touch back

Question
During a punt a player from the punting team bats the football away from the goal line before it crosses the plane of the end zone and the punting team downs the ball on the one yard line.  However his foot was touching the goal line when he batted the ball back.  Touch back or downed ball on the one?

Answer
Jeff
Good question, this is one we use for discussion and instruction of officials,  Let me explain the answer for you. There are two answers to this question, but first remember the rule pertains to the orientation of the ball with respect to the goal line plane.  Technically there is one rules answer or one answer for testing purposes and that is the ball in your question never crosses the goal line or breaks the goal line plane so the illegal touching spot is in the field of play and the the spot where the loose ball becomes dead [or where possessed] is the end of the kick. So the answer is the ball is downed on the one yard line no touchback.  The spot of the player's foot is immaterial.    So the technical rules answer is the 1 yard line line.

With that said for philosophy standpoint if the batting occurs so close to the goal line plane and it is not clearly in the field of play (clearly in real time viewing) then make it a touch back.   As a former defensive player and coach I used to really not like this philosophy I thought it robbed the Kicking team of great coverage, however having studied the rules the game and officiating for the past 25 years and looking at Hundreds and Hundreds of these type of  goal line plays more time than not the ball does break the goal line.  Camera angles of these plays are rarely ever looking exactly down the line so the angle is usually off and the officials are usually right on the goal line.  The philosophy arises because if the kicking team is to perfect the playthey should be batting the ball "clearly in the filed" [i.e. at the 1 yardline or greater].  No purpose to the game is served by being too technical especially on a punt play where the kicking team is giving up possession to the other team.  This philosophy usually serves equity and is usually correct more times than not.  Understanding this philosophy will help you understand how it is officiated.   Kind of like the shortstop in baseball who in making a double play slides his foot over 2nd base without touching it but the umpire considers the bag having been tagged. [again another play I have never liked but understand it as making the play what it is intended to be...]

So the answer to your question is technically it is downed at the 1 yardline no touchback.  however if it were called a touchback in a game that would be correctly called given the philosophy of how to officiate a scrimmage kick play where the ball comes close to the goal line plane and is batted by the kicking team.

Jeff, I want to add one more thing.  Assuming the official is properly positioned on the goal line and if he clearly sees the batting by the Kicking team occur in the field of play he will drop his bean bag at the spot to signify the touching was in the filed of play and we defer to his judgement if he sees the ball touched/batted prior to breaking the goal line plane.  Admittedly we as officials don't always do the best job of placing the bean bag and I teach back judges that if the play is a touch back place the bean bag clearly in the EZ and if it is in the field of play make sure it is in the field of play and not on the Goal line.  I teach them to give a confident clear signal either touch back or time out signifying the spot of the ball  also teach officials to adjust the bean bag if necessary for a illegal touching spot.