How will the new kickoff rule change college football in 2018?

If you missed the rule change earlier this year, players can now fair catch a kickoff and it result in the ball being dead and giving the receiving team the ball on the 25-yard line. The whole idea revolves around player safety and not reducing the amount of full speed impacts on kickoffs.

Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason isn’t too excited about it either.

“I’ve looked at the new rule and I’m sort of taken aback a bit,” Mason, via AL.com. “I think it really changes our game. You have to figure out, we’re changing so much of the game, how much of it do you really want to impact. That’s a play in the game that’s extremely exciting.

“Do we really want to change the game that much because now, what you’ve done, OK, instead of being able to pin somebody, defense is now having to start 10 yards farther back?” Mason continued. “Every 10 yards, the probability of scoring goes up. I know it’s an offensive game, but we still have to protect some of the things in this game that make it exciting. And defensive stops make it exciting.”

Of course, Mason is a defensive-minded coach, and he’ll vie for it.

It’ll be interesting to see how teams and coaches strategize about the new rule in 2018.