Illegal participation, ... or not?

[PSU213]

Originally posted by ljudge
I'm agreement with cowbyfan1. It's a dead ball OOB and the clock will not start until the next snap. Additionally, A56 is permitted to return inbounds but must do so at his first opportunity (becuase he was pushed out).

The only way A56 can be charged with IP is if he delayed is return and later came back inbounds. He's still a player so even if he delayed and never returned I can't find a rule where he couldn't even try to block an opponent who was running near the sideline in pursuit of A12. I'm thinking this would be some kind of a foul but I can't find a rule that prohibits him from doing this. It's definitely not IP because he's still a player. This sounds like it should be a foul but can't find a rule that prohibits this action.

I could be wrong, but I don't think cowbyfan was trying to say A12 was OOB, just giving the out of bounds definition. Additionally, based on the definition, A56 was OOB, but A12 was not OOB just by touching him (as per 2-28-1).

Now, that having been said, this very likely could be "helping the runner" (Fed. rule 9-1).