COLUMN: It is time to kick college football's current kickoff rules
The NFL has significantly addressed the most dangerous play in the sport, and college football should do the same and swiftly kick out the kickoff.
Under the new rules taking effect this season, kickoffs will still start from the 35-yard line, but the running head start for the other members of the kicking team has been removed from the game. Players instead start on the opponent's 40-yard line and can only move once the ball has been fielded by the returner or the ball hits the ground. The main goal of the new rule is to reduce injury and bring back the excitement of the kick return.
College football is an American pastime. The tradition and rich history of the sport attract people to watch and participate in the festivities on Saturdays. It brings families and friends closer together, igniting new bonds that were not previously lit.
Alas, with all of the good that the game of football gives us, it is still one of the most physically violent sports in the world. We cannot let tradition get in the way of innovation, as change brings about progress. Just like when the sport adapted to hardshell helmets rather than leather, there will continuously be better ways of playing the game.
In hindsight, special teams players' ability to run a 40-yard dash before making contact with the opponent seems like a glaring issue that screams serious injury and catastrophe. Disaster has already struck numerous times, severely altering players' lives on and off the field. Frankly, this should have been addressed long before 2024, and some were trying to do so.
In 2011, following the tragic spinal injury Eric LeGrand suffered on a kickoff during a game for the Rutgers football team, head coach Greg Schiano began to think of ways to circumvent the violent play altogether. Schiano presented an idea to the NFL league office where after a team scores, they have the choice between attempting a fourth down and 15-yard play, replacing the traditional onside kick as a last-ditch effort to get the ball back, or simply punting the ball away to the opposition.
"I understand traditionalists don't agree, but there used to not be the forward pass, too, and the game would be pretty boring without it," Schiano said of his proposal. "I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying you've got to be able to think outside and whatever is best for the players, because at the end of the day, these guys are the ones that are putting it on the line."
No major changes ever came until this year.
Besides the omnipresent need for player safety, the new rule will add more excitement to the game. There are few kick returns in football today in its current state, as a touchback is usually the kickoff outcome. Long gone are the days of legendary returners like Devin Hester, Desmond Howard and Dante Hall. Return men should see a return to glory with the new plethora of opportunities that come with the new rule.
It will be fascinating to see what coaching tweaks will be made as well. Will higher-end players, like a starting running back or slot receiver, return the ball now? Will linemen be used more to block on kickoffs when previously it was leaner players?
There is an entirely new wrinkle to football, and someone is going to create a weapon out of this new dimension of the game. Could that new weapon be junior placekicker Jai Patel who will be replacing Jude McAtamney on kickoffs for Rutgers next season?
College football has been undergoing a lot of changes from the playoff, conference realignment and the transfer portal. It needs to keep changing to grow.
The late Irish playwright and critic, George Bernard Shaw had an insightful quote on change.
"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything," he said.
Instead of digging our proverbial heels in tradition, college football needs to embrace change and let the current kickoff go, just as the NFL did.
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