Suggestions, anyone?????

[ncwingman]

I agree that the "punch forward" mechanic should be in place for a close throw in case the receiver wants to throw a second pass (and the first one SHOULD have been backwards, but it wasn't) -- however, I'd argue that it shouldn't be a standard mechanic in case of an incomplete pass. You don't want that Year 1/2 official having to do two mechanics in case of an incomplete pass -- just signal incomplete.

You also don't need it for obvious forward passes, so where do you draw the line mechanically?

[ALStripes17]

If that's the case, let's start signaling when the ballcarrier is beyond the LOS.

We don't have to specifically tell everyone everything. Deductive reasoning is a grand thing.

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[Rulesman]

When passes are thrown so that it is unclear if they are forward or backward we currently are asked to punch backward only when the wing believes it is a backward pass.  There is supposedly no need to punch forward because if it's forward and incomplete, the wing should simply blow it dead.  That mechanic works well when every crew member is experienced.  But in high school  that wingman could be a 1-2 year official.  He could have been consistently abused by a cranky coach on his sideline.  The fact is, sometimes they either forget to signal or they panic and freeze.  Either way, the rest of the crew is left wondering "so what was it?  Forward? or Backward?".

It makes more sense to me to change the mechanic to say that the affected wing should punch either forward or backward.  Now when your wing doesn't signal anything, you KNOW that there is something wrong.

Again, when you have officials that have met the scrutiny to make it to the NCAA level, this may not be necessary.  But at the Federation level, I feel that anything we can do to make sure we're all on the same page, we should do that.

+1

[golfingref]

We have started punching forward or backward for passes behind the LOS.  It helps to let everyone (other officials, coaches, players) know what was seen.


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[the clown]

I have heard that the main reason for punching forward was to inform the Back Judge that OPI restrictions on the receivers blocking on the bubble screen are removed.  Hence, by punching forward you are telling the crew that the pass was forward and caught behind the LOS.  I like this mechanic.

[Ralph Damren]

In our off-year meeting of the Manual Committee, I gave a hard copy of this topic and your responses to the chair. He would review it and respond back to the committee. I'll keep you guys advised.

[Jackhammer]

In our off-year meeting of the Manual Committee, I gave a hard copy of this topic and your responses to the chair. He would review it and respond back to the committee. I'll keep you guys advised.

Thanks for all your work Ralph, appreciate your attention to this.