Player going OB

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by newref1

Heres one I am wondering about. A runner fumbles near the sideline. He stumbles and runs out of bounds without the ball. The ball stays inbounds and the runner comes back inbounds and picks ups the ball and starts to run again. I'm sure if he's knocked out of bounds he can come back in and recover the ball. But what if he goes out on his own. This would be for high school and I was wondering about college too.

CANADIAN RULING:

A player may legally immediately come back into play if s/he was OB for 1 of 4 reasons:

1. blocked OB
2. tried to block someone, missed, and subsequently went OB as a result of the block attempt
3. field conditions (slippery field due to wetness, par example)
4. stepped OB to field a kick

As far as I can tell, the only element that may apply to your situation, as you described, is #3. That would be a judgment call, and is why we're paid.