Changing Jerseys During Game
 

I'm a basketball ref who doesn't call football.

Can any of you tell me whether changing jerseys in a Texas high school football game (NCAA rules apply) is against the rules and if so, please site the rule.

Situation: Defensive End #99 occasionally plays O-line in certain packages. Coaches change his jersey to #69 on these occasions. For two weeks, this was allowed by the crews, the next week it was not. Please help with a rule site.

Thanks

It is kind of strange...why not just wear 69 all the time? You can be a DE with 69.

But...unless you judge they were changing the jersey to deceive, it is legal.

What game was this?

Thanks TxMike

Just found 1-4-2-e

"Numbers shall not be changed during the game to deceive opponents"

I guess the issue now becomes whether wearing one number on the D-Line and a different number on the O-Line is designed "to decieve opponents"

You have hit on the easy answer, but the reality is this D-lineman has been #99 for most of his career, and only plays a couple of downs on offense. The bottom line is that he doesn't want to be 69 on the D-line.

The team is Frisco Wakeland.

If the coach came to me in the pregame and said he has a player who will wear 99 on defense and 69 on offense and that nobody else would wear 69 or 99, I would never penalize them for attempting to deceive with the jersey number change. Definitely something to get ironed out in the pregame though.

TXMike hit the nail on the head.
I've had a few games where a team was short of OLiners and har to move a DLine or TE into the OLine numbers, but they were always 1 change, not back and forth.
Still, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with swapping back and forth like described.

Canadian Ruling
 

CANADIAN RULING:

There is nothing to prevent a player from changing shirts or numbers. It cannot be done, however, to circumvent the recognition of an ejected player.