blooking rules in shotgun
 

Has anyone heard of a rule abandoning the free blocking zone when the Q.b. is in the shotgun?

Page 12 in the 2007 Casebook covers this.

2.17.2 Sit. E: A1 is in shotgun formation (scrimmage kick formation) lined up 7 yards behind the LOS ready to receive the snap. Immediately after the snap to A1, (a)A2 immediately drops & blocks B1 below the waist of (b) A2 rises, and slightly retreats as if to go in traditional pass blocking protection but then dive & blocks B1 below the waist. Both A2 & B1 were in the zone & on the LOS at the snap & contact happens in the zone.

RULING: Legal block in (a) & illegal in (b). It is legal for A2 to block B1 below the waist if the contact is made immediately following the snap when the QB is in shotgun. Any later, the ball is considered to have left the zone & the block is illegal.

Under NCAA rules, the "zone" disintegrates as soon as the ball is touched outside of it so in a shotgun formation, the ball is going to be touched outside of it pretty fast.

I wouldn't call it abandoning the FBZ. This is the way I understand it. Since the QB (in shotgun formation) is not in the FBZ, he does not meet one of the requirements for low blocks in the FBZ, namely that the ball must be in the zone. That being said, we were told by our rules clinician that if the O-lineman cut on the initial surge when the ball is snapped and do not delay the low block it would be considered legal. Anything after the initial surge would draw a flag .

I read an interesting ruling on this while studying the NCAA code.

A10 is in shotgun formation. The ball is snapped over A10's head. Guard A65 clips defensive tackle B76.

Ruling legal block since the ball had not yet been touched inside the rectangular area (nor has the ball yet been touched outside the area after being fumbled from inside the area.)

thanks, big john

Watch out, BigJohn is a coach...:D