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At the higher level camps I've been to, and from what I've been told by assigners/supervisors, an official must see the whole play begin, develop, finish, and then decide whether a whistle is needed. Granted, all of those steps take place at high speed. However, seeing the whole play from start through finish is key. It is not problematic as JAR wrote. It is simple officiating. To me, and the way I read RUT's and other posts, we are simply stating that if throughout the entire play, the defense has done nothing illegal (stays within his/her plane, etc), there could very well be contact (maybe severe) that is not illegal. At a D1 camp last summer, I was told to look at every contact situation with the following thoughts; "Did the defender do anything that he/she was not entitled to do within the rules? And, just because there was contact, was the contact marginal, or incidental given the movement of the players, or illegal?" If the contact was marginal or incidental, there should not be a whistle. I believe too often, we see contact and put air in the whistle without ever letting the play finish.
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