Coach Marcus Borden discuses Pop Warner rule change
by WoodbridgeFootball.com / MyCentralJersey.com / NJ.com on 05/13/16
Citing safety concerns, Pop Warner became the first national football
organization to ban kickoffs, announcing on Thursday that it
was eliminating them for children 10-and-under.
In lieu of a kickoff, the ball will be placed at the 35-yard line to start each half and after every score in Pop Warner's three youngest divisions: Tiny Mite (5-7 year olds), Mitey Mite (7-9 year-olds) and Junior Pee Wee (8-10 year olds).
Pop Warner Executive Director Jon Butler is quoted on the organization’s website stating, “We are constantly working to make the game safer and better for our young athletes, and we think the move is an important step in that direction.”
By eliminating the kickoffs, “There will be a substantial reduction in the number of violent hits by one team’s best player(s) on the opposing team’s best player,” said Jake Rodriguez of the South Brunswick PAL. “It’s a great rule.”
Furthermore, Rodriguez said he believes the rule just makes sense with “the limited practice time and the difficulty in teaching special teams techniques to the younger players.”
Pop Warner, the nation's largest youth football organization, will evaluate the 2016 season’s kickoff ban at the conclusion of the year to determine the success of the rule implementation and to see what changes might be made in the future for all levels of competition.
National Federation for State High School Associations (NFHS) Executive Director Bob Gardner said, “We are very supportive of Pop Warner’s decision to improve the safety of the game and we look forward to hearing about the results of their rule implementation.”
Asked about changes to the high school game, Gardner said “no formal proposals are on the table, although we are constantly looking to improve the safety of the game, and remember, in high school football the ball is still dead once it crosses the goal line.”
NJSIAA Associate Director Jack Dubois, who sits on the NHFS Football Rules Committee and is in charge of football for the statewide athletics association, echoed Gardner’s comments regarding the impact on New Jersey high school football. He said, “The only recent change to the high school kicking game is the number of players that must be on either side of the ball on a free kick. Discussion about making the game safer in New Jersey is ongoing and we know that the kickoff is considered one of the most dangerous plays.”
Recent changes to the kicking game in the NFL have many believing that there may be a trickle-down effect to the college and high school game. Five years ago the league moved the kickoff from the 30 to the 35-yard line to force more touchbacks and to reduce the number of high-speed collisions that are part of the kickoff return. Prior to the rule about 80 percent of kicks were returned. A steady decline each year has proved that there has been a significant impact from the rule change, which shows that in 2015 a little more that 40 percent of kicks were returned.
Still looking to make the game safer, the NFL has decided that in 2016 teams that take a touchback will be rewarded by placing the ball on the 25-yard line instead of the 20. Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, a critic of tinkering with kickoffs at the professional level, told pool reporters at the NFL's annual league meeting earlier this year: “Do you want the kicking game in the game or not in the game? If it's in the game, let's kick it and return it and let's play the play. Let's not reward a decision not to compete with 5 extra yards."
Some football purists cringe at the thought of what might happen to the game if a team cannot rally for a comeback win because the kickoff or onside kick are no longer an option. Others may side with Pop Warner's strategy.
“If the NFL is making adjustments to the kicking game," Rodriguez said, "then maybe we ought to be thinking about it, too, at all levels of play.”
