Illegal Formation

[Canned Heat]

I get this at least a few times a week in a frosh game and even more when I work youth. If you keep hankying the illegal formation, sooner or later the coach will get it in their heads that they need more than 5 or 6 men on the LOS. You shouldn't have to say it twice at any HS level IMO.

[ChicagoLJ]

Originally Posted by Canned Heat

I get this at least a few times a week in a frosh game and even more when I work youth. If you keep hankying the illegal formation, sooner or later the coach will get it in their heads that they need more than 5 or 6 men on the LOS. You shouldn't have to say it twice at any HS level IMO.

Fair point. Even when I was moving the player up, I felt like I was coaching.

[Canned Heat]

Originally Posted by ChicagoLJ

Fair point. Even when I was moving the player up, I felt like I was coaching.

Ends have gotten so accustomed to relying on wing officials for that now, that you'll most likely never shake it. Almost all coaching staff tell their kids straight out to ask the official if you're okay. The stumper is always a QB who's always in a constant hurry and gets the snap off as your guy is creeping forward or back after you told him where he's gotta be.

[bossman72]

Flag the illegal formation every time. They should know where to line up.

[jaybird]

By the time they are in the 7th or 8th grade, they should know how to line up.

[Rich]

Flag it the first time. And the second.

Don't move the receiver. Tell him he's on or punch him back and tell him he's off. If he doesn't move up and there's only 6 on the line, throw a flag simultaneous with the snap.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by Canned Heat

Almost all coaching staff tell their kids straight out to ask the official if you're okay.

I do not answer this question, as I do not know whether he's "OK." As Rich suggests, I tell him whether he's on or off. That's officiating, not coaching: telling him he's "OK" is coaching, which requires evaluating whether everyone is in the correct position.

[MI Official]

I agree. When we meet with the coaches we tell them that the wingmen are only signalling for the guy guy closest to him (twins,trips, etc...) and that an answer to the question "Am I OK?" would indicate we know what the formation is supposed to be....

If they ask am I on or off we answer them yes or no....

seems to have stopped some chirpping for the coaches, but not all... not sure anything will :-D

[jTheUmp]

For varsity, my crew goes over this in the pregame meeting with the Head Coach. We explicitly state that a punch back means the closest receiver is off the line, hands at our sides means he's on the line. We also explicitly tell the coach that if the receiver asks "Am I ok?" that we can't answer that question, since we don't know where he's supposed to be. If the player asks "Am I on?" or "Am I off?", we will give the appropriate response.

For lower-level games, I tend to be more and more lenient as the players are younger and younger... Varsity, no tolerance. JV, almost no tolerance. 9th grade, maybe slight tolerance. 7th and 8th grade, I'll give them a bit of leeway, especially if the field markings are faded or crappy (I've worked games on fields with yard marks every 10 yards only, originally painted 3-4 weeks ago and not re-painted since despite a couple of mowings and a rain shower or two. If I'm having trouble discerning where the LOS should be, I'm not going to get too worried about if the players are a foot or so out of position).

Freshman B game, same thing. 5 in the backfield. I flagged it the first time, the coaches were all over me, asking why I didn't say anything to them. I said it was the first time, and I'm not going to coddle your players, since they should already know how to line up. Assistant coach started to go off, and my backup flag went flying. What an ugly game.