Can you recover an onside kick while the ball is in the air?

• GoJPM!

  

  ?????????????
  
  Ball travels a good fifteen yards, never hits the ground, before the kicking team comes down and catches it. The player who catches the ball is flagged for interference.
  
  I always thought it was anything goes during an onside kick once the ball travels ten yards. Evidently, this is one of those quirky high school rules that doesn't mirror the rules of college and pro?
• rydawg5

  Can you catch any kickoff in the air? An onside kick is still a kickoff --- just a shorter one.
• Flash

  

  I think if the receiving team calls a fair catch, but doesn't catch the ball its still theirs. If no fair catch sign then it can be recovered. I'm no official but I slept in a Holiday Inn last night, so take it for what its worth.
• ts1227

  

  GoJPM!;567021 wrote:?????????????
  
  Ball travels a good fifteen yards, never hits the ground, before the kicking team comes down and catches it. The player who catches the ball is flagged for interference.
  
  I always thought it was anything goes during an onside kick once the ball travels ten yards. Evidently, this is one of those quirky high school rules that doesn't mirror the rules of college and pro?

  I'm assuming the kick returner called for a fair catch in the short amount of time he had for there to be a kick catch interference call. Heads up play by the returner in that case.
• Bigdogg

  Ask Be Nice, he is the freaking expert!
• Pick6

  

  The answer is NO. My team in high school actually did this once. It was a pooch kick from the right hash towards the left side of the field. we put our fastest players on the far left to run under the ball and catch it. It worked, however, we did not get to keep posession. According to the ref, the ball has to hit the ground.
• Go_Fast_Sports

  

  I've seen this happen before when the kicking team recovered it in the air, flags were thrown, and they had to re-kick with a 5 yard penalty.
• Darkon

  

  The ball must hit the ground and travel 10 yards or the recieving team must touch the ball in order for the kicking team to make a recovery. This is my understanding.
• oberhaus

  

  Flash;567084 wrote:I think if the receiving team calls a fair catch, but doesn't catch the ball its still theirs. If no fair catch sign then it can be recovered. I'm no official but I slept in a Holiday Inn last night, so take it for what its worth.

  
  There's the problem...you didn't stay at a Holiday Inn EXPRESS....
• Al Bundy

  If the ball hasn't hit the ground yet, you must give the receiving team an opportunity to catch it. They can call for a fair catch.
• GoJPM!

  

  The ball was pooched from the left hash over towards the right sideline (visitors). There was no fair catch called by the receiving team and no five yard penalty and re-kick. The officials spotted the ball at the receiving team's own 45. I would have thought there would have been a penalty and re-kick too.
  
  I know in the NFL, the ball has to only travel ten yards. I've seen onsides recovered while the ball was still in the air.
• Al Bundy

  GoJPM!;567560 wrote:The ball was pooched from the left hash over towards the right sideline (visitors). There was no fair catch called by the receiving team and no five yard penalty and re-kick. The officials spotted the ball at the receiving team's own 45. I would have thought there would have been a penalty and re-kick too.
  
  I know in the NFL, the ball has to only travel ten yards. I've seen onsides recovered while the ball was still in the air.

  
  Only the receiving team can catch it in the air. It must hit the ground before the kicking team can recover. That is why teams usually bounce it off the ground right away because it eliminates the fair catch, and it can be recovered once it goes 10 yards or the receiving team touches t.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  Does anyone have the rulebook quote? I was going to get my rule book, but I lost my keys to the building where it is located.
• Sonofanump

  Darkon;567113 wrote:The ball must hit the ground and travel 10 yards or the recieving team must touch the ball in order for the kicking team to make a recovery. This is my understanding.

  
  Your understanding of high school is correct.
  
  QFT.
• Sonofanump

  ernest_t_bass;568121 wrote:Does anyone have the rulebook quote? I was going to get my rule book, but I lost my keys to the building where it is located.

  Rule 6 is kicking.
  
  6.1.5.
  
  ART.5 . . . If any K player recovers or catches a free kick, the ball becomes
  dead. It belongs to him unless it is kick-catching interference and R chooses an
  awarded fair catch or unless it is first touching. Any K player may recover the ball
  before it goes beyond R’s free-kick line if it is touched first by any receiver. Such
  touching in the neutral zone by R is ignored if it is caused by K pushing or block-
  ing R into contact with the ball or if K muffs the ball into contact with R. Any K
  player may recover a free kick if it has both touched the ground and goes beyond
  the plane of R’s free-kick line. The two requirements may occur in any order. If a
  free kick becomes dead inbounds between the goal lines while no player is in pos-
  session, or inbounds anywhere while opponents are in joint possession, the ball
  is awarded to R.
  ART.6 . . . If any K player touches a free kick before it crosses R’s free-kick
  line and before it is touched there by any R player, it is referred to as “first touch-
  ing of the kick.” R may take the ball at the spot of first touching, or any spot if
  there is more than one spot of first touching, or they may choose to have the ball
  put in play as determined by the action which follows first touching. Such touch-
  ing is ignored if it is caused by R pushing or blocking K into contact with the ball.
  The right of R to take the ball at the spot of first touching by K is canceled if R
  touches the kick and thereafter during the down commits a foul or if the penalty
  is accepted for any foul committed during the down.
  ART.7 . . . A free kick is not repeated unless:
  a. A foul occurs prior to a change of possession and the penalty acceptance
  requires a replay of the down.