NFL Umpire New Position
 

Mike Pereira was on the Dan Patrick show Thursday and said that the biggest change for next season will be the new position for the umpires. Umpires will be in the backfield. He said it will change some of the speed up offenses.

It will be interesting and how long before this is adopted for college and then eventually high school.

I predict within 3 yrs for college and 5 for high school.

Could be less for college with as many NFL and ex-NFL guys who are now supervisors there. Course after the NFL's experiment, they may abandon it anyway. As for HS, I don't think so, unless HS's go to 7-man crews. (And I am a guy who has advocated to get the U out of there for over 5 years)

I wouldn't throw away all the current Umpire mechanics manuals for High School, just yet. There is a real steep pyramid of talent as the game of football moves up levels. Although it's nice to think of each level leading to the next, there is an enormous step up in talent at each level.

What may be simply necessary and reasonable to deal with NFL talent, is likely overkill at many of the Collegiate levels, which are a huge step up from High School.

In Upstate NY we've been battling to expand from 4 to 5 officials, for regular season varsity games, for better than 20 years. I think we're getting real close to 5 finally being the standard,(which exists for post-season) but thoughts of going to 6, or 7 man configurations are little more than wishful thinking.

It will be way longer than 5 years at the high school level.

The primary reason the NFL moved the U was safety. There had been some serious injuries in the past few seasons. They had even been some discussion of putting the U in helmets to protect against head trauma.

In the NFL, they are officiating the fastest, strongest athletes in the world. While that is not to say that a high school U can't get injured, the impact is no where close to what the pro ranks face.

As ajmc mentioned, some states still don't even use 5 man crews yet.

As long as most high schools associations use 5 man mechanics, then this will take a lot longer than 5 years to change. Now if they go to 7, then that might change overnight.

Peace

I predict they will move the U back to his normal position either this season, or at the latest, next year. Maybe even during the pre-season. This position creates a lot of problems that can't be resolved during preseason. Just a few off the top of my head:

-- this will significantly increase the time it takes to spot the ball in late game situations; right now, the U places the ball down and only has about 7 yards to go to get out of the way -- possibly only 5; in the backfield, he'll have 12-15 minimum.
-- the U asserts himself in the defensive huddle and takes care of issues in the pit; he won't be able to do that now.
-- the R follows the QB; will the U get out of his way?
-- will the R still be on the QB throwing side?
-- now 2 officials need to get out of the way on a punt/FG attempt block
-- there are many things that go on that need to be seen from the defensive side of the ball

I could probably come up with a half dozen more. Besides, they tried this a few years ago in preseason and it wasn't adopted. Why do they think it will work now?

You're joking, right? We work 5 in virtually all JV games, some freshman games, and all varsity games. Hell, we worked 5 in the playoffs in our state's 6-man football. We're probably only 3-5 years away from 7 in most top classification district games.

We have districts that allow our assignors to put 5 in freshman games for flexibility. If he needs to relocate someone to a JV site on that day, he can and we continue with 4. But most of the time in those districts we work 5. Its nice; 4 is doable, but I can't imagine fewer than 5 in any form of a passing game. We'd probably sit out.

Boy that must be nice. Almost all of the districts in this area will only pay for 3 officials for all sub-varsity. I'm really going to miss working four man mechanics. :(

Not intending to hijack the thread but...

We would be sitting out permanently.

You must remember that you are in a football intense state that is practically unlike any other place in the country. I played one year in Texas in high school and I still tell the stories of what I saw first hand for attendance and attention to high school football. Around here (or in the Chicago area specifically, because this does not happen in other parts of the state) there are places that only hire 2 officials for a lower level game. Because of this fact I sit home as those are not fun at all and pointless from an experience point of view, but that is the reality. Now I cannot imagine playing less with less than 5 officials in a football game especially with the way it is played now (spread offenses and passing).

Peace

I agree with your predictxion although not sure it will be that quick. They may try to give it some time unless they have some major issues with this positioning.

Your first point has already been addressed because the U will be back in their normal position during hurry up situations for the reason you mention.

I assumed the R or U would take the QB depending on which way he went but I read somewhere the R will stay with the QB and cross in front of the U if he rolls that way. That seems absurd.

I was told when they did the experiment a couple years ago, they didn't spend a lot of time on mechanics changes or training. They just told the U to start in the offensive backfield and do the best he can. Since this is a more long-term solution, there will be some mechanics changes and training taking place so it should be more effective. I still expect they will realize the improved safety doesn't outweigh being in the right positions to make the right calls. Maybe then we see helmets on umpires. Another approach is to back them up to 10 yards from the LOS so they are a little further away from the action.

Four is the standard here in NE Ohio for sub varsity games. But we just got there. When I got into this 10 years ago. It was pretty much 3 man. I think 4 will be as good as it gets. Schools simply aren't going to pay 5 guys at the sub varsity level

While the reasons stated to move the U is for safety (and the NFL U takes wicked hits) I think it is done mostly to placate NFL offenses who insist on running three yard crossing patterns and use the U as a pick.

I really don't agree with this move.

Why would moving the U placate NFL offenses rather than frustrate them? :confused:

I don't think placate means what you think it does.