New rules reflect focus on safety
Kickoffs moving up 5 yards to 35
Kickoffs in college football will move from the 30-yard line to the 35 next season, a change intended to improve player safety.
The change was approved by the NCAA playing rules oversight panel.
Another new NCAA rule involving free kicks will move touchbacks from the 20-yard line to the 25, a move intended to encourage more touchbacks.
The panel also approved a rule requiring that a player who loses his helmet during a play must leave the game for a play.
Data from the 2011 season showed a rise of nearly 100% in the number of players losing helmets during play.
Oregon allegations:
The NCAA is alleging Oregon violated rules in the way it used football recruiting services the last four years.
The accusations were contained in two draft documents, labeled “Proposed Findings of Violations,” obtained Friday in a public records request by several news media outlets. While the documents use language indicating the NCAA and university agree on certain points, an athletic department spokesman said Oregon did not acknowledge any of the violations.
The NCAA has been looking into Oregon’s recruiting practices since questions rose over a 2010 payment of $25,000 to Willie Lyles and his Houstonbased service. Information produced by the university that it said was from Lyles turned out to be largely outdated.
The draft documents, which are heavily redacted, suggest Oregon’s use of three scouting services “did not conform” with NCAA rules and that the Ducks exceeded the number of coaches allowed to recruit.
The documents state the scope and nature of the violations “demonstrate that the athletics department failed to ade- quately monitor the football program’s use of recruiting or scouting services.”
Oregon has not received a formal notice of allegations.
The documents did not include any possible penalties. The NCAA does not comment on ongoing investigations.
Radford ruling:
The NCAA placed Radford on probation for two years for rules violations in men’s basketball and tennis and imposed heavy sanctions on four coaches for misleading investigators.
The hardest hit was former men’s basketball coach Brad Greenberg, who was suspended for the final four games last season and then quit. Greenberg, brother of Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, was given a five-year show-cause order, making him essentially unemployable by a college for that span. Three assistants got twoyear show-cause bans.