Expert: Vic Winnek - 9/5/2010

Question
Can a kicking team player touch a receiving
team player before the ball travels 10 yards?
Scenario:
Receiving player steps up in front of ten
yards to field the onside kick. Before the ball
gets to him( still before ten yards) a kicking
team player tackles him. The ball does touch
the receiving team first and the kicking team
recovers. What happens?  

Answer
Shawn

Simply, the Kicking team is awarded the ball at the spot where it was recovered because it touched the receiving team player first.

Rule 6-1-2-g provides: "No Team A player may block an opponent until Team A is eligible to touch a free-kicked ball".  In your play the ball touches the team B player [Receiving Team] first. Team A then is eligible to recover the ball.

In your play, if the Receiving team player (B1) who steps up in front of the 10 yard restraining line touches, muffs or fumbles the ball then the Receiving team players may be contacted by the kicking team.  In your play it is necessary to know whether the ball touched the ground first (i.e. kicked onto the ground to get a bounce or to change direction, etc). Other considerations are: was there a fair catch signaled?  The tackling by the kicking team was that interference with the opportunity to make a catch, was it a hold or was it a person foul?  These are things that must be considered.  You indicated that the "BALL DOES TOUCH THE RECEIVING TEAM FIRST".  This fact is key.  and because the B player touched the ball first then the contact is legal and the ball is awarded to A, the Kicking team.


Free Kick Rules
Restraining Lines
ARTICLE 1. For any free kick formation, the kicking team’s restraining line shall be the yard line through the most forward point from which the ball shall be kicked, and the receiving team’s restraining line shall be the yard line 10 yards beyond that point. Unless relocated by a penalty, the kicking team’s restraining line on a kickoff shall be its 30-yard line, and for a free kick after a safety, its 20-yard line.
Free Kick Formation

ARTICLE 2. A ball from a free kick formation must be kicked legally and from some point on Team A’s restraining line (Exception: Rule 6-1-2-d) and on or between the inbounds lines. The referee will declare the ball ready for play when the officials are in position after the kicker has received the ball.  After the ball is ready for play and for any reason falls from the tee, Team A shall not kick the ball and the official shall sound his whistle immediately.

When the ball is kicked (A.R. 6-1-2-I-IV):
a. Each Team A player, except the holder and kicker of a place kick, must be behind the ball (A.R. 6-1-2-V and VI) [S18].
b. All Team A players must be inbounds [S19].
c. At least four Team A players must be on each side of the kicker [S19].
d. After a safety, when a punt or drop kick is used, the ball may be kicked from behind the kicking team’s restraining line. If a yardage penalty for a live-ball foul is enforced from the previous spot, administration is from the 20-yard line, unless the kicking team’s restraining line has been relocated by a previous penalty [S18 or appropriate signal].
e. All players of Team A must have been between the nine-yard marks after the ready-for-play signal [S19].
f. A Team A player who goes out of bounds during a free kick down may not return inbounds during the down (Exception: This does not apply to a Team A player who is blocked out of bounds and attempts to return inbounds immediately) [S19].
g. No Team A player may block an opponent until Team A is eligible to touch a free-kicked ball [S19]. PENALTY—Live-ball foul. Five yards from the previous spot, or five yards from the spot where the subsequent dead ball belongs to Team B,or from the spot where the ball is placed after a touchback [S18] (A.R. 6-1-2-VII).
h. All Team B players must be inbounds [S19].
i. All Team B players must be behind their restraining line [S18]. PENALTY—Live-ball foul. Five yards from the previous spot [S18 S19].

Touching and Recovery of a Free Kick
ARTICLE 3. a. No Team A player may touch a free-kicked ball until after:
1. It touches a Team B player (Exception: Rules 6-1-4 and 6-5-1-b);
2. It breaks the plane of and remains beyond Team B’s restraining line (Exception: Rule 6-4-1) (A.R. 2-11-5-I); or
3. It touches any player, the ground, an official or anything beyond Team B’s restraining line.
Thereafter, all players of Team A become eligible to touch, recover or catch the kick.
b. Any other touching by Team A is illegal touching, a violation that, when the ball becomes dead, gives the receiving team the privilege of taking the ball at the spot of the violation.
c. If a penalty incurred by either team before the ball becomes dead is enforced, or if there are offsetting fouls, the illegal touching privilege is canceled (A.R. 6-1-3-I).
d. Illegal touching in Team A’s end zone is ignored.

Forced Touching Disregarded
ARTICLE 4. a. A player blocked by an opponent into a free kick is not, while inbounds, deemed to have touched the kick.

Rule 6-4-1
Interference With Opportunity
ARTICLE 1. A player of the receiving team within the boundary lines attempting to catch a kick, and so located that he could have caught a free kick or a scrimmage kick that is beyond the neutral zone, must be given an unimpeded opportunity to catch the kick (A.R. 6-3-1-III, A.R. 6-4-1-V and A.R. 6-4-1-X).
a. This protection terminates when the kick touches the ground, when any player of Team B muffs a scrimmage kick beyond the neutral zone, or when any player of Team B muffs a free kick in the field of play or in the end zone (Rule 6-5-1-a) (A.R. 6-4-1-IV).
b. If interference with a potential receiver is the result of a player being blocked by an opponent, it is not a foul.
c. It is an interference foul if the kicking team contacts the potential receiver before, or simultaneous to, his first touching the ball (A.R. 6-4-1-II, III, VII and IX). When in question, it is an interference foul.    PENALTY—For foul between the goal lines: Receiving team’s ball, first down, 15 yards beyond the spot of the foul for an interference foul [S33]. For foul behind the goal line: Award a touchback and penalize from the succeeding spot. Flagrant offenders shall be disqualified

I hope this helps answer and explain the rule.
Vic Winnek
NCAA Football Official