By George Demetriou, By Referee – September 2, 2023
Reviewing the Rules Regarding Free Kicks
Although every game begins with a kickoff, free kicks occur less frequently than passing or running plays. Add the fact the kicking game has many special rules and you’ll recognize an extra effort is necessary to master kick plays.
A kickoff is a specific type of free kick which is used to start either half and to resume play after a try or successful field goal. Two of the three kicking methods (placekick and dropkick) can be used on a kickoff. A punt may not be used for a free kick but may be used for the kick that follows a safety, which is from team K’s 20 yardline. A kickoff can never score.
The most visible kickoff difference between the codes is the spot of the kick: It’s team K’s 40 yardline for NFHS and team K’s 35 yardline in NCAA. When the ball is kicked, both teams must have all their players behind their free-kick (restraining) line except the kicking team may have the kicker and any holder over the line. Encroachment is a dead-ball foul in NFHS and a live-ball foul in NCAA (NFHS 6-1-3; NCAA 6-1-2b). In NCAA, if unless a team K player goes beyond the restraining line after the ball is ready for play, then returns back across their restraining line before the ball is kicked; that is a dead-ball foul (AR 6-1-2 IX). Under NCAA rules, if team K is offside, the penalty may be enforced from the previous spot or from the spot where the ball becomes dead in team R’s possession.
Formation. There are a couple of formation requirements on the kicking team and one on the receiving team. Team K must have at least four players on either side of the kicker. In NCAA only, all team K players must have been between the numbers after the ready-for-play signal.
It is illegal for two or more members of the receiving team to intentionally form a wedge for the purpose of blocking for the runner except when the kick is from an obvious onside kick formation. A wedge is defined as two or more players aligned shoulder to shoulder within two yards of each other. There is no restriction on the initial formation before the ball is kicked, but the rule applies after the ball has been kicked, even if the wedge is formed after the kick has been caught (6-1-10).
Illegal kick. In NFHS, it is a dead-ball foul if a free kick 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 (pop-up kick) (2-24-10, 6-1-11). In NCAA, such a kick is legal but the receiver has the same kick-catch and fair-catch protection as if the ball were in flight (6-4-1f).
Fair catch. In NFHS, any receiver may signal for a fair catch while any legal kick is in flight. Any receiver who has given a valid or invalid fair-catch signal is prohibited from blocking until the kick has ended. In NFHS, the penalty is 15 yards, but it is 10 yards in NCAA. In NCAA, the prohibition is for the entire down, but only if the signaler does not touch the ball (NFHS 6-5-1 Pen.; 6-5-4 Pen.)
The end zone. If the kick goes into team R’s end zone, the ball is dead in NFHS and it is a touchback. Force is not a factor. In NCAA, the ball is also dead for a touchback when the ball touches anything in team R’s end zone unless it was touched by a team R player before it touched the ground in the end zone (NFHS 4-2-2d-1; NCAA 6-1-7).
Play 1: R1, standing on his five yardline, touches a kickoff as the ball bounces past him. The ball (a) rolls into the end zone where it is recovered by K2, or (b) bounces into the end zone, where K3 recovers before the ball touches the ground. Ruling 1: In NFHS, it is a touchback in (a) and (b). The ball is dead when it breaks the plane of team R’s goalline. In NCAA, it is a touchdown for team K in both (a) and (b). Because R1 touched the kick in the field of play, either team may legally recover. When team K recovers in team R’s end zone, it is a touchdown.
Play 2: A kickoff bounces off R1’s chest at his three yardline. The ball is at rest on team R’s two yardline when R1, in his haste to recover the ball, muffs and forces the ball into the end zone and across the sideline. Ruling 2: In NFHS, that is a touchback. Force is not an issue on kicks going into team R’s end zone. Under NCAA rules, that results in a safety. The ball remained live and team R supplied the force that put the ball in the end zone.
Kicks out of bounds. If the ball is kicked so that it goes out of bounds untouched by the receiving team in the field of play, it is a foul on team K. The receiving team has four choices:
- A rekick after enforcement of a five-yard penalty from the previous spot.
- Accept the result of the play and take the ball at the yardline where it went out of bounds.
- Begin a new series 25 yards (NFHS) or 30 yards (NCAA) from the previous spot.
- Accept a five-yard penalty from the spot where the kick went out of bounds (NFHS 4-3-1, 6-1-8 Pen, 6.1.8C; NCAA 6-2-1).
If penalties create a situation in which placing the ball the prescribed yards from the previous spot would put the ball in team R’s end zone, that option cannot be offered (NFHS 6.1.9H; NCAA 10-2-2h).
Play 3: A team R player muffs a free kick. An airborne team K player gets his hands on the ball and comes to the ground out of bounds. Ruling 3: The ball became dead when the team K player possessed it out of bounds. But because team R touched the kick before it went out of bounds, there is no foul on team K. It will be team R’s ball at the spot the team K player went out of bounds.
Other fouls. For fouls committed during free kicks, almost all penalties for fouls by team K have an option for enforcement. If team K commits
a live-ball foul, other than kick-catch interference, team R may elect to have the penalty enforced either from the previous spot (and the down replayed) or at the subsequent dead- ball spot (NFHS 10-4-2 Exc.; NCAA 6-1-8).
The option to have the penalty enforced at the subsequent dead- ball spot still applies if there is a
change of team possession. The only requirement is the ball belongs to team R at the end of the down. A penalty for a foul by team K can be enforced from a spot of first/illegal touching if that spot is also the dead- ball spot.
First/illegal touching. When team K touches a free kick and is not entitled to possession, it is a violation termed first touching (NFHS) or illegal touching (NCAA). That occurs when team K is first to touch the ball after it has touched the ground, but before it has traveled 10 yards, or before a team R player touches it. That violation gives team R the option to take the ball at any spot of first touching, as long as it does not touch the ball and subsequently foul (NFHS only), or there is an accepted penalty for a player foul, or offsetting fouls (NFHS 6-1-6; NCAA 6-1-3).
Play 4: K1’s kickoff goes five yards and is downed by (a) R2, or (b) K3. Ruling 4: In both cases it will be team R’s ball, first and 10 at the spot of the recovery. In (b), team R will choose to take the ball at the spot of first touching.
Play 5: K1’s kickoff goes eight yards and is muffed by R2. The ball is then downed by (a) R3, or (b) K4. Ruling 5: In (a), it will be team R’s ball, first and 10 at the spot of the recovery. In (b), it will be team K’s ball, first and 10 at the spot of the recovery. First touching or illegal touching only applies when team K touches the kick before team R and prior to the ball traveling 10 yards. Once the ball travels 10 yards both teams are generally entitled to possession.
Play 6: K1’s kickoff is short and high and goes about 20 yards. There are no team R players near the descending ball. The ball is caught by K2. Ruling 6: In NFHS, that is kick-catch interference. It is not first touching because the ball traveled beyond team R’s free-kick line. In NCAA, there is no foul because a team R player was not in position to catch the ball. Team K keeps the ball, first and 10 at the spot of the catch.
George Demetriou has been a football official since 1968. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colo.
