NCAA, AFCA has talks about eliminating kickoffs

Boston College kicks to Notre Dame on the opening kickoff of the Shamrock Series game at Fenway Park in Boston Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

 

The kickoff could soon be a thing of the past.

According to Dennis Dodd of CBS, the American Football Coaches Association board of trustees and the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee have had “preliminary discussions” about removing kickoffs from college football games. Player safety is the source of the “informal talks,” Dodd’s report says.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby is the chairman of the oversight committee. He referred to the kickoff as “the most dangerous play in the game.” Still, any potential change is still a ways away.

From CBS:

Both entities are reviewing injury data to gauge the impact of kickoffs. Preliminary indications are that injuries occur at a higher rate on kickoffs, according to sources.

Any rules change probably won’t come until after the 2017 season. Eliminating kickoffs has not yet been a discussion for the NCAA rules committee, according to its secretary-rules editor Rogers Redding.

However, rules changes typically bubble up to the committee from coaches and administrators. The AFCA acts in an advisory role to the NCAA rules committee. The oversight committee vets any changes by the rules committee before approving them.

AFCA executive director Todd Berry, the former head coach at Illinois State, Army and Louisiana-Monroe, told CBS that there is data to indicate the dangers of kickoffs.

“I’m excited we’re starting to have this discussion,” Berry said. “It looks like the data is skewed where we have more injuries on that play. If that’s the case, we have to look at eliminating the play, modifying the play, change blocking schemes.”

The issue of player safety has been a prominent one in recent years with the introduction of targeting penalties and the added scrutiny brought with concussion lawsuits. After the kickoff was moved to the 35-yard line in 2012, the NCAA saw a significant increase in touchbacks, decreasing the chance for high-impact collisions. The removal of touchbacks altogether would eliminate that risk completely.

“Kickoffs are the play where statistically the most concussions and other things will occur,” MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, an oversight committee member, told CBS.”That discussion is coming. It hasn’t come on agenda [formally] yet … I know that’s something that popped. It doesn’t surprise me the least the AFCA is talking about it.”

For the change to come to fruition it would ultimately come from the NCAA Rules Committee, which would have the final call. The AFCA often serves as an advisor of sorts for the rules committee, while the oversight committee also provides direction and advice.