Handing ball forward and then passing a forward pass
 

Can a quarterback hand the ball in front of him but behind the line of scrimmage to a back and then have that back throw a forward pass beyond the line of scrimmage.

A handoff is not a pass so yes.

In NFL and Canadian amateur and pro rules it is considered a pass, so they each have their own specific provisions allowing any number of forward handings of the ball before or after a throw-type pass.

The separate NCAA definition of "handing the ball" is about 70-80 years old, copied by Fed, and just never adopted by NFL, where it's still considered a special case of "passing".