Cleanup coverage

[Buckeyes]

A fumbles the ball at there 15 yard line. While trying to find out who has the ball 2 players are fighting in the endzone behind the play. What is the proper way to cover this?

[JRutledge]

As a general rule you should only have one official digging for the ball. You might have another near the pile to help assist the digger. The other officials need to stand back and keep the players in their view. And if things like an altercation take place, the non-diggers can cover this. You do not need all official looking for the ball on top of the pile.

Peace

[With_Two_Flakes]

I agree with what JRutledge says - generally you only need 2 by the pile, one to dig and the next to asssit and signal the direction based on whatever the guy digging tells him since (1) looks poor if the guy on his knees digging signals it, (2) easy for the digger to forget which way the teams are going.

The others should be watching everywhere else. One or more of them can come in to help if things get out of hand in the pile.

As I say in the pre-game, we don't want the whole crew in there, one grenade to get us all