Ever since his season was cut short and stay-at-home orders were enacted, Penn State faceoff specialist Gerard Arceri has done his best to stay in game shape.
As gyms are closed on Long Island, Arceri has worked out with what’s available to him at home. Like many in the lacrosse world, Arceri has shown his resourceful side during the pandemic. Arceri is lucky, though, that he has another faceoff specialist in-house to train against.
His younger brother Chris, a Penn commit, has scrapped with his older brother in recent weeks as they both get accustomed to the proposed changes to the faceoff rules that could impact their 2021 seasons.
The proposed rule changes — which are not yet official — remove the ability for specialists to use the popular motorcycle grip, and players must take the faceoff in the standing position. There will also be an increased emphasis on disallowing clamping for an extended period. The NCAA Rules Committee is expected to meet again July 22.
The theorized goal is that this will prevent prolonged stalemates in the middle of the field. Arceri actually believes the opposite to be true.
“Just using it the past couple weeks, experimenting with it, there’s nothing too different as far as the outcome of the faceoff,” he said. “There have actually been more stalemates, which the committee is trying to get rid of.
“If someone has 80 percent of the ball with the hyperextended elbow and the opponent only has 20 percent, if you were in the moto grip, you could just make one move and get the full 100 percent of the ball. But now there’s a fighting chance at every ball.”
Chrome LC’s Connor Farrell expressed a similar opinion. Though the committee might have intended to eliminate tie-ups — which Greg Gurenlian joked on Lax Sports Network happens “once every year on ESPN that forces Quint Kessenich to have a heart attack” — there could potentially be more.
“What I see from the standing up neutral grip, I think there are going to be more tie-ups,” Farrell said. “You’re not able to rotate like you could from motorcycle grip down on one knee.”
Gurenlian thinks the opposite, though. He said many tie-ups occurring right now by players testing out the new rules could be an example of getting used to the standing neutral grip. Over time, there should not be as many stalemates, Gurenlian said.
“The standing neutral grip, the reason kids are locking up when they practice it is because they don’t know the nuances of it,” he said. “The reason standing neutral grip will drastically decrease lock ups is because your wrists can roll both ways. You can’t really rotate the way you do moto grip, but you don’t need to. It’s unnecessary.”
Gurenlian added that he does not believe there were too many stalemates under the prior rules.
“I am a faceoff guy, and I like the grind,” he said. “That’s why I play the position.”
When the news broke on May 29 that changes could be coming, many notable faceoff men took to social media to sound off. Some were critical. Some were optimistic. Others chose to complain about yet another attempt to mitigate the impact of the faceoff.
The goal for many of these changes — not just this year’s revisions to the rulebook — is often to scale back the dominance of the top-tier specialists.
Yale’s TD Ierlan is statistically the best to ever do it at the collegiate level. He won 76.4 percent of faceoffs to lead the nation in 2020 and will return for another shot at an NCAA crown in 2021.
During an interview on Lax Sports Network, Ierlan expressed his surprise at yet another set of changes.
“The initial reaction was just, ‘Woah.’ Pretty drastic changes,” said Ierlan, who added that this standing neutral-grip style will be brand new for him. “I guess just had so many questions. Didn’t know what they were really trying to fix. Was it the issue of people being too dominant or tie-ups lasting too long?
“There were just a lot of questions surrounding the decision and not a lot of clarity, I guess.”
Both Gurenlian and Farrell pointed to the Premier Lacrosse League’s faceoff rules as an example that they say the NCAA should follow. Gurenlian, who helped develop the PLL’s faceoff, has long been passionate about the subject.
The wings are closer to the faceoff in the PLL, and stenciled markings on the field make the placement of the ball and the referee’s feet nearly error-free. As a result, there tends to be a narrower gap between those competing at the dot.
“The PLL is so special and unique because from the very beginning of the league’s creation, they wanted to be innovative,” Gurenlian said on Lax Sports Network. “The way they were innovative was to have a council of lacrosse minds. I was brought on to help with the faceoff rules. I know this will shock people, but they wanted to talk to faceoff guys about faceoff rules.”
Farrell agreed.
“I think we should change to the PLL rules because I’ve never seen anything work better,” he said. “Ball placement was a huge thing for us. Referees weren’t able to get it in the right spot [in college]. You always had people complaining. The PLL has a spot where you put the ball and two lines to put their feet.”
Regardless of opinion on the changes, most everybody who has been outspoken about faceoffs has agreed that those who go to work to adapt to the new rules will continue to be dominant.
Arceri said he’s accepted it, even if it was tough to come to grips with. Farrell continues to train his students at the Faceoff Factory, and Gurenlian does the same at the Faceoff Academy. Rules are rules, after all.
“If these rules stay, I think we shouldn’t complain,” Farrell said. “We should get back to work.”
Those who do get back to work will show the fruits of their labor on the field come spring — whether they’re standing straight up or positioned firmly with one knee on the ground.
“I’ve accepted it, but I hope it doesn’t go through,” Arceri said. “Speaking for most faceoff guys out there, I would recommend it not to go through. People have been practicing this specific technique for 10 years now, maybe even more. To have it taken away, it’s tough to come to grips with.”