Using Two Clips on the Chain

[Suudy]

Originally Posted by Ed Hickland

Could someone who employs two clips on the chain tell me how well it works.

Is there ever any confusion over clip placement of the previous clip versus the current clip? If not, how to you aviod it.

I've worked the chains at a Pac-10 school for years. The Pac-10 HL's have us use 2 clips. Here's how we do it.

The first time the chains are set, we clip on the field, then pull back. After a first down, we set the chains again and add the new clip, then we pull back. After the first play, we pull the old clip from the chain. Very rarely are the clips so close on the chain that there is potential for confusion. Also, we provide our own clips and our clip guy has two different colored clips that he uses (bright orange and bright green).

In the 10+ years I've been on the chains, we've never had problems with confusion. But with replay nowadays, we are being extra careful to wait to remove the old clip until after the first play is run. So two different clips (color, style, markings, whatever) plus removal as soon as possible, prevent confusion on our end.