Defensive holding,
 

Defensive holding,
NFHS rules. A 80 goes up field 5 yards and cuts toward the middle of the field. He is held by B 22. Umpire has a flag for Defensive Holding. QB throws a pass to A 80 which is completed and he is tackled after a 9 yard gain from previous spot. What are A’s options?

(1) 10 yard penalty from the previous spot & replay the down (or 1st down if penalty mark off leaves the ball beyond the line to gain), or (2) decline & accept the results of the play.

This.

I'm just curious why the U would have a flag on this... why is he watching receivers instead of watching the linemen?

Just because Umpires may be standing in the "eye of the hurricane" doesn't mean they're oblivious to all the wind swirling around them.

Yeah but I would not want my umpire calling a foul on a receiver during a passing play. Maybe if the TE is involved, but that is a stretch too. Even in a 7 man system that is a lot for the Umpire to see.

Peace

U is watching no more than T to T so if he has this marker I'm asking him why. That's would be a wing's or B's key someone better be on it or I'm considering waving it off.

You're being kind with T-T, too. We want ours to own G-C-G and get an elephant elsewhere.

Same. Very unlikely U would ever make that call, at least around here.

Indeed, the H or L would probably have a better angle, maybe even the F or S, if their receiver cut inside. The B would be screened out because he is also in the middle, and because he might have taken over a deeper receiver.

In a 5-man crew, H, L, and/or B would be in the best position to provide input on defensive holding against a receiver in the middle of the field.

This foul probably gets missed 85-90% of the time in a 5-man crew if the U doesn’t get it.

Sometimes, Umpires can actually observe multiple things, simultaneously. That would likely depend on, specifically, when and where the contact occurred as well as what the Umpire actually observed.

Whether, or not, this was the latest in a sequence of events that the Umpire had been specifically asked to observe, might explain his widening his normal field of view as well. But, if the Umpire indicated he SAW something he has decided was a violation, it might not be a bad idea to pay attention to him.