Watching a replay of state finals here in Iowa and noticed this in one of the games.

Team goes into punt formation.
Punter is 12 yards deep. Personal protector is about five. One up back behind a guard.

Now the questionable part. The other up back is behind the center with his hands under the center for a direct snap. Instead of snapping to the Upback/QB he snaps the ball between the legs of the QB back to the punter. I am assuming they must run a fake off this as well.

Is the player under the center lined up legally or must his hands be away from the center.

Hope this makes sense one of those hard plays to explain almost need to see.

Thanks

NFHS,
Rule 7-2-3
Of the players of A who are not on their line at the snap only one may penetrate the vertical plane through the waistline of his nearest teammate who is on the line. He must have his hands in position to receive the ball if it s snapped between the snapper's legs but he is not required to recieve the snap. Any other player(s) must be in legal position as a back.

According to your description this is legal.

But the center loses his roughing-the-snapper protection...

Also you have to have five players numbered 50 -79 on the line of scrimmage as this is NOT a scrimmage kick formation.

What does that formation (losing scrimmage kick status) do as far as roughing/running into the kicker is concerned. Is this now essentially a quick kick?

as far as roughing the kicker goes, formation is not a concern....when you kick, you are protected, there is however a little leeway given if the kicker appears to be a runner for a while then kicks....

REPLY: The issue on roughing is not for roughing the kicker. He stills retains his right to 'special' protection once he puts his foot to the ball. But the formation definitely affects whether or not protection is afforded the snapper. When the up back lines up with his hands under the snapper, it is <u>not</u> a scrimmage kick formation (see NF 2-14-2). So the snapper is fair game. He's not afforded the special protection outlined in NF 9-4-5