Inside the Numbers
 

I had a situation come up last night during a game (NFHS) while I was working at Linesman. Following a timeout and before the RFP, the offense lines up with a wide receiver right near my sideline, outside the numbers. I know that 7-2-1 specifies that all players involved in the previous play and their substitutes must be inside the numbers after the RFP and before the snap.

My question is, would this apply after a time out? I would think that the rule would apply but I'm not entirely sure. The Redding guide states that the purpose of the rule is to prevent the offense from running "hide out plays". Since the defense picked up on the fact there were receivers near the sideline, I didn't flag it but it has been gnawing on me.

You understand the rule correctly, and you applied some common sense, works for me. .

Technically, it is a flag at the snap. The best thing to do is tell the player to go to the top of the numbers & come back.:)

Agreed. When the RFP is delayed, I make sure that the defense picks up the player out there and that's good enough for me. Contrary to the rules? Probably.

We have our wings tell the player to get inside the numbers until the RFP in situations like that. In fact, last night as the R, I told the player to do it as we were on the right hash and I was pretty close to him in setting up for my position. If you can tell them it is better, but we also don't have a flag in these situations if he is covered up the whole time by a DB.

It's a rule that needs some common sense tweaking, if you ask me to give the officials some latitude. I need to rethink how we do this, I think, to conform better to the rule regardless of my personal feelings or the clumsiness of enforcing this. We are strict on the coach's box and restraining line and we make sure the teams are in the right place on timeouts, so we should be addressing this.

Another one I wish the NFHS would look at is the penalty on a scoring play. Awarding 15 yards on a pass interference penalty when the ball is caught and a TD scored is excessive -- and now it can be done on the kickoff. This one should've been limited to personal fouls and the like.

Thanks guys, I'll try to better stay on top of the preventative angle in the future. At least the offense didn't gain an advantage. :o

Rich, are you saying in your last post that the rule needs to be more strictly enforced?