3 Man Mechanics

[reff4e]

Are any associations still working 3-man crews on youth and middle school games? If so, how do you set up for scrimmage plays? Although the 3-man mechanics on the NFHS website puts one wing official (L) on the LOS, with the R and U working wide opposite him in the offensive and defensive backfield respectively, most crews here (Charlotte NC area) work a referee and two wings.

Are there any other variations on these mechanics, and if so, what are the pros and cons? I hate the 3-man stuff (feel like our coverage is lousy), and would like to hear any ideas on how to provide better coverage in this system!!

[Rich]

Originally Posted by reff4e

Are any associations still working 3-man crews on youth and middle school games? If so, how do you set up for scrimmage plays? Although the 3-man mechanics on the NFHS website puts one wing official (L) on the LOS, with the R and U working wide opposite him in the offensive and defensive backfield respectively, most crews here (Charlotte NC area) work a referee and two wings.

Are there any other variations on these mechanics, and if so, what are the pros and cons? I hate the 3-man stuff (feel like our coverage is lousy), and would like to hear any ideas on how to provide better coverage in this system!!

My solution is to never work a game with less than 4 officials.

[ABO77]

I agree with Rich...there's no such thing as 'coverage' with three officials.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by reff4e

Are any associations still working 3-man crews on youth and middle school games? If so, how do you set up for scrimmage plays? Although the 3-man mechanics on the NFHS website puts one wing official (L) on the LOS, with the R and U working wide opposite him in the offensive and defensive backfield respectively, most crews here (Charlotte NC area) work a referee and two wings.

Are there any other variations on these mechanics, and if so, what are the pros and cons? I hate the 3-man stuff (feel like our coverage is lousy), and would like to hear any ideas on how to provide better coverage in this system!!

CANADIAN MECHANICS:

We use R, U, and HL. The R and U both are on the non-HL side, so it's like we're triangulating the players, just as you do. The R has the LJ sideline if it is threatened. U goes deep on punts, but we don't see many punts for the ages we use 3-man.

Locally, we use 3-man for ages 6-8 and 9-10. For divisions of ages 11-12 and 13-14, we use 4-man crews.

I've heard of a mechanic where the short side has the LS guy: if the LJ side is the short side, the U swings to LJ and the HL swings to U. The R and U are always wide side in this mechanic, to give the R more time to cover the other sideline.

Cons for 3-man are that the crew misses stuff, but I think for the ages that we use 3-man, there is little need to use 4 officials: each official knows to split their duties to help cover for the 4 official's normal duties.

The pros, I guess, are that you can cover more games with the same number of officials. With twelve officials, you could cover four 3-man games instead three 4-man games.

I'm not an assignor, so that's all I have to say about that.

[ajjl22]

We use a lot of 3-man mechanics in my area (Northern Illinois). Pee Wee, Middle school, and the majority of Freshman games are done three man. The Pee Wee B-games are done with 2 refs.

We use a R and two wings in 3-man games and two wings in 2-man games.

[Reffing Rev.]

I 've seen it done both ways, 1 wing or 2. I prefer the 2 wings. Here is why:

With 1 wing the R has to stay wide enough to cover the sideline, and the U deep enough to cover plays to the empty side. The big gaping hole is in the middle of the field. Or the U stays in his usual spot and then the big gaping hole is everything beyond the LOS on the empty side (A much bigger hole)

With 2 wings the Sidelines are covered so R can get tight and can stay on passing arm side. Cons R has to spot the ball and get the holds. And usually mark off his own penalties.

Coaches feel better when they have an official on their sideline, and feel horrible when the other team gets an official on their sideline the entire game.

I work a lot of R and I don't mind spotting the ball and hustling to the pile, it sure beats the snot out of trying to spot a guy out of bounds on an empty sideline from 60 yards away.

[Texas Aggie]

Texas jr. high is mostly 3 man (from what I hear) but some are paying for 4 officials.

As far as mechanics, we work 2 wings. It isn't too bad. Just takes longer to get the ball in on long incomplete passes. That wouldn't bother me if we could start the clock on the RFP.

I'm not doing as much jr. high this year and probably won't do much in the future. Its more of a pain these days with 3 man and the games lasting longer and longer due to passing. Our state needs to change the timing rules on this because the games are lasting way too long -- as much as 2 hours a game.

[Warrenkicker]

When working a game where there is a lot of running plays it can be better to have a U because that is where the action is. If there are more passes then go with two wings to maintain some coverage. You are going to miss something, just keep yourselves positioned to keep the area lacking coverage away from the ball.

[wisref2]

In our area of Wisconsin, we've gone to using the two wings. WH and the offside wing help with spotting the ball. Means a lot more running, but it really feels like the coverage is a lot better, especially on passing plays. The WH has to be a lot more alert to holding in the line.

[GBFBUmp]

Originally Posted by wisref2

In our area of Wisconsin, we've gone to using the two wings. WH and the offside wing help with spotting the ball. Means a lot more running, but it really feels like the coverage is a lot better, especially on passing plays. The WH has to be a lot more alert to holding in the line.

Same up here in the Green Bay Area fhe few I did .... 2 wings and a WH. I only do a few of these a year, and all were for 7th & 8th grade games. ANything at higher levels is scheduled with minimum of 4 officials .

Here in Nebraska, we are still using 3-man for Junior High, Freshman, and an occasional Sophomore/Reserve. Otherwise, we use 4-man for JV and 2-man for the kiddies. When working 3-man, it really depends on the teams, but we usually end up working WH and 2 wings.

[dldsooner]

Are you using a 3 man crew for 11 man? That would be tough. Here in Oklahoma we call some 8 man with a 3 man crew, using an Umpire, WH and HL. Lots of running, but everything seems to work out well. I could not imagine doing an 11 man game with just 3 officials.

We only use a 3 man crew on Jr. High games, Most schools are now paying for 4 officials for J.H. games.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by reff4e

Are any associations still working 3-man crews on youth and middle school games?

They do in the Big Apple Youth Football League.

If so, how do you set up for scrimmage plays?

Most of them operate with 2 wings (i.e. U on a wing) and the ref; others with ref, ump, and wing. I've seen one crew switch from 2 wings to wing & ump during a game in anticipation of more passing. Instead of moving forward on a pocket pass play, the U goes backwards.

The amount of passing dictates the demand for coverage. Lots of these teams hardly ever pass, so 3 man coverage isn't bad.

I have some film of college varsity games from the 1940s with 3 man crews. In some of them the U starts on a wing, then runs toward what we think of as U position in anticipation of the snap.

Robert

[MadCityRef]

IHSA has a powerpoint on 3-man mechanics. www.ihsa.org
Look under officials education on the main page. It uses the triangle version, but 2 wings and a WH works good too.

[JugglingReferee]

So imagine working on a field that is 52% bigger, has 24 players instead of 22, and I believe allows for the players to do more things while playing....

.... all with 3 officials!