Kickoff out-of-bounds?

[gindie]

Watching Etienne of Clemson fair catch a kick near the sideline got me wondering if a pro rule is also the same in high school and college (if you know).  That is, if a kickoff is near the sideline and the receiver touches the ball while having at least one foot out-of-bounds (even if the ball itself is inbounds), is the kick then considered out-of-bounds?  I've seen several YouTubes of pro games where this has happened.

Edited January 2, 2021 by gindie

[JustRules]

1 hour ago, gindie said:

Watching Etienne of Clemson fair catch a kick near the sideline got me wondering if a pro rule is also the same in high school and college (if you know).  That is, if a kickoff is near the sideline and the receiver touches the ball while having at least one foot out-of-bounds (even if the ball itself is inbounds), is the kick then considered out-of-bounds?  I've seen several YouTubes of pro games where this has happened.

Yes, it would have been a kick out of bounds if his foot happened to touch OOB before he caught it. In NFHS it's now a foul by the receiving team if the receiver INTENTIONALLY touches out of bounds and then does that. It needs to be very obvious he stepped out intentionally for the purpose of creating a kick OOB. NCAA doesn't have a similar rule, and I'm not sure if the NFL does now.

[DE]

2 hours ago, gindie said:

Watching Etienne of Clemson fair catch a kick near the sideline got me wondering if a pro rule is also the same in high school and college (if you know).  That is, if a kickoff is near the sideline and the receiver touches the ball while having at least one foot out-of-bounds (even if the ball itself is inbounds), is the kick then considered out-of-bounds?  I've seen several YouTubes of pro games where this has happened.

I thought a fair catch on a kickoff in college gave the receivers the ball at the 25?  Or is that just the nfl?

[Bobref]

8 hours ago, JustRules said:

In NFHS it's now a foul by the receiving team if the receiver INTENTIONALLY touches out of bounds and then does that.

Yes, the specific foul is illegal participation. Here’s the play from the Case Book:

“9.6.2 SITUATION C: K1 free-kicks the ball toward the sideline. R1 runs to a sideline and intentionally steps out of bounds. While R1 is still out of bounds, he intentionally touches the ball as it nears the sideline. The ball is declared dead by the covering official. RULING: Illegal participation by R1. (4-3-1, 6-1-9)”

Since the foul occurred while the ball was loose during the free kick, the 15 yd. penalty is enforced from the previous spot, and we re-kick.

[JustRules]

8 hours ago, DE said:

I thought a fair catch on a kickoff in college gave the receivers the ball at the 25?  Or is that just the nfl?

That is NCAA only and how it was handled in the Clemson game because he did not step out of bounds before catching the ball. But if he had signaled and not completed the catch before stepping out of bounds it would either be the return team's ball at the out of bounds spot if he touched it before stepping out of bounds (i.e. muffed or bobbled briefly before touching) or a kick out of bounds with all the options for that foul if he's already out of bounds when he touched it.