Video Play
 

Is there anything wrong with this play since the player is in the air and out of bounds, or is it treated just like any other hook and ladder type plays?

Phenomenal Touchdown Flip PassVideo

The player was not out of bounds as he was not touching anything that was out of bounds. Good heads up play for the TD.

How often do you think they practiced this play?

That is one of the best plays I've seen at the HS level!!!!

Isn't the term "hook and lateral" (as in "hook" route by the receiver then a "lateral" to another player) as opposed to "hook and ladder" (which I believe is a term for firefighter's equipment)? If not, how does the term "hook and ladder" apply to football whereas "hook and lateral" are common (although somewhat outdated) football terms?

"Hook and Ladder" entered into Wikipedia gets directed to "Hook and Lateral", but does note that that both are common terms. It then gives you the option of choosing alternate searches for hook and ladder (chess) [sacrificing a piece to gain advantage] or fire apparatus.

The article speculates that either it is just a corruption of the term lateral or that there is a route sometimes called a ladder route where the receiver first turns button hooks out before heading downfield. (I've never heard of it, but I was always on the line.)

Awesome play! I don't know where this game was played, but I'm not a big fan of the mechanics. It appears to be 6-man mechanics. I see a HL and a SJ but not a BJ. My question is why do the HL and SJ start in at the numbers? The SJ is forced to go backward, and then down the sideline for this play. That's alot of movement. Is this a standard mechanic in that area? And the HL appears to be just wandering around in the middle of the field!

If this video is the one where the dude catches the ball while airborne, and complete a backwards pass back into the EZ, then yes, the officials were using the correct mechanics for their state.

Source: refstripes.com

Whether these mechanics are approved or not, they are horrible.

The deep official spends time backing up to the sideline instead of going downfield. When the TE leaps from near the endline, by the time the official gets to the endline, the receiver has already made his play so I don't know how he can tell if the receiver was stepping on the endline or not.

This mechanic of starting at the numbers and then backing up negates the purpose of the deep official giving sound deep coverage. That backing up is totally wasted effort and time. Plus, we always want to have as wide an angle as possible to keep everything in front of us.