— By Sean Manning, The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia right tackle Colton McKivitz usually has a smile on his face and a sense of humor when meeting with the media.
With his country twang and camouflage hat featuring a Flying WV, it doesn’t seem like much would get under the skin of the 6-foot-7, 300-pounder. Except when you mess with his responsibilities on the football field.
College football rule changes, aimed at reducing lower-leg injuries, have trickled down to how offensive players can block.
Officially, the new chop-block rule states:
— No offensive player except offensive linemen can block below the waist unless coming toward the opponent’s front.
— No player can block below the waist 5 or more yards past the line of scrimmage and no player can block below the waist while moving backward toward its own line of scrimmage.
“I was a little upset about the new rule,” McKivitz said. “I’m sure a whole lot of linemen are about the whole downfield cutting thing. It’s definitely a challenge when you’re trying to chase down a cornerback who can run a 4.4 or a 4.5, unlike big linemen like us. It’s a change in our game — play downfield. I think that’s where the rule will make its most impact. That’s where that’ll be felt.”
The chop block aims to take the legs out from under a defender. The new rule, which will result in a 15-yard penalty, will likely cause linemen to eliminate chop blocks all-together. With the way the rule is written now, linemen can still use it only during initial block attempts at the snap.
McKivitz wants to keep an optimistic approach to the new rule, believing, “If you’re doing your thing and getting your guy and blocking them, then there shouldn’t be any reason to get a chop block.”
But remembering in the heat of the moment that downfield chop blocks are no longer legal is something that will take a little while to get used to.
“I had one against Kansas last year because I beat the guy to the spot, but I thought I would just cut him. I won’t be able to do that now,” McKivitiz said.
“But it’ll keep up with player safety, and that’s a big emphasis for what that rule is made for — keep guys healthy instead of blocking low on guys.”
Coach Dana Holgorsen thinks the new rule is another step in eventually eliminating chop blocks all-together. In the meantime, he wants the coaching staff to teach what is legal and what’s not since there is a fine line between the two and the officials are going to be scrutinizing.
“In my eight years here, I think six of the years we’ve talked about blocking below the waist in our head coach meetings, and every year, I leave more confused on what is legal and what is not legal,” Holgorsen said.
“We showed [the players] a lot of examples and the tricky part is that we don’t practice it. We don’t practice cut blocking against our own people … but we have to educate them. It’s up to each one of the position coaches to communicate to the players that this is an acceptable cut block and this is not an acceptable cut block.”
Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson remains skeptical about rules that prohibit offensive players.
“I’m anxious to see how they going to call it,” he said. “There was a new rule went in a few years ago where after 3 yards they were going to call illegal linemen downfield, but I still don’t think we’ve ever got one called.”