I was unaware of this until today when I sat down for breakfast at the coffee shop and the L.V. Review Journal to check in on a guy who I predicted would be a great D1 head coach, Bobby Hauck. In the article they mentioned that he is the coach in charge of special teams just like Frank Beamer. Then they talked about the impact of the new KO rule. Kickoffs will now be from the 35 yard line and if it is downed in the end zone the ball will be placed on the 25. Sort of surprised me since everything else they've done has been to pussify the game and this is one aspect where injuries reign supreme with guys running 40 yards at full speed looking to take someone's head off.
The rule encourages runbacks, and you're right; kickoffs can be dangerous. This gives another ten yeards to the receiving team that the kicking team will want to take back.
The gunners (the guys on the outside) will be streaking down to pinch in and cut off any thought of a runback, or they will zero on to make the tackle as quick as they can, while the rest of the coverage stays in their lanes but will look for the ball. This is where guys get hurt. They are looking for the ball, and all of a sudden get blocked or collide, or mis-judge the ball carrier and get run over.
In our case, this may be to our advantage. We have at least three guys who clock 4.37 to 4.45, and that's flying. We may see a couple of great runbacks this year if we catch a break and get our return team going.
Rick, there are helmet rules that are going to be somewhat interesting to see being enforced this coming season:
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/61375/watch-for-these-rule-changes-in-2012
New CFB rule on kickoffs