Kicking team member must be on th 25?

SWRaider

Six-man fan
I have seen this called several ways this season. If a team is kicking off, must all 5 players other than the kicker have atleast 1 foot on the 25, both feet on the 25 or they cal line up wherver they want?
I have seen a penalty be thrown for not having both feet on the 25 and I have also seen teams lines up their player on the 20 and some players line up on the 28.
what is the ruling, or is there even a rule that states where a member of the kicking team must stand?
 
The way I understood the rule was that the kicking team couldn't be more than 5 yards away from the tee. If you wanted to line up on the 29 you could as long as the kicking team isn't offsides when the ball is kicked.
 
The kicking team is not allowed to be more than 5 yards behind their restraining line. So most kickoffs you can't be outside the 25. To satisfy this requirement you need to have at least one foot on or inside the 25. You can find the full text of the rule at 6-1-2-b.
 
The rule was put in place to limit the amount of running start that the kicking team could get, not to legislate where to stand.

Anywhere from front foot on the 25, back foot on the 24.5, to standing on the 29.5.

One thing we have seen that is creeping in is lining up behind the 25 and putting a hand on the 25, that doesn't work, the rule is specific, it must be a foot of you are going to stretch the limit.

That also means that you can't loop around behind the 25 until the ball has been kicked.
 
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