You make the call '16 No. 4

[White hat]

OK, the first three have been fairly easy. Maybe this one will be, too, but I doubt it because it speaks to a couple very minute rules.

I'll give you four plays. One is legal. Tell me which one is legal and what makes the other two illegal.

In each case, Team A has the ball, 3rd down and 10 at Team B's 15 yard line with 3 seconds to go in the second quarter. They send in their firld goal unit.

Play 1. #40 takes the center position over the ball as snapper. On his right are #51, #52 #88. On his left are #61, #62 and #89. At the 22 yard line, #11 puts a kicking block on the ground and is in position to catch a snap with a knee on the ground. #1 is in position to kick the ball. When the ball is snapped, #11 catches it; while his knee is still on the ground he flips it backward to #1 who runs for a TD.

Play 2. #40 takes the center position over the ball as snapper. On his right are #51, #52 #88. On his left are #61, #62 and #89. At the 22 yard line, #11 puts a kicking block on the ground and is in position to catch a snap. He is squatting so that he does not have a knee on the ground. #1 is in position to kick the ball. When the ball is snapped, #11 catches it; without touching a knee to the ground he flips it backward to #1 who runs for a TD.

Play 3. #40 takes the center position over the ball as snapper. On his right are #51, #52 #88. On his left are #61, #62 and #89. At the 22 yard line, #11 kneels as it to catch a snap, but he does not have a kicking block. #1 is in position to make a kick. At first sound #11 rises and moves to the 20 yard line and #1 shifts to a position directly behind #11. #11 then calls signals and takes a snap from the shotgun formation. He throws a TD pass to #88, who was on the end of the line.

Play 4. #40 takes position over the ball to snap it from the middle of the field, In the swinging gate formation, #88, 50, 51,52,53,54 take positions on the line of scrimmage outside of the hashmarks. #11 is in position to catch the snap at the 22 and #1 is in position to kick it. While still in this formation, #40 snaps the ball to #11 who catches it with a knee still on the ground, then rises and runs toward the side where the linemen are standing. #11 then throws a pass to #40 in the endzone for a TD.

 

[onlylabs]

Alright here goes. Gotta admit I felt like I was taking the SAT and trying to figure out which information was important and which wasn't!! Does give me perspective that knowing the rules are only half the battle....being able to make split second assessments of many factors to interpret them is probably where more perceived problems occur.

Not to be a pain but only 9 players listed so I'm going to make assumption the 10th and 11th are flankers off the line of scrimmage so for these purposes change nothing of the scenarios.

4 is legal (chosen by process of elimination/guessing on 2 of the 4)

1 & 2 are illegal because (years ago this was one of those high school is different than college rules...not sure if it still is or not??) holder has to rise up (declare he is not holding so to speak) before he does anything with the ball other than hold it for the kick.

3 is illegal my only reason is I have only one legal play to pick. I'm not sure why though. Not sure if you told us no kicking block simply to throw us off or that is some illegal deceptive act??

Gotta 1 in 4 chance so let's wait and see. Typically I'm not a good gambler!!

 

[White hat]

Yes, assume there are two other guys on the field, off the line of scrimmage and have no bearing on whether each play is legal or not.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

I say #3 is the only legal play.

 

[Olduvatechmason]

#4 is only legal one. Number 40 is an eligible number so can't be snapper in middle of formation- he needs to be at end of los so he's eligible.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Welcome to our forum, "Old..."! I had to chuckle when I read your nickname. After typing that in the "log-in" box a few hundred times, you will probably wish you had selected a shorter nickname. Again, welcome, and we look forward to your participation.

 

[White hat]

Not sure if this is a spoiler, a hint or just something to think about. But when I wrote those plays, #1 was not the play that I considered legal. That said, there is nothing illegal about #1, it's just that, as was correctly mentioned, the play is over because the toss was made with a knee on the ground. That's not a violation of any rule, it just ends the play. Nothing in Play 1 would draw a flag.

 

[White hat]

Good job to those who guessed that #4 is correct. I don't believe it would be legal in NCAA (could be wrong) but it's legal in high school. The snapper is allowed to be on the end of the line and, if he's wearing an eligible number, he can catch a legal forward pass. I've had several coaches ask about this.

I've already said #1 is not illegal, it's just over when the holder, still on his knee, pitches the ball. If he rose to pitch it, that's fine. He can rise, then pitch, run, throw a forward pass or anything else.

The rules require that the offense have 5 guys wearing #50-79 on the line of scrimmage. The exception to this is when the offense is in scrimmage kick formation -- punt formation requires a player to be 10 yards or more behind the snapper and in position to receive the snap. FG or PAT formation requires a player to be in position 7 yards behind the snapper, in postion to receive the snap, and with a knee on the ground with another player in position to make a kick.

The numbering exception, as it's called, allows one player with an eligible number to be the long snapper on downs 1-3 if the team is in scrimmage kick formation. In play 2 and 3, the team is not in scrimmage kick formation (the knee is off the ground in 2 and the team shifts out of scrimmage kick formation in 3) which makes it an illegal formation because there are not enough players numbered 50-79 on the line of scrimmage.