Quote:
Originally posted by WyMike
We had an out-of-town crew come in and work our local V game last night. Two things I noticed were:
1) LJ was lining up inside of the 9yd marks, unless the WO was outside of them. He was also within a couple of yards of the WO so if the WO wanted to make a move to the outsdie off of the LOS, it would have been difficult at best.
and 2) The HL and LJ swapped sides at halftime.
Any crews here swap at halftime?
WM
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According to the NFHS Officials Manual, starting position for the wings is "Straddle line ball is on, no closer than 9 yards outside widest offensive player. On sideline if necessary."
Here in MO, we are instructed "Straddle line ball is on, no closer than 9 yards outside widest offensive player. If the ball is in the center of the field or closer to you start on the sideline. As the ball is spotted from the center of the field towards the opposite inbounds line move that same distance in from the sideline. If the ball is spotted on the far inbounds line start on the top of the numbers (9 yards from the sideline)."
The rationale behind this is because the hash marks are wider on HS fields than any other field. It makes our jobs of "cleaning up behind the play away from you" easier when you are off the sidelines. Is that the best way to approach this? Hard to say. But what I will say is you don't want to get in the way. Many of the wing officials are quick enough to get out of the way. Some out there, need to stay wide because they aren't fast enough to get out of the way, mentally or physically.
I personally like being off the sidelines. I can see more, don't have to listen to the coaches, and can get out in the middle faster if there is a fight or something.
And yes, there are college conferences experimenting with the NFL system of swapping LTG and wing officials at the half. To the best of my knowledge it isn't done on the HS level though.