Former President Donald Trump Bashes New NFL Kickoff Rules During Interview With Clay Travis
Donald Trump spoke on a number of topics during an exclusive interview with OutKick founder Clay Travis at the Georgia - Alabama contest on Saturday night. The former President touched on Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, the state of college football, and just like many NFL fans, asked what on Earth is going on with the new NFL kickoff rules.
The audience inside the stadium in Tuscaloosa cheered when Trump was shown on the video board, watching the game with Senators Katie Britt, Steve Daines, and Tommy Tuberville.
OutKick founder Clay Travis interviews former President Donald Trump during halftime of Saturday's Georgia-Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama(Charles Hunnell/OutKick)
When asked by Travis about what fans may be missing out on by not paying the same attention to college football as they do the NFL, the former President spoke highly about the college football landscape before criticizing the NFL rule changes.
"Well, I've always heard the impression ‘big time college football,’ and you know, the NFL is great, but we have 125,000 people here today, Herschel [Walker] standing right behind us, but big time college football, some people want to watch that as opposed to the NFL," the former President said.
"I don't know what they're doing with the kickoff return in the NFL. And I don't want to get involved in controversy, of course, but it looks so bad. And I noticed that they hadn't' done that in college, and they shouldn't do it," he said. "And I think the NFL should go back. And maybe it is a little bit more dangerous, but I doubt that it's any more dangerous. It's football."
"I think they made a terrible mistake in doing that."
The new ‘Dynamic Kickoff’ rule was introduced in the NFL this season and brought over from the XFL. It features a Landing Zone for every kickoff, which is marked from the receiving team's goal line to the 20-yard line. The returners (2) are positioned within the Landing Zone and are the only people (aside from the kicker) who can move prior to the ball landing.