Trick play, middle school. Your take...

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by KMBReferee

According to the rules, it has to be a quick and continuous motion of the ball going backwards. That "snap" didn't meet any of those requirements.

The guy held up the ball and gave it to the runner. That's not backwards. Holding the ball for someone to grab it doesn't seem quick to me either.

I should note that the rule I'm referring to is under NFHS rules. Now the game happened in Texas. Don't they use NCAA rules there? I was told they did. If so, I don't know the exact rule on snaps in NCAA.

On those criteria, NCAA's exactly the same. It's an old rule that predates the formation of the Federation.

The only criterion I think wasn't satisfied was the movement of the ball being quick. It was continuous (didn't stop & resume), backward, and left the snapper's hand without a pause in motion. The fact that the ball also moved upward doesn't mean it wasn't moving backward; follow its arc. The only problem seems to have been its lack of speed. and of course that's a matter of judgment. The fact that he could've moved the ball faster to get it to the same place to me would be the decisive factor in the snap's being illegal, because it looks like its slowness was intentional and unnecessary.

If you were to look at a conventional C-QB exchange, you'd probably call that holding the ball up for someone to grab too. The impetus for the release of the ball doesn't have to come from the snapper's hand(s). Even in rugby, when a player takes the ball from a tackled player who's holding it up, that's considered a release by the tackled player.

In the power wing -- which I just had a brief exchange with another coach on online -- one of the snaps is around the waist like that to a motioning back who takes the ball as it's held out.