Hire Coach's Plan for Safer Kickoffs

Schiano deserves some applause.

Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano has floated a proposal to make kickoffs safer by replacing them with special punting situations. This sounds like a good idea that should be hired.

Schiano, who knows a thing or two about the dangers of kickoffs since one of his players was paralyzed during one, suggested replacing every kickoff with a punting situation. Under Schaino's plan, if a team scores a TD, for example, it would immediately get the ball on its own 30 yard line for 4th down and 15. The team could choose to punt, which normally leads to fewer injuries than kickoffs, or it could go for it (essentially like an on-side kick).  
 
Not bad, right? With all the concern swirling around football regarding safety, the NCAA should give this plan a try for a few seasons to see if incidents of serious injuries are reduced. If it doesn't work, at least the NCAA can say it tried to make the game safer and no one can really argue with that. Hopefully the NCAA will ignore The Ohio State University for a few minutes and consider Schiano's modest proposal.