Airborne Receiver

[dumbref]

Originally Posted by grantsrc

I go with incomplete as well. I think philosophy would state that he should maintain possession. I'm sure some of you are going to get a little up in arms about this saying that we don't have rules support for this ruling. But I feel the receiver, in this case the defender, should maintain control of the ball throughout the entire action.

Grant – With what I am about to say, you may get the impression I don’t agree with the philosophy – I do. The problem is it is a philosophy written by and for another set of rules. I have never seen anything from the NF in support of or denouncing the philosophy. And portions of the philosophy are contradictory to NF rules as written.

I agree with Bob M, until the NF addresses this by rule and with case plays, it will continue to be discussed without resolution on this board and others. The only philosophy I can derive from the NF is to go with your gut.

[JRutledge]

If a player cannot come to the ground and still keep the ball, then I do not have a catch. The NF does not have to address this for me to make a call. And I do not think the NF is going to address this because they really do not need to. The NCAA always does a better job to give information on plays and situations. Like I have said before, the NF does a lot of things slowly and if they were on top of many issues, you would not see the many disagreements on how you handle a gimmick offense. This philosophy is easier to explain and easier to be consist on. If I had to judge whether someone had control after they hit the ground, then you might get all kinds of different judgments. I think this philosophy does nothing more than keep us consistent.

Peace

[svm1010]

I'm with Rutledge on this one... Incomplete. As BobM quotes, 2-4-1 specifically states that the receiver must maintain possession of the ball as a requirement of a "catch" and possession indicates a level of control over the ball. If the receiver can't control the ball past the one instance where he contacts the ball I don't think he has control and therefore possession and therefore no catch.