Leaping penalty in college football

[bjornolf]

Hey, what's with all the leaping penalties in football all of a sudden? I hadn't seen that call in a long time, then yesterday, I saw it twice in two different games on extra points. I thought leaping was supposed to be for launching yourself off of somebody. Neither of these guys looked like they were within a yard of anybody else when they took off, though both of them landed on somebody. However, the flag looked like it flew before they landed in both instances. I thought you were SUPPOSED to "leap" to try to block a kick. What's up with that?

[uh_no]

Hey, what's with all the leaping penalties in football all of a sudden? I hadn't seen that call in a long time, then yesterday, I saw it twice in two different games on extra points. I thought leaping was supposed to be for launching yourself off of somebody. Neither of these guys looked like they were within a yard of anybody else when they took off, though both of them landed on somebody. However, the flag looked like it flew before they landed in both instances. I thought you were SUPPOSED to "leap" to try to block a kick. What's up with that?

leaping is pushing off someone else....

[pbc2]

Official Rule:
"No defensive player, in an attempt to gain an advantage, may step, jump or stand on an opponent (Rule 9-3-5-b). No defensive player who runs forward from beyond the neutral zone and leaps from beyond the neutral zone in an obvious attempt to block a field goal or try may land on any player(s). It is not a foul if the leaping player was aligned in a stationary position within one yard of the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped."

[bjornolf]

Official Rule:
"No defensive player, in an attempt to gain an advantage, may step, jump or stand on an opponent (Rule 9-3-5-b). No defensive player who runs forward from beyond the neutral zone and leaps from beyond the neutral zone in an obvious attempt to block a field goal or try may land on any player(s). It is not a foul if the leaping player was aligned in a stationary position within one yard of the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped."

Ah, I see now. So, if they run from behind the neutral zone and jump up to try to block it and land on someone, it's a foul. Now I get it. I always thought it was for launching OFF someone. So it matters where you start from and where you land. I wonder if this rule has changed recently, cause I hadn't seen it all year, then suddenly saw it twice in the same weekend. Thanks.

[blazindw]

A leaping penalty occurs when you're off the line of scrimmage and either leap off someone on the line or leap in the air and land on someone on the line. So, a lot of those penalties occur when players line up behind the line, rush and try to leap over the line to block the kick, landing on someone who lined up on the line in the process. That's actually what happened on the TD in the Duke game yesterday.