Pre-Snap Communication w/ Players

[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.