In regards to your post, the NFHS rule book says that the moment the ball is played, a player is offside when he/she is nearer to the opponents goal line than the second to last defender. It has no mention of wheather the ball is played back, or forward to a teammate. It says wheather the second player becomes INVOLVED in the play. so if he passes back, offside, catches rebound bouncing off the keeper, or goal post, player is offside. If you have the rule book, or have acces to the web site (
www.nfhs.org ) it is rule 11. would help out.
there was a study done, and showed there was no difference in the rule between NCAA-NISOA, High School Federation, and FIFA. The differances were in where the player was positioned at the moment the ball was played.
this info is also posted on the rules info link on the nfhs web site too.