ASU vs UM faint goat TGT?

[dvasques]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000395662/article/arkansas-state-player-fakes-collapse-on-fake-punt

I've seen the same two clips on other link but can't find it anymore.

Now, the guy that faints at the snap... shouldn't he be consider a defensless receiver? or the act of getting up takes this label away from him?
He seems to be out of the play when he gets blown up at the head by B

Or should I not give him the protection because of the fake-fainting?

[Legacy Zebra]

It looks to me like he is getting up to go participate in the play. At that point, he is no longer defenseless.

[eastARref]

What do you think about the Arkansas State player faking a collapse on a fake punt?  Should faking an injury and/or being incapacitated be part of the game of football?  I am more interested in how everyone feels in regards to NFHS games where safety is stressed.  If I saw a player fall to the ground apparently incapacitated, it would scare me to death.  The first thought that popped into my head was, "if i saw that, i would have probably killed the play to protect the kid".  Thoughts?

[SanDiegoStryker]

Even if he is not defenseless, doesn't it look like targeting and making contact with the crown of helmet?

[Kalle]

He performed a fake so he is not out of play. Not sure about the crown of the helmet.

[Ralph Damren]

We've got 9-6-4e : "For a player to be lying on the ground to deceive opponents at or immediately before the snap or free kick" that warrants a flag and could loosely applied to your OP...other choices could be 1-1-6 or 9-9-5...another choice would be to kill the play (as per your suggestion) and asked the "injured" player : "Sorry about your illness , son. now you have to leave for a play ...Oh, by the way ,was this your coach's idea ?" If the answer is" yes"  under 9-8-1 ; if "no"  under 3-6-2f....it's a play that probably won't be ran again .

[Jim D.]

I saw a video of it and he wasn't really trying to fake an injury - it was more of a distracting act.  No one was fooled (or distracted), and I'm not sure what he was trying to accomplish.  I wouldn't have blown it dead because he never looked in distress or danger.

It was kind of like the play where the player goes in motion by doing back flips.  Just really stupid.

[Atlanta Blue]

And in this particular case, the offense threw an interception, and when the Zombie player got up, he got blasted (possibly illegally) by the Miami defender.  A flag here would be adding insult to (fake) injury.