Was Tennessee's Drop Kick Onside Kick Against Texas Legal? The Rules, Explained

Down 20-17 to No. 1 Texas with 1:22 left on Saturday, Tennessee punter Jackson Ross drop kicked an onside kick off a Texas receiver’s hands, and linebacker Arion Carter recovered it at the Tennessee 49. One official threw a flag, the crew conferred, and the flag was picked up.

Texas held on, but NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay says the kick was illegal, and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian wants the SEC to rule on it. I watched the end of the game and went to the rulebook, partly because I’ve tried this myself: playing for Pulaski Academy (the Little Rock school famous for almost never punting and onside kicking most kickoffs) I went 1 for 2 on drop kick onside kicks in a 2013 game against Sylvan Hills. Two definitions: an onside kick is a short kickoff the kicking team tries to recover itself, and a drop kick means the kicker drops the ball and kicks it as it hits the ground instead of off a tee.

The kick, via ESPN’s official clip. The SEC’s own post of the play is here, and Terry McAulay’s ruling is here.

Key takeaways

A drop kick is an allowed kickoff; the spot is the question. The ball has to be kicked from a point on the 35 (the kickoff rules).
Yahoo’s Nick Bromberg reported the kick came from just ahead of the 33, which is the basis of McAulay’s call (the three tests).
A drop kick only counts if the foot meets the ball as it touches the ground (the definition).
If it was a foul, the fix was a five-yard re-kick from the 30, not Texas ball (the three tests).
The kick cleared the 10-yard rule the moment it hit Ryan Wingo’s hands, and a kicking team can recover a free kick but never advance it (touching and recovering).
An NFL onside kick has to be declared, and since 2026 can come at any time (how the NFL differs).

What Jackson Ross did on the kick

Quarterback Faizon Brandon hit Mike Matthews for a 30-yard touchdown with 1:22 left. The first onside try never counted: Sarkisian had called a timeout just before it, and that kick “skittered out of bounds untouched,” as FootballScoop’s Zach Barnett put it.

On the second try Ross, a fifth-year punter from Melbourne who played Australian rules football for Hawthorn and kicks with either foot, skipped the tee. He “faked to his right before kicking left,” per Barnett, and Yahoo’s Nick Bromberg put the kick “just ahead of the Tennessee 33-yard line, roughly two yards back of the kickoff spot.” The box score lists it at 12 yards. It hit the hands of Texas’s Ryan Wingo, Carter fell on it at the 49, and no outlet has reported what the flag was for or why it was picked up.

“That’s the first onside kick I’ve ever done,” Ross said afterward, “but we put hours of time into things like that.” Carter’s version: “We practice those special situations every Thursday and Friday.”

What counts as a legal kickoff in college football

Rule 2-16-6 of the 2026 NCAA rulebook says a kickoff “must be a place kick or a drop kick,” which rules out a punt.

On a kickoff the kicking team’s restraining line is its 35-yard line (Rule 6-1-1), and Rule 6-1-2-a, which McAulay cites, says the ball “must be kicked legally and from some point on Team A’s restraining line.” The one exception, Rule 6-1-2-c-4, lets a punt or drop kick after a safety be “kicked from behind the kicking team’s restraining line.” The penalty is a dead-ball foul, “Five yards from the succeeding spot,” so the team kicks again from its 30.

The NCAA definition of a drop kick, and why the bounce matters

Rule 2-16-3 is one sentence: “A drop kick is a kick by a player who drops the ball and kicks it as it touches the ground.” A punt, under Rule 2-16-2, is kicked “before it touches the ground,” so the whole difference is the instant the foot meets the ball. The NFL’s definition gives the kicker more room: “as, or immediately after, it touches the ground” (NFL Rule 3-17-1).

Approved Ruling 2-16-6-I shows what an illegal drop kick looks like. The kicker “holds the ball as if he will attempt a drop kick,” tosses it up, and kicks it “after it bounces several feet into the air,” and the ruling is “Illegal Kick. Dead-ball foul.” Ross’s ball came off his foot close to the turf. The open question is where he kicked it from.

The onside kick rules: 10 yards, touching and recovering

Ross’s kick cleared the 10-yard rule the moment it hit Wingo’s hands. Under Rule 6-1-3-a the kicking team can’t touch a free kick until it touches a receiving-team player or crosses the receiving team’s restraining line, 10 yards downfield.

Under Rule 6-1-6-a a free kick recovered by the kicking team is dead on the spot, so Carter’s recovery at the 49 was also where the drive started. A free kick out of bounds untouched is a foul (Rule 6-2-1) that lets the receiving team take the ball 30 yards past the kicking team’s line, which is why Tennessee’s first try would have ended the game.

So was Tennessee’s kick legal?

The kick could have been illegal in three ways, and each is a dead-ball foul with the same five-yard penalty.

The bounce. A.R. 2-16-6-I would apply if Ross had kicked the ball after it popped up. My read of the replay is that he kicked it about as close to the ground as can reasonably be expected, or seen, in real time, so this test isn’t the problem.

The spot. Bromberg’s report puts the kick “just ahead of the Tennessee 33-yard line,” and that’s McAulay’s objection: “This is illegal on a kickoff. The ball must be kicked on the restraining line, the 35 yard line here. There is an exception for safety kicks, but not a kickoff.” No approved ruling covers a ball kicked a yard or two behind the line, which is what Sarkisian is asking the SEC about. The ABC crew also wondered on air whether Ross could move from his first spot at all; Rule 6-1-2-a says the ball “may only be relocated after a charged timeout,” and Texas had just taken one.

The fake. Approved Ruling 6-1-2-IX makes it a dead-ball offside foul if teammates on the fake side cross the 35 and come back before the kick, and officials are told that “when in question, the kicking team player has not broken the plane.”

Sarkisian told reporters that one official “thought it was a foul and threw it,” and the SEC hadn’t ruled as of Sunday morning.

My read

If Bromberg’s spot is right, the flag should have stood and the fix was a re-kick from the 30. The bounce looked fine to me.

That said, I think the rule could use a patch. It isn’t realistic to drop kick a ball from exactly the line: you drop it in front of you, it hits the turf, and your foot meets it wherever it lands. Having gone 1 for 2 on these in high school, I’d call a yard or two behind the 35 a fair allowance, and the rulebook already gives a drop kick after a safety exactly that room.

How the NFL’s kickoff and onside kick rules differ

The 2026 NFL rulebook allows a drop kick or place kick on a kickoff and requires a free kick to come “from any point on the kicking team’s restraining line” (NFL Rule 6-1-1), same as college. An NFL onside kick, though, is declared: the kicking team “must declare that form of a free kick to the officials,” and a 2026 change to NFL Rule 6-1-6 lets that happen “at any time during the game.” The kicker “may be beyond the line, provided that his kicking foot is not beyond the line.”

Justin Tucker tried a drop kick onside kick for Baltimore in September 2019, and the league later called it illegal because he kicked the ball after the bounce. Approved Ruling 3.7 draws the line: a kick made “immediately after it bounces off the ground” is legal, and one not made “as, or immediately after, it touches the ground” is illegal.

A short history of the drop kick

The ball got slimmer and pointier in 1934 and “did not bounce up from the ground reliably” afterward, so the place kick took over. Dutch Clark kicked the NFL’s last drop kick field goal in 1937, and Doug Flutie’s extra point on January 1, 2006, at age 43, was the first successful NFL drop kick since 1941. In college the drop kick picked up a second use in 2026: the new fair catch kick “will be a field goal place kick with a holder (no tee) or a drop kick.”

The SEC’s review will settle whether Texas was owed a re-kick, and it’ll probably come down to a yard or two of turf. I doubt Saturday’s was the last drop kick onside kick we see this season.

Frequently asked questions

Is a drop kick legal on a kickoff in college football?

Yes. Rule 2-16-6 of the NCAA rulebook says a kickoff “must be a place kick or a drop kick,” and a punt is the one kick that isn’t allowed. The catch is the definition: a drop kick means the kicker drops the ball and kicks it “as it touches the ground” (Rule 2-16-3), and the rulebook’s own example says a ball kicked after it bounces up is an illegal kick. A 2024 Football Zebras rules review covered a college onside drop kick that “was a drop-kick, which is a legal free kick.”

Why did Terry McAulay say Tennessee’s onside kick was illegal?

Because of where the ball was kicked. Rule 6-1-2-a requires a free kick to come from a point on the kicking team’s restraining line, the 35 on a kickoff, and Yahoo’s Nick Bromberg reported the ball was kicked just ahead of the 33. McAulay’s post put it this way: “The ball must be kicked on the restraining line, the 35 yard line here. There is an exception for safety kicks, but not a kickoff.” FanSided’s summary of his view adds that Ross may have moved laterally after the ready-for-play signal.

What would the penalty have been?

A dead-ball foul for an illegal kick: five yards from the succeeding spot. The kick wouldn’t count and Tennessee would have kicked off again from its 30, still trailing by three. Texas wouldn’t have been awarded the ball.

Does an onside kick have to go 10 yards?

Under Rule 6-1-3 the kicking team can’t touch the ball until it touches a receiving-team player or crosses the receiving team’s restraining line, which sits 10 yards past the kicking team’s. Either one makes the ball live for the kicking team. Ross’s kick hit Texas receiver Ryan Wingo’s hands before Arion Carter recovered it.

Can the kicking team advance an onside kick it recovers?

No. Rule 6-1-6-a says a free kick caught or recovered by the kicking team is dead on the spot, and the kicking team keeps it only if it’s in legal possession when the ball is ruled dead. A joint recovery goes to the receiving team. Tennessee’s drive started at its 49 because that’s where Carter fell on the ball.

Can an NFL team drop kick an onside kick?

Yes. The 2026 NFL rulebook allows a drop kick or place kick on any kickoff, and Approved Ruling 3.7 describes a legal drop kick onside kick. Two differences from college: an NFL onside kick has to be declared to the referee first, and the NFL’s definition lets the kicker strike the ball “as, or immediately after, it touches the ground.” In 2019 Justin Tucker tried one for Baltimore, and Football Zebras reported the league later told the Ravens it was illegal because he kicked the ball after the bounce.

Has the SEC ruled on Tennessee’s onside kick?

Not as of Sunday morning, September 27. “We need to get a ruling on how they kicked it because there’s a lot of gray area in that and obviously, one of the officials thought it was a foul and threw it,” Steve Sarkisian said after the game. I’ll update this post if the SEC issues one.