I noticed on one of the kickoffs against Georgia that our returner (Mason, I believe) was hit very hard by a Georgia defender. It appeared on the replay that the Georgia player had his head down and launched himself helmet first directly into Mason. Did anyone else think as I did that the technique used may have been an illegal play?
I seem to recall that the announcers mades some comments about that being similar to hits we took in the LSU game on kick offs. However, they did not comment about whether that type of hit should be flagged for unnencessary roughness. I watched part of the Utah State vs BYU game earlier this year and saw the hit that got the Utah State defender ejected from the game. The hit on Mason was every bit as bad as that on the BYU receiver, if not worse.
Is the head down, leading with helmet type of hit only called out when it happens against receivers making a catch - or punt returners making a catch as in the Vanderbilt game when the Arky defender was flagged?
Sorry for the wordy post but I was a little surprised the hit on Mason was not even discussed by the announcers as a possible penalty.