We Trace How Early Techniques Changed Modern Kickoff Rules

Sports History Network · Nov 10, 2026 · 17m · transcript

Timothy Brown explains that the rule requiring the kicking team to kick the ball at least ten yards was instituted to disable the dangerous flying wedge. He describes how a Harvard coach named DeLand arranged multiple players into a phalanx behind a dribble kick so one runner could be shielded by a mass of blockers. We note that the wedge was highly effective but caused severe injuries when defenders attempted to break it and were trampled. I outline that early reforms used the ten‑yard kick rule as an indirect remedy and that later direct bans followed: in 1910 pushing, pulling, and…