DPI - do I know it when I see it

[bmem66]

I am a wing official working varsity games.  Last week, the coach on my side was arguing about how much contact can be make at the line of scrimmage.  I told him once the offensive player gets to the same plane as the defensive player, he can not be touched.    He replied that last week when the received came off the ball, the defender blocked him and drove him out of bounds every play.   Is this legal?  Doesn't the receiver have a right to run his route?  I know there is alot of gray here because it seems to be enforced differently week by week.  Any help from experienced wing officials would be appreciated.

[ECILLJ]

The defender can not drive the wide-out out of bands if the wide-out is not making an attempt to block the defender. The penalty is either holding or illegal personal contact.

[mark in ok]

The receiver has the right to be quick and strong.  If he is neither, I can see him being legally blocked out of bounds. 

[Curious]

The defender can not drive the wide-out out of bands if the wide-out is not making an attempt to block the defender. The penalty is either holding or illegal personal contact.

I believe it would be better said that the defensive player may defend himself from a wide-out (including pushing him OOB) IF the wide-out is in position to block him.  If the wide-out is no longer a potential blocker (even with or past the defender) or if a pass does not go the wide-out's way, it could be Illegal Use of Hands, or, if appropriate, holding.

[mbyron]

First of all, don't make up rules. NFHS rules have nothing remotely resembling your "once A reaches the plane of the defender" business.

Second, in NFHS rules any player may block any other player anywhere on the field, provided that the block is a legal block and doesn't constitute interference or a personal foul (Football Fundamental).

Third, you need to know that the pass interference restrictions on B don't begin until the ball leaves the passer's hand (7-5-8b). So you can't have DPI on a receiver being blocked at the line of scrimmage unless the ball is in the air and in his direction.

The next issue is whether this is holding/illegal use of hands. The relevant rule is 9-2-3d:
A defensive player shall not:
...
d. Contact an eligible receiver who is no longer a potential blocker.

So whether B has committed a foul comes down to whether the A player is still a "potential blocker." This is a judgment call: but it is not merely a question of whether the A player is making an actual attempt to block (as a previous poster claimed).

In general, an A player is a potential blocker until he moves past or away from the B player, or until the play passes him and he does not move to participate further. If the B player is blocking the receiver and keeping the receiver in front of him the whole time, I'd say it's legal; if you judge that B is restricting A's attempt to get past him, you could flag the illegal use of hands here and tell the coach that the A player was no longer a potential blocker since he was moving away.