles).
b) Defensive players can not block below the waist outside 5 yards from the line of scrimmage.

2) Free kicks that become dead in the end zone will be placed on the 25 yard line.

3) Players in position to receive a kick now get 1 yard in front of them to catch the ball.

4) Players other than the ball carrier who loose their helment must immediately stop participating (if they are in contact with another player, they must stop when they loose contact). After the play, they are treated like an injured player and must leave the field for one play.

5) A player in position to catch an onside kick that is pooched or only hits the ground ONCE is given kick catch protection. If the ball hits the ground more than ONCE, no protection in available.

OTHERS?

BTW - I have never been a proponent of replay but with all of the recent changes, I don't see how an official can see everything.

[Necked]

Couple ?'s on number 4. If the player puts his helmit back on during the play, can he resume play, i.e. can he recover a fumble? I'm assuming no, but if the player is treated as an injured player, as #4 is written, can an injured player participate in a live play, i.e. recover a fumble?
Also, what is the penalty for this infraction?
I would expect that the play stop if the ball carrier looses his helmet, too. Seems only fair that way.

[CenTexSports]

1) He can put his helment back on but he still can not participate.
2) No change in the runner's helmet coming off (ball automatically becomes dead when runner's helmet comes off).
3) Fumble recovery question: being debated, no approved ruling on this yet but I am guessing he can not.
4) The relation to an injured player: If the clock is stopped for an injured player, he must leave the field for at least one play. Same for helmet coming off, player must leave the field for one play.
5) Penalty: Personal Foul 15 yards

[MGAR]

Touchbacks go to the 25 now instead of the 20?

[CenTexSports]

Only free kicks. Scrimmage kicks, field goal attempts inside the 20, and all others still go to the 20.

[Saggy Aggie]

Why does a player have to sit out a play if he loses his helmet?

[CenTexSports]

The touchback rule and the helment rule are both safety related. The idea is to prevent injuries and force teams to better fit helmets and improve the use of chin straps. The touchback rule (I believe) is to reward teams for taking a knee in the endzone and not running it back because of the number of injuries that happen on kickoff returns.

[coach]

Wow. These all suck lol.

[regaleagle]

The onside/pooch kick rule makes no football sense to me. Giving protection UNTIL it hits the ground I will agree with, but not waiting for it to hit the ground TWICE. How about AFTER it hits the ground ONCE, all bets are off.

[Pendragon13]

I can see the "lose your helmet, sit out a play" rule being controversial. What if the opposing players try to get rid of one of the best players on a critical down....like a key defensive player during a goaline stand, or the offense losing their best RB for a play when they have 3rd and short.

Not saying it will happen a lot, and most refs can easily see someone ripping a helmet off on purpose...just sayin.

[toddg]

The onside/pooch kick rule makes no football sense to me. Giving protection UNTIL it hits the ground I will agree with, but not waiting for it to hit the ground TWICE. How about AFTER it hits the ground ONCE, all bets are off.
them skyline folks still bellyachin about the SLC game got the UIL skeerd they would be called racist..so they changed the rule...makes perfect UIL sense.

[toddg]

I can see the "lose your helmet, sit out a play" rule being controversial. What if the opposing players try to get rid of one of the best players on a critical down....like a key defensive player during a goaline stand, or the offense losing their best RB for a play when they have 3rd and short.

Not saying it will happen a lot, and most refs can easily see someone ripping a helmet off on purpose...just sayin.

if it can happen..it probably will happen..im sure a "helmet rip-off" technic is on someones mind..

[Buckeye1980]

If the helmet "sit out " rule is sthe same as an injured player sitting out, can a time out be used to allow the player not to sit out?

[TexMike]

Teams cannot use a timeout to "buy" an injured player back into the game. That disappeared a few years ago. Likewise, can't use a TO to buy the player back in who lost his helmet. If a helmetless player participates he can still touch and recover the ball but since he has fould, there will be times when the penalty wipes out the recovery.

On the onside kick change, the new rule only applies if the ball is kicked immediately into the ground at the kick. If it is kicked off normally and then goes downfield and hits for the first time, the receiving team does not get kick catch protection. Some kickers are adept at popping the balloff the ground right in front of the tee and causing a high bounce. that is the situation the rule change is addressing.

[Buckeye1980]

Teams cannot use a timeout to "buy" an injured player back into the game. That disappeared a few years ago. Likewise, can't use a TO to buy the player back in who lost his helmet. If a helmetless player participates he can still touch and recover the ball but since he has fould, there will be times when the penalty wipes out the recovery.

On the onside kick change, the new rule only applies if the ball is kicked immediately into the ground at the kick. If it is kicked off normally and then goes downfield and hits for the first time, the receiving team does not get kick catch protection. Some kickers are adept at popping the balloff the ground right in front of the tee and causing a high bounce. that is the situation the rule change is addressing.

For something that cannot happen for a few years I have seen it happen a few times LAST year.

[Saggy Aggie]

I don't like the helmet rule. If a player gets his helmet ripped off he shouldn't have to sit out.

I can understand the rule if someone gets hit so hard their helmet comes off, but I see dirty football ahead for this rule as it stands

[YTBulldogs]

The helmet rule came in cause players would get a helmet that was barely secured, loosely strapped on and with some of these kids hair, it often would fall off just running. Coaches must demand and make sure these helmets are secured. Sure, there are times when a hard hit causes it to come off, but---watching footage in training, it's cause they had loose fitting helmets. Kinda a fashion like a baseball player with his rear pockets out, or pant's on the ground.

[varsity parent]

The helmet rule came in cause players would get a helmet that was barely secured, loosely strapped on and with some of these kids hair, it often would fall off just running. Coaches must demand and make sure these helmets are secured. Sure, there are times when a hard hit causes it to come off, but---watching footage in training, it's cause they had loose fitting helmets. Kinda a fashion like a baseball player with his rear pockets out, or pant's on the ground.
You hit the nail on the head! Kids now seem to emulate the college and pro athletes with the loose fitting helmets. Coaches and trainers need to insure that the helmets fit properly. Properly fitting helmets do not get easily removed.And yes I am aware that they do at times get ripped off. Its the same principle with the shorter length pants with the knee pads only there for looks. Sure receivers like them, but there is no knee protection at all.

[Saggy Aggie]

Do players get penalized for intentionally ripping an opponents helmet off?

[YTBulldogs]

Do players get penalized for intentionally ripping an opponents helmet off?

Of course, 15 yarder. If seen by the official. Sometimes on a RB who's getting tackled, it get's pulled off and isn't a foul. Unless via facemask, or an opening in the helmet or where the defender sticks his hand up inside the helmet and pulls it off.

[TexMike]

I don't like the helmet rule. If a player gets his helmet ripped off he shouldn't have to sit out.

I can understand the rule if someone gets hit so hard their helmet comes off, but I see dirty football ahead for this rule as it stands

If it gets ripped off (and it was seen by an official) then it came off via foul so the player will NOT have to sit out a play

[TexMike]

You hit the nail on the head! Kids now seem to emulate the college and pro athletes with the loose fitting helmets. Coaches and trainers need to insure that the helmets fit properly. Properly fitting helmets do not get easily removed.And yes I am aware that they do at times get ripped off. Its the same principle with the shorter length pants with the knee pads only there for looks. Sure receivers like them, but there is no knee protection at all. The requirement for knee pads was put in many years ago, not to protect knees but to protect the other players who were being hit by the knees.

[YTBulldogs]

Mike, in regards to the kickoff that strikes the ground right after the kicker kicks it, and bounds upward---is there a clarification how far from the tee it has to go before being considered striking the ground quickly? What if the kick goes 2-5 yards, then first strikes the ground then bounds upwards, kicking team have protection then? I can see an issue, unless the NCAA makes a clarification distance wise.

[TexMike]

The actual language:

e. During a free kick a player of the receiving team in position to receive the ball has
the same kick-catch and fair-catch protection whether the ball is kicked directly off
the tee or is immediately driven to the ground, strikes the ground once and goes into
the air in the manner of the ball kicked directly off the tee.

Based on the guidance at clinics, "immediately driven to the ground" means at the tee. It is easy to tell when the ball as gone a few yards if it then hits the ground or not. It is not that easy to tell when it is kicked right into the ground in front of the tee if it went off the tee or into the ground and up. the rule change is for the 2d case where the receiver does not know if he will get an unmollested opportunity or not.

[Saggy Aggie]

If it gets ripped off (and it was seen by an official) then it came off via foul so the player will NOT have to sit out a play ah okay, much better usage of this rule then

[YTBulldogs]

The actual language:

e. During a free kick a player of the receiving team in position to receive the ball has
the same kick-catch and fair-catch protection whether the ball is kicked directly off
the tee or is immediately driven to the ground, strikes the ground once and goes into
the air in the manner of the ball kicked directly off the tee.

Based on the guidance at clinics, "immediately driven to the ground" means at the tee. It is easy to tell when the ball as gone a few yards if it then hits the ground or not. It is not that easy to tell when it is kicked right into the ground in front of the tee if it went off the tee or into the ground and up. the rule change is for the 2d case where the receiver does not know if he will get an unmollested opportunity or not.

So, an on-sides kicked ball, better bounce more than once and go ten yards, before the kicking team can touch it? Unless the receiving team touches it. Poor umpire, hope he can keep up with how the ball bounces? :)

[varsity parent]

The requirement for knee pads was put in many years ago, not to protect knees but to protect the other players who were being hit by the knees. Ok. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I appreciate the info

[Eagle 1]

1) Blocking below the waist:
a) Restricted offensive players can not block back toward their own goal line (in a nutshell, restricted means lined up outside the tackles).
b) Defensive players can not block below the waist outside 5 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Powder puff football anybody? :bigcry:

[YTBulldogs]

Powder puff football anybody? :bigcry:

I think all BBW should be illegal. No use for it and sure would save many knee injury's.

['Necks 2013-14]

The onside/pooch kick rule makes no football sense to me. Giving protection UNTIL it hits the ground I will agree with, but not waiting for it to hit the ground TWICE. How about AFTER it hits the ground ONCE, all bets are off.I don't like either one. The best way to defend the pooch is called a "fair catch". As for this second bounce bull-mess....well, I think I just conveyed how I feel about that nonsense!

[icu812]

IMO, legal BBW is not what is causing knee injuries. If you can't BBW why is it ok to tackling below the waist? Maybe players just need to wear big summo wrestler belts so they can just run up and hold on to those, lol.


As far as helmets go, they will not come off if they are fitted and fastened properly. Some players care more about comfort than safety and most coaching staffs do not take enough time to make sure the players equipement is fitting properly (I know sometimes it is a $ problem ie lack of equipement). I think the new rule is a good one that should give an incentive. If that doesn't work maybe they should make it a 5 yard pennalty like they do in pee wee when a player doesn't have a mouth piece.

The new onside kick rule makes perfect sense to me. The whole point of the fair catch rule is to give the player protection if they so choose. Kicking the ball down into the ground off the tee so it hits the ground once and pops up high into the air is just a way around the rule.

[TexMike]

IMO, legal BBW is not what is causing knee injuries. If you can't BBW why is it ok to tackling below the waist? Maybe players just need to wear big summo wrestler belts so they can just run up and hold on to those, lol.

.
When it comes to hitting a ball carrier, lots of things are legal that are illegal in other situations. EX: You can clip a ball carrier, you can hit his head with your shoulder, you can trip him, you can hold him, etc etc etc So it is no surprise you can tackle him below the waist.

[Eagle 1]

I think all BBW should be illegal. No use for it and sure would save many knee injury's.

I think the rule takes away from running teams since most block below the waste.
Knee injuries are going to still happen.