Video: High school kicker blasts 64-yard field goalThere was no snap or hold, but a 64-yard kick through the uprights last week by
Bremen (Ga.) senior
Jake Verity has many amazed and even curious.
The reason being, Bremen's boot came on an obscure free kick, also known as a fair catch kick — not a traditional field goal — but still counted as three points.
Bremen's kick came on the last play of the first half to put his team up 10-7 over Rockmart and it turned out to be the margin of victory, as the Blue Devils won their first game of the year, 17-14. It was the second-longest field goal in state history and the nation's sixth-longest ever.
Bremen was a hero and the fair catch kick, which is a legal part of the game in high school and the NFL, has thus been thrust into the national spotlight.
A fair catch kick looks very much like a kickoff and is allowed only following a fair catch of a punt, or if a punt returner is interfered with while trying to catch the ball.
On the next play only, the offensive team can line up for the kick from the spot of the catch. The opposing team – like a kickoff – must line up 10 yards beyond the spot and the kick and, at least in high school, the ball can be teed up. In the NFL, it is not allowed to be teed up, thus teams might opt for the very old-school drop kick, which allows a player to drop the ball off the turf before kicking.
Here's more than you'll ever want to know about the rule on
Wikipedia, including every time it has been tried in the NFL.
