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Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com
It's not real popular.
The topics at SEC Spring Meetings -- if we're being totally honest here -- can get a little stale. Largely, they deal with back-office issues that don't have quantifiable impact on the average fan watching football on a given Saturday afternoon.
It's mostly politics. Who can transfer where. Who can drink what and where it can be drank.
The whole kickoff situation is a little different.
Though it was decided elsewhere by the NCAA and will take effect this fall regardless, a number of SEC coaches had feedback on what they say will have a very visible impact on the product consumed so passionately around the region.
Starting this fall, teams can fair catch any kick inside the 25-yard line for a touchback. Previously, that had to occur in the end zone to get the ball at the 25. The idea is to cut down on the violent impacts that come with kickoffs.
"I've looked at the new rule and I'm sort of taken aback a bit," said Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason. "I think it really changes our game. You have to figure out, we're changing so much of the game, how much of it do you really want to impact. That's a play in the game that's extremely exciting."
If trends continue for Alabama, the rule change will impact things significantly. Crimson Tide opponents had the second-worst starting field position nationally, according to cfbanalytics.com. With Alabama's 99 kickoffs ranking seventh most in the country, the kick boots from JK Scott that landed just outside the end zone had a big effect on where opponent possessions began.
Nick Saban, who didn't address the change this week in Destin, previously said the goal on every kickoff was a touchback. The Tide was 53rd with a touchback percentage of 45.5.
Back in April, Saban said he wasn't a big fan of the new rule.
"I thought it would be an easier solution to just move it back up to the 40-yard line," Saban said in the days immediately following the rule's passage, "because you would get more touchbacks, but you could still sky kick, still onside kick, which you can still do some of those things. But you sky kick trying to give somebody bad field position, they fair catch the ball on the 15-yard line and get the ball on the 25. That takes some of the strategy out of the game, to me, with the result that you have."
So, how will this change the way the game is played?
"I think you'll see a whole lot of people fair catching and getting the ball at the 25-yard line," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "I think if you average the 25-yard line last year I think you'd be the top 20 as far as field position. I think you'll see a lot of people doing that."
The national leader in 2017, Georgia Southern, had touchbacks on 85.2 percent of kickoffs. Florida had the highest touchback rate in the SEC at 78 percent.
"We're not going to change anything there," said South Carolina's Will Muschamp. "That's not going to change our approach. We'd like to kick the ball out of end zone and not worry about a return at all."
New Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead is still in the planning phase.
"I think the strategy part of it is going to be relative to who your kicker is and who your return man is and what your schemes are. I think the chance to fair catch inside the 25 and get it started like a touchback is probably going to eliminate some of those big collision on the kickoff and also give you a chance to start the ball on a reason spot on the field."
Of course, teams aren't required to fair catch kicks that land inside the 20.
"If it's a pooch kick and you feel like you have somebody who can take it to the house and you get a hat on a hat, all it takes is a crease," said Vanderbilt's Mason. "Nowadays, those plays can be explosive. But what do I expect? I expect more fair catches."
Mason said he'd want to see a poll of college football fans to see how they feel about the new rule "because they're the ones who are going to come out and support us."
This whole new rule really got to Mason.
"Do we really want to change the game that much because now, what you've done, OK, instead of being able to pin somebody, defense is now having to start 10 yards farther back?" Mason said. "Every 10 yards, the probability of scoring goes up. I know it's an offensive game, but we still have to protect some of the things in this game that make it exciting. And defensive stops make it exciting."
Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com
New NCAA kickoff rule explained, how it impacts Alabama with critical views from SEC coaches
The topics at SEC Spring Meetings -- if we're being totally honest here -- can get a little stale. Largely, they deal with back-office issues that don't have quantifiable impact on the average fan watching football on a given Saturday afternoon.
It's mostly politics. Who can transfer where. Who can drink what and where it can be drank.
The whole kickoff situation is a little different.
Though it was decided elsewhere by the NCAA and will take effect this fall regardless, a number of SEC coaches had feedback on what they say will have a very visible impact on the product consumed so passionately around the region.
Starting this fall, teams can fair catch any kick inside the 25-yard line for a touchback. Previously, that had to occur in the end zone to get the ball at the 25. The idea is to cut down on the violent impacts that come with kickoffs.
"I've looked at the new rule and I'm sort of taken aback a bit," said Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason. "I think it really changes our game. You have to figure out, we're changing so much of the game, how much of it do you really want to impact. That's a play in the game that's extremely exciting."
If trends continue for Alabama, the rule change will impact things significantly. Crimson Tide opponents had the second-worst starting field position nationally, according to cfbanalytics.com. With Alabama's 99 kickoffs ranking seventh most in the country, the kick boots from JK Scott that landed just outside the end zone had a big effect on where opponent possessions began.
Nick Saban, who didn't address the change this week in Destin, previously said the goal on every kickoff was a touchback. The Tide was 53rd with a touchback percentage of 45.5.
Back in April, Saban said he wasn't a big fan of the new rule.
"I thought it would be an easier solution to just move it back up to the 40-yard line," Saban said in the days immediately following the rule's passage, "because you would get more touchbacks, but you could still sky kick, still onside kick, which you can still do some of those things. But you sky kick trying to give somebody bad field position, they fair catch the ball on the 15-yard line and get the ball on the 25. That takes some of the strategy out of the game, to me, with the result that you have."
So, how will this change the way the game is played?
"I think you'll see a whole lot of people fair catching and getting the ball at the 25-yard line," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "I think if you average the 25-yard line last year I think you'd be the top 20 as far as field position. I think you'll see a lot of people doing that."
The national leader in 2017, Georgia Southern, had touchbacks on 85.2 percent of kickoffs. Florida had the highest touchback rate in the SEC at 78 percent.
"We're not going to change anything there," said South Carolina's Will Muschamp. "That's not going to change our approach. We'd like to kick the ball out of end zone and not worry about a return at all."
New Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead is still in the planning phase.
"I think the strategy part of it is going to be relative to who your kicker is and who your return man is and what your schemes are. I think the chance to fair catch inside the 25 and get it started like a touchback is probably going to eliminate some of those big collision on the kickoff and also give you a chance to start the ball on a reason spot on the field."
Of course, teams aren't required to fair catch kicks that land inside the 20.
"If it's a pooch kick and you feel like you have somebody who can take it to the house and you get a hat on a hat, all it takes is a crease," said Vanderbilt's Mason. "Nowadays, those plays can be explosive. But what do I expect? I expect more fair catches."
Mason said he'd want to see a poll of college football fans to see how they feel about the new rule "because they're the ones who are going to come out and support us."
This whole new rule really got to Mason.
"Do we really want to change the game that much because now, what you've done, OK, instead of being able to pin somebody, defense is now having to start 10 yards farther back?" Mason said. "Every 10 yards, the probability of scoring goes up. I know it's an offensive game, but we still have to protect some of the things in this game that make it exciting. And defensive stops make it exciting."
Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com
New NCAA kickoff rule explained, how it impacts Alabama with critical views from SEC coaches
