Calling a fair catch on an onside attempt:

https://sports.yahoo.com/oklahoma-state-player-uses-fair-catch-to-exploit-rule-book-and-ruin-a-texas-tech-onside-kick-202747283.html

Can't believe no one has done this before.

fat_slice said:

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Calling a fair catch on an onside attempt:

https://sports.yahoo.com/oklahoma-state-player-uses-fair-catch-to-exploit-rule-book-and-ruin-a-texas-tech-onside-kick-202747283.html

Can't believe no one has done this before.

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Rule change: fair catch signal is only in play until ball hits the ground.

How is it possible to have a catch after the ball hits the ground? I thought the whole point of onside kicks being driven into the ground was to negate the fair catch...

What about a squib kick that bounces 20 times and is never more than a foot off the ground. Can you fair catch that?

So....an unfair fair catch

fat_slice said:

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Calling a fair catch on an onside attempt:

https://sports.yahoo.com/oklahoma-state-player-uses-fair-catch-to-exploit-rule-book-and-ruin-a-texas-tech-onside-kick-202747283.html

Can't believe no one has done this before.

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Wow, the fair catch rule as written made this option clear as day - wonder how long it has existed with that current wording? There was a reworking of kickoff rules a few years back to promote safety - which includes a fair catch going to the 25 to reduce the number of returns. And at some point not so recently, teams were required to have 5 players on each side of the kicker to eliminate stacking all player on one side of the ball for an onsides kick.

MrGPAC said:

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How is it possible to have a catch after the ball hits the ground? I thought the whole point of onside kicks being driven into the ground was to negate the fair catch...

What about a squib kick that bounces 20 times and is never more than a foot off the ground. Can you fair catch that?

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That's answered clear as day if you read the article (or rulebook)...

"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"

The second bounce isn't covered since it's not directly driven into the ground.

I love stuff like this. Good on the special teams coordinator and heady play by the hands team specialist.

ColoradoBear said:

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MrGPAC said:

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How is it possible to have a catch after the ball hits the ground? I thought the whole point of onside kicks being driven into the ground was to negate the fair catch...

What about a squib kick that bounces 20 times and is never more than a foot off the ground. Can you fair catch that?

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That's answered clear as day if you read the article (or rulebook)...

"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"

The second bounce isn't covered since it's not directly driven into the ground.

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Wow, so you can't fair catch a "roller", just a squib that hits once and then goes in the air. Wow, that's a detailed rule.