[OverAndBack]

I worked the line judge position in freshman and sophomore scrimmages Friday night, my first time on the field. Thanks to the experienced officials I was fortunate enough to work with (and the class I'm taking), I was able to pick up the following sequence of mechanics that seemed to work for me. If anyone who's experienced at this could look this over and see if I've missed anything or gotten anything out of place, I'd appreciate it.

(previous play ends and ball has been spotted)
1. Referee signals down number and gives ready for play.

2. As you normally have a few seconds before the defense spreads out enough to make it easier to count them, adjust the down indicator on your right hand to the current down. Check the down box on the chains, which are directly across the field from you.

3. Glance at the clock (if there is one) and make a mental note of the line to gain, in case the next play ends past it, so you know to stop the clock on the first down.

4. Count defense. If you can make eye contact with the back judge, who is also counting, and do thumbs-up to confirm, do so. Else, put right hand in a fist and extend arm into field of play to indicate that you've counted (this will also get picked up on the coaches' video up high).

5. Straddling line of scrimmage, note linemen on your side of the ball lining up correctly at line. If there is an end on your side, determine if he intends to be on or off the line of scrimmage. If he's on the line, give thumbs up to the head linesman across from you. If he's off the line, extend arm with fist into backfield to signify to the linesman that your guy is a back. If you both are punching into the backfield, and there are a quarterback and two backs in the backfield, you don't have seven on the line and if no one resets before the snap, it'll be an illegal formation flag at the snap (don't kill the play).

6. If a back (or an end who resets) goes in motion away from you, he's your responsibility until he turns upfield on the other side. A motion man coming at you is the responsibility of the head linesman from the other side until the motion man turns upfield.

7. Snap (let's assume there's no foul that causes you to shut the play down or to throw the flag and continue to officiate):

*If it's a running play: Key through end to near side tackle - read run. Watch initial charge for holding or other foul. Hold line and let run get past you and past neutral zone before you flow upfield, keeping play in front of you and wide to note any infractions. At tackle, make sure you see ball and that runner is down before whistling play dead. Square off and mark spot - don't come in too far, but come in far enough to enable umpire to work off your spot if you're the covering official. If line to gain is reached and it is an obvious first down, stop clock. If there's a fumble in there anywhere, beanbag it and continue to officiate.

*If it's a pass play: Key through end to near side tackle - read pass. Watch initial charge for holding or other foul, note receiver(s) on your side and flow downfield short if pattern is short. If one short, one long, try to be far enough to cover far receiver as much as you can, yet keep near receiver in field of vision. Watch for holding on receiver or defender(s). Since referee will have responsibility for passer until he hits the neutral zone, stay with receiver(s), but know that the passer could tuck it under and run to your side, in which case it'll be your responsibility to cover - and if he runs out or is tackled on the sideline, you'll be marking the spot and watching for any extracirruculars that may occur in the bench area. Watch to see if receiver goes out of bounds, and if he does, if he was forced out or went out on his own (throw hat if he goes out of bounds). If ball is released and crosses neutral zone, watch for pass interference. If pass is incomplete, signal incomplete and whistle play dead. Make sure no foul occurs after the play, retrieve ball from sideline and work triangle to referee to get ball to umpire for re-spotting. If pass is complete, make sure of the catch, continue to flow and keep play in field of vision. You have responsibility for the sideline. At end of play, either in bounds or out, mark spot, whistle play dead, stop clock if first down or out of bounds, watch for extracirriculars in the bench area, retrieve ball, work triangle. If receiver takes off down the sideline, you have to run with him as best you can. In five man, hopefully you'll have a back judge to pick him up if he's heading for the end zone, so protect the sideline in case of a step out and watch for anything behind the play. If the receiver scores, let back judge or covering official signal touchdown and don't mirror.

8. If there's an interception or fumble recovery (you bag the fumble) and you may have to reverse direction and sprint back the other way because you have the runner all the way to the goal line on the sideline.

9. If there's a foul, drop flag to mark spot, note number and color of fouling player, report to referee at play's end and ensure proper penalty enforcement.

10. Umpire spots ball for next play, chains move if necessary, referee signals ready for play.

We didn't do any kicks in the scrimmage, so I have only what I've read to help me out there.

But am I off to a good start as far as line judge mechanics on running and passing plays?

I quite liked this position and felt I was getting the hang of it by the end of the scrimmages. It was like adding one more thing to pay attention to on top of the next with every play, in layers.