CFB Q - placeholder runs after having knee on ground

This question has bothered my dad for a long time. Some teams (most notably LSU) run a fake fieldgoal play where the placeholder (who is kneeling on the ground) will run the football or toss it to somebody else. Tonight he ran it himself. We couldn’t tell if he got his knee off the ground before he caught the ground. However, several years ago (IIRC) he remained kneeling while tossing the ball behind him. Obviously there is something in the rulebook that keeps every place kick from being whistled dead the moment the kneeling placeholder catches the ball.

In the case of a fake fieldgoal or PAT, does the placeholder have to raise his knee off the ground before advancing or passing the ball? Is there some exemption in the rulebook for placeholders? If so, any details would be appreciated.

Under NCAA rules, the holder need not rise before handing off or passing. In effect, as long as there is a teammate in position to kick, the holder may do anything he could legally do if he had risen (4-1-3b Ex, AR 4-1-3 I). There are three requirements for the ball to remain live with the holder’s knee on the ground: (1) The ball must be behind the neutral zone (it doesn’t matter if the ball had or hadn’t been beyond the neutral zone); (2) a teammate must be in position to kick (but doesn’t actually have to kick); and (3) it must be before a change of team possession

These rules also apply if you have to quickly rise to catch an off target snap, you can go directly back to the knee while still not being down (though a fake where you get back up at this point is unlikely to happen due to the timing being killed).

In high school, however, the holder can’t do anything from a knee other than hold - they must rise before passing, handing off, lateraling, etc.

(I don’t know the NFL rule, this issue came up at my high school association meeting last week. A crew let a toss from the knee go since it’s so rare, but doublechecked after the game and was not happy to find they missed it)

Not an issue in the NFL, having your knee touch the ground does not stop the play, unless you are touched by an opponent. ----- ( exception being, when you are intentionaly doing it to end a play… typically after recieving a kick)

Right, but I don’t know what the exact interplay is between the “intentionally kneeling” rules and the “exceptions to various rules during a scrimmage kick” rules. I would *assume *that the kneeling rules only apply to obviously giving yourself up situations and don’t apply to rekneeling after standing to grab a bad snap as a holder, but I wouldn’t bet any large amounts of money on it either.