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Originally Posted by RoyGardner
Couple of items for discussion:
1. If player had the ball in his "possession and control" enough to make a "forward pass" (IMO a "football move") why should that not be ruled an illegal forward pass? (Certainly the enforcement spot would be a bit problematical.)
2. If player did not have the ball in his "possession and control" enough to make a "forward pass", therefore rule that play is a "bat" - not a pass, why should that not be ruled illegal batting (a forward bat)?
3. If the "pass" or "bat" is not forward, and the loose ball is caught by another B player, then we have a legal heads-up play.
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Looking at the NCAA rules, two sentences stick out: 2-19-1 "Passing the ball is throwing it." 2-10-3 "Batting the ball is intentionally striking it or intentionally changing its direction with the hands or arms."
It seems to me that the officials, without further clarification, had a judgement to make. They judged that the receiver had thrown the ball, as opposed to merely changing its direction, and so called the IFP. If they had judged that the receiver had only changed the direction, as opposed to throwing it, then a "no call" would have been correct, since the rules allow a forward pass to be batted by any eligible player in any direction. (9-4-1a) The NCAA has since removed this judgement by putting their comment on the training video that theisey mentioned - it's to be considered a bat, not a pass.
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Under NFHS rules, this is also legal, though the reasoning is a bit different. The definition of passing (2-30-1) requires the ball to be in player possession. The definition of player possession (2-33-1) requires that the player be handed or snapped the ball, or that he recovers or catches it. The first three don't apply here, and the definition of catch (2-4-1) requires touching the ground. So - there's no catch, thus no possession, no pass, and no IFP.
The definition of batting (2-2) requires striking or slapping the ball. The receiver doesn't do that. (And if he did, it wouldn't be illegal - 9-7-3 permits batting of forward passes. (I'd manage to forget that - glad I just looked it up.)) All that's left is 2-26: "A muff is the touching or accidental kicking of a loose ball by a player in an unsuccessful attempt to secure possession."
In short, nice play, kid.