Rules Emphasis for 2024

[Big East Zebra]

Before I touch on the Rules Emphasis for this year, please keep this in mind:

1. You may have been watching College or the NFL football for many years, but your child is playing according to high school rules. In fact, there are over 100 rules differences between the three levels.

2. Before you decide to yell at the refs, keep in mind that they've attended rules and mechanics meetings and passed a rules exam. You  have done none of this!

3.  New officials are put on youth games for the same reason  your 10 year old doesn't get to play varsity; they have to develop too!

4. Even if your kid is good enough to get a football scholarship one day, his coach isn't going to care about the bad game he had when he was 12 or even as a underclassman in high school.

5. Mistakes in officiating will be eliminated when fumbles, dropped passes, missed assignments, and blown coverages are eliminated as well.

6. Every year, it gets harder and harder to find officials for high school, and middle school and youth football. The reason? The parents! Think about this before you decided to post a video of a call you don't like so you and a bunch of other people who've never read a rule book can debate a call you don't like!

Rule Emphasis for 2024:

1. Sportsmanship:

Each year the sportsmanship between players and fans deteriorates that much more, with that in mind remember this:

Everyone involved must clearly understand that education-based athletics is an extension of the classroom and is about more than just winning and losing, getting scholarships and gaining accolades. Education-based athletics is about learning, and the conduct and actions of everyone involved should reflect this.

2.  Hand Shake line protocol

1. Administrators/security from both schools should be stationed on the field in close proximity to the handshake line.
2. One team should be on the right and the other team should be on the left. Players from one team should not be allowed to walk down both sides of the line.
3. Absolutely no non-essential personnel should be allowed on the field or sidelines until both teams have reached a designated area after completion of the handshake line.
4. A coach or administrator should be stationed at the end of the handshake line to direct the players who have completed the line to a designated area on their end of the field. Do not allow the players to continue to the opposing sideline or to the other end of the field.
5. Have one or more coaches at the front of the line and one or more at the end of the line.

Improving the current state of the game regarding the prevalence of unsporting behavior requires that everyone involved commit to addressing the issue. Civility, even in the midst of intense competition, matters.

3.  Player Equipment and Enforcement

To support the safety of all participants, players must wear equipment and uniforms that are properly fitted and worn as intended by the manufacturer. Before starting each game, the head coach must verify that all players are properly and legally equipped.

The use of knee pads is an area targeted for emphasis. Due to potential injury, it is essential that players only be allowed to participate if their pants and knee pads comply with the rules. Pants must completely cover the knees, and knee pads must be worn over the knee. In pregame duties, game officials should be watchful and proactive in addressing potential equipment, and more specifically, knee pad issues. Players often wear pants that slide up and expose the knee during movement. Game officials should communicate with coaches and/or players and ensure that only legally and properly equipped players are allowed to participate – noncompliance results in nonparticipation.

4. Formations

Over the past several years, there has been a considerable decline by many teams in their efforts to line up legally. There has also been a decrease by game officials with enforcement of illegal formations, especially involving offensive linemen. Linemen are legally on the line of scrimmage when they face their opponent’s goal line and have head or foot breaking the imaginary plane through the waist of the snapper. It has become fairly common to see guards or tackles line up a yard or two off the ball to aid in pass blocking or pulling. Doing so provides a significant advantage for the offense and should be addressed at the first opportunity by coaches and game officials.

Game officials should monitor pre-game warm-up and communicate (through coaches) to allow them to correct borderline or illegal formation issues they have observed. Once the contest begins, preventive officiating skills should be used at the earliest opportunity to allow coaches to make adjustments before formation issues become egregious. However, formations that clearly and obviously do not meet the specifications of NFHS Football Rules 2-32-3, 2-32-9 and 7-2 must be penalized as fouls without warning.

Thanks guys, and be kind to the Zebra's this year.  

Big East Zebra!

[Paul Dean]

Outstanding!!

[OMD]

Well said!

[VF111]

Agree with all of the initial points. 

The knee-pad rule is just silly. 

[Big East Zebra]

It’s not silly when it is a rule. You cannot pick and choose which rules you will enforce and which rules you will not enforce. The real problem comes in the playoffs when you have one association enforce the rule and another association not enforcing it. 

[New Colonel]

Awesome to hear!  

I have been complaining about the equipment issue for years.  Along with the knee pad issue is the jerseys rolled up and not tucked with the exposed back plate.  

I also see too many KHSAA officials allowing illegal visors in middle school and the youth level. 

The formation issue drives me absolutely nuts too.  I hope they actually pay attention to it....."off receivers" should also actually be off the ball, not 1 foot behind the "on" wide receiver.  If the OT in particular is behind the off receivers, it's an illegal formation, and that has been allowed for entirely too long.

I would also like to see an emphasis on illegal motions/false starts.  Too often there is forward motion that is not called.  Whether it is an RB that leans forward during the cadence or guys going in motion across the field and take a step or 2 forward in a diagonal fashion.  Lastly, I see false starts that aren't called in almost every game.  You see an OL in a 3 point stance, get up to look over at the sidelines for the new check/signal.  That should be flagged.

These focus areas about equipment, sportsmanship, and formations is much overdue.  I hope officials actually throw flags for improperly equipped players and illegal formations.  Get back to the basics.

[New Colonel]

On 8/9/2024 at 2:59 PM, Big East Zebra said:

It’s not silly when it is a rule. You cannot pick and choose which rules you will enforce and which rules you will not enforce. The real problem comes in the playoffs when you have one association enforce the rule and another association not enforcing it. 

Agreed.  Unfortunately, with fewer and fewer officials, the consistency issue is getting worse. Hopefully we can get some new, younger officials through the ranks and they stick with it.

[theguru]

Bump.

[tcjkbt]

On 8/9/2024 at 2:15 PM, VF111 said:

Agree with all of the initial points. 

The knee-pad rule is just silly. 

The knee-pad rule was enforced in the Trinity-Springfield scrimmage when the punt returner had to be substituted out.

[atm10]

On 8/9/2024 at 8:41 PM, New Colonel said:

Awesome to hear!  

I have been complaining about the equipment issue for years.  Along with the knee pad issue is the jerseys rolled up and not tucked with the exposed back plate.  

I also see too many KHSAA officials allowing illegal visors in middle school and the youth level. 

The formation issue drives me absolutely nuts too.  I hope they actually pay attention to it....."off receivers" should also actually be off the ball, not 1 foot behind the "on" wide receiver.  If the OT in particular is behind the off receivers, it's an illegal formation, and that has been allowed for entirely too long.

I would also like to see an emphasis on illegal motions/false starts.  Too often there is forward motion that is not called.  Whether it is an RB that leans forward during the cadence or guys going in motion across the field and take a step or 2 forward in a diagonal fashion.  Lastly, I see false starts that aren't called in almost every game.  You see an OL in a 3 point stance, get up to look over at the sidelines for the new check/signal.  That should be flagged.

These focus areas about equipment, sportsmanship, and formations is much overdue.  I hope officials actually throw flags for improperly equipped players and illegal formations.  Get back to the basics.

Why is leaning forward a false start? Also receiver turning up field one or two steps? Site the rule which makes it illegal?

[New Colonel]

1 hour ago, atm10 said:

Why is leaning forward a false start? Also receiver turning up field one or two steps? Site the rule which makes it illegal?

You are not allowed to be moving forwards forwards as the ball is being snapped.  So of the WR is moving forwards 1 or 2 steps as the ball is snapped while he's in motion, it's illegal foward motion.  Nobody is allowed to flinch once set, so a RB leaning his entire body forwards (like one would do right before they take a step) it's false start.

You will have to give me a while to find my NFHS rulebook.  I don't have this year's copy, but I'll site the rules when I dig out last year's book from the abyss in my house.

[Voice of Reason]

On 8/9/2024 at 2:59 PM, Big East Zebra said:

It’s not silly when it is a rule. You cannot pick and choose which rules you will enforce and which rules you will not enforce. The real problem comes in the playoffs when you have one association enforce the rule and another association not enforcing it. 

In what officials association are these the rules of emphasis?

[New Colonel]

12 hours ago, atm10 said:

Why is leaning forward a false start? Also receiver turning up field one or two steps? Site the rule which makes it illegal?

Rule 7 is the one that goes over motions, shifts, and false starts.  

In my older copy, Rule 7, Section 2, Article 6 states.... "After a huddle or shift, all players of A shall come to an absolute stop and shall remain stationary without movement of hands, feet, head, or body for at least one second before the snap."  That's the leaning penalty by RBs that hardly gets called.  

The very next rule goes over motion

Rule 7, Section 2 Article 7 states.... "Only one player may be in motion at the snap and then only if such motion is not toward his opponent's goal line." So, again, you cannot have forward motion of any kind, but officials have been letting kids take those 1 or two steps, or what I can best describe a diagonal motion.  It may be very slight, but it is there and is coached by teams to give the offense an advantage because it is rarely called.

Hope that helps.

[REALSPORT]

5. Mistakes in officiating will be eliminated when fumbles, dropped passes, missed assignments, and blown coverages are eliminated as well.

Totally agree.  A coach once told me that at a minimum the officiating should be comparable to the level of play.  If Johnny's team makes 30 mistakes a game why should you expect perfection from the refs and how are any referee mistakes impacting the game?

[wingt51]

Gonna drive me insane if there's kids getting pulled out of games left and right because even though they have knee pads in, their pants are "too short". Just tell them to try to pull them down more and keep it moving. Football players don't need (or want) their pants to go down to their shins.