Kickoff Plays - Do you have to have a tee? Drop Kick?

[BG5]

Gents,

I had a varsity coach ask me if on a kickoff his kicker could just lay the ball down on the ground (without a tee) and kick it??  I also had him ask me on a kickoff if his kicker could drop kick it (bounce the ball off the ground) and then kick it.  He wants to do this for onside kicks and I looked in the rule book and had a hard time finding anything that would suggest he cannot do that.

Any advice on this one?

[ncwingman]

A tee is not required.

2-24-5,6 and 7 are relevant definitions.

A free kick (2-25-5) requires a place kick (2-24-7) or drop kick (2-24-6).

For a place kick (2-24-7) the ball must be in a fixed position on the ground *or* on a tee. The ball may also be held in place by a teammate, but it is not required to be held if it is not on a tee. The ball can be laying on the ground, but not moving (fixed position), and not held by a teammate either. I've had this happen a few times in JV games when the visiting team forgot to bring their tee and only discovered it on the opening kick off.

[Ralph Damren]

While a drop kick can be used, the balltouching the ground during/before the kick DOESN'T releave the kick from needing to return to earth before it becomes live for K's recovery.

[refjeff]

I've seen a couple of teams that kicked PAT's without a T. 

Legal.

[Ralph Damren]

At NCAA & NFL, usind a tee for PAT/FG attempts isn' allowed. A kid with higher level aspirations may wish to learn at that in high school. We have a school with such a kid, whose holder just plants the ball on the grass. I had one of his games last year and he was 7-7 on PATs plus a 46 yard FG. All kickoffs sailed deep into the EZ.

His coach quizzed me on mechanics of free kicking after a fair catch. I have that on my bucket list. Maybe I'll have them later this season.