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Sky Kick Off


WCGrad92

Question

On a kickoff,  if the kicker kicks the ball really high in the air, and the receiving team does nothing to get to the ball.  Can the kicking team catch the ball?  Or does the ball have to first touch the ground before the kicking team can recover?   I have always thought it was a live ball once kicked.  One of our coaches seems to remember a team catching its own kickoff and the ball awarded to the receiving team for what was called kick catch interferance???

 

thanks in advance.

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Just now, WCGrad92 said:

On a kickoff,  if the kicker kicks the ball really high in the air, and the receiving team does nothing to get to the ball.  Can the kicking team catch the ball?  Or does the ball have to first touch the ground before the kicking team can recover?   I have always thought it was a live ball once kicked.  One of our coaches seems to remember a team catching its own kickoff and the ball awarded to the receiving team for what was called kick catch interferance???

 

thanks in advance.

From firsthand knowledge, the ball has to touch the ground first. It is indeed Kick Catch Interference. 

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13 hours ago, Irishman said:

From firsthand knowledge, the ball has to touch the ground first. It is indeed Kick Catch Interference. 

In order for the kickers to legally recover the kick it must be both grounded and go beyond the receivers’ free kick line (normally the 50 yd. line). These requirements may be satisfied in any order. If the receivers touch the ball before it goes 10 yds. and is grounded, all bets are off and it’s a free ball. 

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Same type of kick but instead, an R up-man waves his arm for a fair catch. 

A)  R catches/secures  the ball  as he is falling to the ground and gets tackled by K on the play.  (foul?) 

B)  R catches/secures  the ball as he is  falling to the ground and gets tackled by K  causing R to fumble with K recovering.  (foul?) 

Basic question in both, can K make any kind of contact with R when a fair catch has been signaled for and they catch/secure  the ball even if falling to the ground?   (this is a pop-up kick scenario and the ball has not been muffed in either.)   

 

 

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47 minutes ago, bigcityp said:

Same type of kick but instead, an R up-man waves his arm for a fair catch. 

A)  R catches/secures  the ball  as he is falling to the ground and gets tackled by K on the play.  (foul?) 

B)  R catches/secures  the ball as he is  falling to the ground and gets tackled by K  causing R to fumble with K recovering.  (foul?) 

Basic question in both, can K make any kind of contact with R when a fair catch has been signaled for and they catch/secure  the ball even if falling to the ground?   (this is a pop-up kick scenario and the ball has not been muffed in either.)   

 

In either case, as soon as R completes the catch, the ball is dead. So, there can be no fumble in B), since you can’t fumble a dead ball. In each case, the covering official will judge whether the contact was forcible or incidental. If the former, it’s going to be a dead ball personal foul. 15 yds.

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4 hours ago, bigcityp said:

Same type of kick but instead, an R up-man waves his arm for a fair catch. 

A)  R catches/secures  the ball  as he is falling to the ground and gets tackled by K on the play.  (foul?) 

B)  R catches/secures  the ball as he is  falling to the ground and gets tackled by K  causing R to fumble with K recovering.  (foul?) 

Basic question in both, can K make any kind of contact with R when a fair catch has been signaled for and they catch/secure  the ball even if falling to the ground?   (this is a pop-up kick scenario and the ball has not been muffed in either.)   

 

 

Agree with Bobref. Also be wary of the terminology you use. Remember a pop-up kick is one driven directly into the ground that goes high into the air like a pooch kick. The OP here was describing a pooch kick. A pop-up kick is dead immediately and a 5-yard penalty against the kicking team.

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31 minutes ago, JustRules said:

Agree with Bobref. Also be wary of the terminology you use. Remember a pop-up kick is one driven directly into the ground that goes high into the air like a pooch kick. The OP here was describing a pooch kick. A pop-up kick is dead immediately and a 5-yard penalty against the kicking team.

Yes, I didn’t mention that since I didn’t want to make the answer more complicated than it was.

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Thanks for the feedback.    I guess I should have  described the kickoff  a little better than the original  post of, "if the kicker kicks the ball really high in the air"   The kickoff play in question was not an intended  "Pop-up or Pooch" type kick. It was driving kick that was meant to go deep but end up as a high kick directly into a driving wind  that only went about 20 yards in the air and floated there for a few seconds allowing K to get downfield and cover.   The up-man waived his hand early to be awarded that protection and made the catch falling to the ground.  While falling though, a K player does come in on a tackle at the end.    Thanks @Bobref as you answered what I was really inquiring about as it relates to the protection that R gets when signaling for a fair catch on a kickoff.  It's a judgement call on the covering official to determine if the contact/tackle was forceable or incidental.   I believe then that the covering official did get it right and  did not call a foul.  No question from the R coach either on the play.    

 

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1 hour ago, bigcityp said:

Thanks for the feedback.    I guess I should have  described the kickoff  a little better than the original  post of, "if the kicker kicks the ball really high in the air"   The kickoff play in question was not an intended  "Pop-up or Pooch" type kick. It was driving kick that was meant to go deep but end up as a high kick directly into a driving wind  that only went about 20 yards in the air and floated there for a few seconds allowing K to get downfield and cover.   The up-man waived his hand early to be awarded that protection and made the catch falling to the ground.  While falling though, a K player does come in on a tackle at the end.    Thanks @Bobref as you answered what I was really inquiring about as it relates to the protection that R gets when signaling for a fair catch on a kickoff.  It's a judgement call on the covering official to determine if the contact/tackle was forceable or incidental.   I believe then that the covering official did get it right and  did not call a foul.  No question from the R coach either on the play.    

 

Also remember, if a K player is blocked into the receiver, the contact is excused.

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On 11/16/2022 at 6:02 PM, Irishman said:

From firsthand knowledge, the ball has to touch the ground first. It is indeed Kick Catch Interference. 

Yep, saw this one first-hand too.  My son kicked a far-side sky-kick and no one from the receiving team was near it.  Unfortunately, the gunner caught the ball in the air before it hit the ground.  Everyone in stands was going wild and I'd just shook my head as I knew what call was coming ... I'd actually talked with my son about that rule before he left to go get on the bus and head out.  Maybe I should have talked to the gunner? 🙂

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