False start or Illegal Shift?

[bossman72]

Originally Posted by VALJ

What's the prevailing idea on false start versus illegal motion on a back? As a rising WH, I'm curious.

I had this one in my scrimmage the other day. We had a team lined up in the wishbone, and the front RB missed the snap count. He flinched, and I killed the play with a flag for false start. The experience WH mentoring me said I should have let the play go and flagged it as illegal motion. I told him that I thought it was a FS since that's "simulating the snap" (intentional or not). Thoughts?

Sounds to me like you got it right. Simulating a snap = false start.