Out of bounds
 

OK, I am having a hard time getting a hold of this one: NFHS rules, 2-29-2. The way it reads a ball carrier, tip toeing the side line, could step on a fallen player that is out of bounds, step back in bounds and keep running! Can someone help me out with the intent of the rule and is my view of it wrong! Thanks

You don't understand it or you don't like it? Sounds like you understand it just fine.

Do you really want to rule a runner out of bounds when he's touched by another player who's out of bounds? Think of a ball carrier running along the sideline with a defender running along side of him - out of bounds.

Don't confuse a loose ball with a player.

Similar concept to a runner not being down on the field of play when he is lying on a downed player. Unless some other body part has touched the ground besides his hand or foot, he isn't down.

Your view of it is not wrong. Your intuition is probably that a body flat on the ground is as good as the ground, like an object (such as a pylon) on the ground, but that's not how it's written. I think the rules makers didn't want to try to distinguish between cases like the above and those where a player is supported by the ground out of bounds but not laying flat.

If the player instead of merely being stepped on shoved the ball carrier back towards the field, that would be flagged for helping the runner.

No, the rules makers didn't want to have exceptions, standard NF philosophy.

And then there's the old question of what is "returning" to "participate" viewed in the context of this case.