In its ongoing effort to minimize the risk of injury in high school football, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee has expanded the provisions of unnecessary roughness to include contact with a defenseless player, one of six changes to the 2015 football rules.

The revised Rule 9-4-3g  will now read, “No player or non-player shall make any contact with an opponent, including a defenseless player, which is deemed unnecessary or excessive and which incites roughness.”

Commenting on the change, Bob Colgate, director of sports and sports medicine at the NFHS and editor of the NFHS football rules, said the revised rule would apply, for example, when a defensive player not in the vicinity of the ball was “blindsided” by a blocker on the offensive team.