Sounds like back pedaling to me. If you use this logic there should never be a penalty unless the players are running directly at each other, which only happens when the offensive player tries to not avoid the defender directly in front of him, but of course then the offensive guy can lead with his helmet all day.
Line up your opponent, of course he lined him up, he hit him. From a rules perspective, I thought line up your opponent meant that you had a choice. Not lining up your opponent is, for example, you are falling down or are forced into contact from another player(blocked into).