Per Paul Myerberg, here’s a little wrinkle in the new NCAA kickoff rules that hasn’t gotten much attention:
Coverage units cannot get more than a five-yard head start on kickoffs, but does the same rule apply to kickers?
No. A kicker is allowed to line up behind the 30-yard line, if he so chose. But the N.C.A.A. did say that the kicker must kick the ball — shocking, I know. But this eliminates the little-used onside kick where the kicker rushes towards the ball but pulls up short of the tee while a teammate kicks the ball towards the hands team on the other side of the field.
Like this one.
Bunch of spoilsports, I say.
Get The Picture 
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that Georgia had two kickers in the game for this play, and the ball was ultimately kicked by a kicker, Bogatay. I wonder if that satisfies the rule? Nevertheless, I think the key to success on this play wasn’t the trickeration, but how well Bogatay placed the ball. It bounced just perfect.
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Any player can kick it. The player that kicks it can line up behind the 30. Everyone else must be at the 30 or closer.
This play would be legal as long as Walsh is at the 30 or closer when he lines up, since he didn’t kick the ball. However, to make this effective and not create a “tell”, Walsh would have to be lining up at the 30 for every kickoff. Otherwise, the other team would know something was up when he all of a sudden lined up short.
But lining up at the 30 for every kickoff is almost certainly not going to happen b/c kickers get more into their kicks if they have more than a 5 yard approach. So, in essence, the Senator is right. This type of on-side kick will be retired. Well, “retired” until they change the rules again 🙂
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Too bad we didn’t do anything with it. Could have been huge.
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