Foot down?

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by Spence

I've read the above a few times but I'm not certain of what you're saying.

Lets say the left foot had the toes in and the right foot had the heel hit inbounds but the toes hit OOB.

Spence, my advice would be to focus on NF: 2-4-1 and it's requirement of "first contacting the ground inbounds or being contacted by an opponent in such a way that he is prevented from returning to the ground inbounds while maintainging possession of the ball."

What you see on TV, and hear from talking heads may apply to different, or even imaginary rules. Sometimes you can try and split a hair so fine, you can'r see anything.

[Spence]

Thanks, guys. I'm a basketball ref which means my friends ask me about every rule of every sport so I come here for the right answer.

So, there is no distinction between the heel and the toes when it comes to meeting the requirements for a catch, correct? I get that if they both land at the same time and one of the two is OOB that its not a catch.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Spence

So, there is no distinction between the heel and the toes when it comes to meeting the requirements for a catch, correct?

In Fed & NCAA, there's no distinction between any parts of the body, not just the foot, regarding that. You could catch the ball in the air, then reach out a hand and touch it down in bounds for the completion. NFL's is the only USAn code that retains the old rule that references feet in any way.

[Welpe]

I think that for NCAA, there is a fairly recent interpretation that if a receiver touches his toes down inbounds and then his heel out of bounds as two separate actions, he is considered out of bounds.