[Husker] High School Kickers

[RJ Wessel]

At one time they were but in the early 90's they were reduced to 18' 6"



History
In the early days of football, kicking was highly emphasized.

In 1883 the scoring system was devised and field goals counted 5 points while touchdowns and conversions counted 3 each. 

In 1897 the touchdown was raised to 5 points while the conversion was lowered to 1 point. 

The field goal was changed to 4 points in 1904 and then to the modern 3 points in 1909. 

The touchdown was changed to 6 points in 1912. 

In 1924 the conversion was spotted at the 3 yard line. 

In 1925-1928 it was moved to the 5 yard line. 

In 1929 it was moved to the 2 yard line. 

Finally, in 1968 it was moved back to the 3 yard line. 

The goal posts were originally located on the goal line which led to many injuries, and the NCAA moved the goal posts to the rear of the end zone in 1927. 

In 1959 the NCAA goal posts were widened to 23'4". 

In 1988 the NCAA banned the kicking tee, requiring kicks from the ground. 

In 1991 the college goal posts were reduced in width to 18'6" the width of NFL goal posts. 

In 1991 and 1992, this meant severe angles for short field goal attempts, since the hashmarks were still located 53'4" appart. 

In 1993, the NCAA narrowed the distance between the hashmarks to 40' (which was the width of hashmarks in the NFL until 1972, when they were narrowed to 18'6"). 

Like the collegiate goal posts, the NFL goal posts were located on the goal line. They were moved to the rear of the end zone in 1974. 

In 1967, the NFL adopted the "slingshot" goalpost, with a single post curving to support the crossbar. The NCAA later adopted the same rule, but later allowed the use of "offset" goalposts, with two posts rather than one. Three schools in Division I-A currently use two posts instead of one for goalposts in their stadiums: Florida State, LSU, and Washington State. 

---- gzimmerman at everestkc.net wrote: 
> Goal posts in the NFL are 18'-6" wide and in the NCAA and High School are 23'-4" wide. 
> 
> College and high school goal posts are the same width.
> 
> Greg Zimmerman, UNL '75
> Overland Park, Kansas
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: JEN_SENS <answerman1 at hotmail.com>
> Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 4:43 pm
> Subject: [Husker] High School Kickers
> 
> > I haven't checked the rules lately, but remember when most of 
> > these high 
> > school kickers were making 50 yard field goals they were kicking 
> > from a two 
> > inch tee at goal posts that were almost five feet wider than 
> > college kickers 
> > have to work with. College kickers kick from the ground. Five feet 
> > gives a 
> > lot of forgiveness to an errant kick. And of course golfers know 
> > the benefit 
> > of teeing up the ball over a fairway shot. (Sorry, that is an 
> > analogy so it 
> > must not be true). ; )
> 
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