[JRod37]

The key there is that A88 is pretending to leave the field of play with other substitutes but does not in order to deceive the opponents. Unfortunately for the defense it does not happen "at or immediately before the snap."

When faced with these rules I tend to take out all the "ors" that don't apply in the given situation. It helps me see the exact situation as it presents itself and filter out the rest that can cause confusion. So as the rule applies to this situation the rule would read:

"It is illegal participation to use a player in a pretended substitution to deceive opponents immediately before the snap."

There is no magic definition for immediately before the snap that I am aware of. So it's up to the judgment of the officials as to make the call. 15 seconds seems like enough time for the defense to count 11 and make sure all players are defended. If I were the white hat in that situation the determining factor of "immediately before the snap" would be whether I felt that the defense was given sufficient time to recognize the formation, communicate a play call to all members of the defense, and then get into formation. If they have enough time to do that and fail to see A88 then kudos to A. It's all legal within the rules.

It's the same type of judgment call as the entire offensive line going from a 2 point to a 3 point stance on a hard "set" count in order to draw the defense into the neutral zone before the snap. It's that gray area covered in 7.1.7a "[It is a false start if] a shift or feigned charge simulates action at the snap". It's up to the official to determine whether the action is simulating the snap in order to draw the defensive player into the neutral zone.

At the end of the day, there are a lot of rules that aren't black and white (inasmuch as coaches, players, broadcasters and announcers would like all of them to be).