Pre-Snap Communication w/ Players

[FHSUref]

I agree. He could have had an unfair advantage. Looking at the clip, the ball is on the 9yd line and his feet are behind the 9yd line. He must have had the crown of his helmet over the LOS.

Bad break.

[HLin NC]

Don't do college.

I will tap my leg and tell the receiver my foot is the line. Also we only signal off here but I doubt the players know that. Some coaches might.

DB's are on their own. He'll know when he's gotten too close

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

You should never tell a player to "back up" or "get up." If you do and the ball is snapped as he moves, you're responsible for the player committing the foul.

Point back if he's off, tap your leg if you choose, or "My foot's on the line." Plenty of ways to point it out without telling him to move.

If you tap your leg to tell him he's not on the line, you're telling him to move.

If he's off the line when he should be on, is the wing official responsible for the illegal formation foul, too?

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by mbyron

If you tap your leg to tell him he's not on the line, you're telling him to move.

If he's off the line when he should be on, is the wing official responsible for the illegal formation foul, too?

If he's on the line when he should be off, is the wing responsible for the illegal receiver downfield?

[bkdow]

I tell them when they are off or when they are on. I will only tell a DB that he's over if he's the player near me. If the defensive or offensive line is over the ball, I try to communicate it early in the game so that we don't have to flag it. If it's close, I give the them the benefit of the doubt and game-manage it. If it's blatant, then I'll flag it and kill the play because it should be a dead ball if you are going to flag it.

Not the way to do it: I was working as a WH in a JV game and my wing started screaming at a 3 receiver set. He then came off the sideline yelling, "hold it, hold it! Which one of you is suppose to be on the line?" I freaked out as I've never had someone stop a play after the RFP without a whistle. Never saw this guy before and hope never to work with him again. He claimed he was a veteran referee but also told me after the game that there were too many rules for us to keep track of.

[BuckeyeRef]

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

We also never respond to a player who says "am I good?" because we, as officials, don't know where he's supposed to line up.
However, if the player asks "am I on?" or "am I off?", we can (and will) respond appropriately.

If the player doesn't ask, we won't say anything.

In a varsity game, I usually try to tell the wideouts during the first series that my foot is the line of scrimmage if they want to be on. If a player asks for help I simply tell him he's on or off, I never tell someone to move.

If a player doesn't ask for help, my foot is still there to show the line of scrimmage but he hears nothing from me. Same goes for a DB who moves up to the line of scrimmage right in front of me. If he checks with me to make sure he is not offside I tell him. If he doesn't check with me then I flag him if he is in the neutral zone.

[Mike L]

I guess I've never understood the rationale behind the whole tapping the leg thing like we're protecting some great secret or testing him or something. I'd rather make it easier for him to understand and avoid more stupid formation fouls.
I just simply tell the player who asks 1) you're on the line or 2) you're back. On those rare occassions he'll get a "you're over the line". With any of them it's up to him to figure out what to do at that point.
If it's B lining up in the zone, if there's time he'll get a "back up defense". If A comes up quick and snaps or he doesn't hear me, too bad for B.