- Says they cut the average SEC game down by six minutes last season. He seemed happy about that.
- New rule says kneepads must cover the knee. If they don't and an official sees that, the player must exit the game and miss at least one play. "It's a player safety issue, and we want to take care of that."
- Kickoffs can be fair caught and taken at the 25-yard line this season. After a fair catch, the play clock will go to 40 seconds. Coaches have until the 25-second mark to alert officials if they want the ball relocated between the hashes. There will be some urgency there.
- There have three changes made to BLOCKING BELOW THE WAIST:
- ONE: The offense may not block below the waist beyond five yards from the line of scrimmage
- TWO: Once a player aligns himself outside the tackle box or arcs outside of the tackle box during a play, he no longer is allowed "to block back toward the original position of the ball low." Basic takeaway — crack blocks have to be high for players outside the tackle box.
- THREE: Once the ball leaves the tackle box, players no longer are allowed to block back toward their own end zone. Basic takeaway — crack blocks (Shaw calls these "peel" blocks) have to be high once the ball leaves the tackle box.
- Shaw: "Believe it or not, the rule is significantly simpler to understand and certainly to coach from our players."
- There is new language on LEAPING. "If you run forward and leap in an attempt to block the kick, then you cannot get into the plane above the frame. So the frame of a player, shoulder width, so imagine a plane above that. If you leap, run forward and leap into that plane, it's a foul. So if you run forward and leap and don't get in that, it's OK. And if you're lined up within one yard of the line of scrimmage, then you can leap, you can do whatever. It's that running forward that's the dangerous play."
- There now is a 10-SECOND RUNOFF for instant replay review. The offense may avoid the runoff by calling a timeout.
- Shaw says there is a change to field goal penalty enforcement: "If you have a personal foul on the defense or an unsportsmanlike conduct on a successful field goal, they can keep the points and have the penalty enforced on the kickoff. Or they can take the points off the board and enforce it. Field goals didn't allow the carryover opportunity like extra points; now they are all the same."
