Rules Question????

[BillyClyde 68]

Can a tight end #88 snap the ball and still be a legal receiver????? He would be lined up on the end and everything else would be the same except he would be the snapper rather that a #55???

[Bullycon]

Yes. There is no rule preventing a snapper from being an eligible receiver.

An eligible receiver must:
1) Be lined up on the end of the line of scrimmage or in the backfield.
2) Be numbered 1-49 or 80-99.

There is no rule requiring that a snapper be an interior lineman.

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by BillyClyde 68

Can a tight end #88 snap the ball and still be a legal receiver????? He would be lined up on the end and everything else would be the same except he would be the snapper rather that a #55???

You must be on the line to snap the ball. You can be an end rather than an interior lineman. If the player is an end he is eligible by position. If his number is 1-49 or 80-99 he is eligible by number. In other to be an eligible receiver you must be eligible by both position and number.

[SC Ump]

Originally Posted by Ed Hickland

You must be on the line to snap the ball...

Unless you have really, really long arms.

Originally Posted by Ed Hickland

You must be on the line to snap the ball. You can be an end rather than an interior lineman. If the player is an end he is eligible by position. If his number is 1-49 or 80-99 he is eligible by number. In other to be an eligible receiver you must be eligible by both position and number.

Agreed, remembering that there must be five others on the line with numbers 50-79 for this to occur. If one of the scrimmage kick numbering 'exception' situations are being used under 7.2.5(b), then the snapper cannot be eligible.

[Bullycon]

Originally Posted by SC Ump

Agreed, remembering that there must be five others on the line with numbers 50-79 for this to occur. If one of the scrimmage kick numbering 'exception' situations are being used under 7.2.5(b), then the snapper cannot be eligible.

On first, second or third down, this is true, because only the snapper may be the exception, and he must be between the ends.

On fourth down, all 11 players may have eligible numbers. The snapper does not have to be one of the exceptions, so he can be on the end of the line, and thus eligible.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by SC Ump

Unless you have really, really long arms.

Actually I posed a "long reach" question to the editor of the NCAA football rules committee some time in the 1990s. At that time the rules regarding position of a player on the line were written in a way to suggest "hands" and "arms" were separate items from "body", and it looked as though you could line up with 7 other players on the line standing so as not to occupy much space, and a player with a long reach snapping the ball from the backfield. He said not, and eventually the wording was changed to eliminate that confusion.

Robert