How do you signify a punt grazing receiving team member

[Badger1]

Had a situation last Friday evening where a punt that crossed the neutral zone by about 35 yards grazed the ankle of a receiving team member as he tried to get away from the kick.  The coach of the receiving team disputed that the punt touched his player.  Just wondering what signal or mechanism the back judge on your crew uses to make it known that the punt has touched the receiving team member.  I informed my back judge to use his bean bag.  Do you agree with this?

[VA Official]

Had a situation last Friday evening where a punt that crossed the neutral zone by about 35 yards grazed the ankle of a receiving team member as he tried to get away from the kick.  The coach of the receiving team disputed that the punt touched his player.  Just wondering what signal or mechanism the back judge on your crew uses to make it known that the punt has touched the receiving team member.  I informed my back judge to use his bean bag.  Do you agree with this?

Personally, the only time I would use a bean bag is when that spot is a first touching spot or an enforcement spot. I don’t know that I feel the need to signify during the play that the ball touched an R player, just as I wouldn’t bean bag a fumble behind the LOS because it’s not an enforcement spot. At the end of the play, if R recovers, just go about business normally. If K recovers, come up and sell it hard by killing the play and signaling K’s ball. Just my opinion. There’s certainly nothing wrong with using a bean bag here if you’d like to and your association’s mechanics allow it. I just don’t find it necessary.

[Rulesman]

Every coach in America is going to dispute the ball grazing his receiver. The bean bag is used to indicate the end of the kick or first touching by K. R touching the ball is not the end of the kick. If this happens and K recovers, I agree with VA. Sell your call and movie on.

[ElvisLives]

Do you guys not have the “legal touching” signal?  (NCAA signal 11, brushing one open hand across the ends of the fingers of the other hand.). That is what is used for these situations in NCAA.  Same signal for blocked kicks or passes touched by B.
If not, you should petition to get it.

[VA Official]

Do you guys not have the “legal touching” signal?  (NCAA signal 11, brushing one open hand across the ends of the fingers of the other hand.). That is what is used for these situations in NCAA.  Same signal for blocked kicks or passes touched by B.
If not, you should petition to get it.

I like this idea 100x more than using a bean bag. If you throw a bean bag, I feel it could be misconstrued as a first touching.

[NVFOA_Ump]

Do you guys not have the “legal touching” signal?  (NCAA signal 11, brushing one open hand across the ends of the fingers of the other hand.).

Yes we do and it is also signal 11 in the 2017 NFHS Rules.

[Ralph Damren]

Scrimmage kicks = use touching signal (#11), this will let everyone know that K can now recover preventing a need for a conference of officials and quell an angry R coach by stating ,"Our official signaled that your player had touched to ball, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when K recovered it."

Free kicks = use the start the clock signal (#2), this will let everyone know that there is no foul if the ball goes OOB and that is now recoverable if covered by K in the neutral zone.

  SOX SUCK....CUBBIES RULE 

[AlUpstateNY]

Until they add "grazing" to NFHS Rule 2, I'm going to stick with NFHS: 2-44 "Touching" (which refers to any contact with the ball).  Even there, even "touching" only matters whether it's observed, or not, by a game official.

[The Roamin' Umpire]

Heck, the "tipped" signal (#11) is even described in the book as "legal touching of forward pass or scrimmage kick." As a back judge, that's what I use.

[KWH]

Until they add "grazing" to NFHS Rule 2, I'm going to stick with NFHS: 2-44 "Touching" (which refers to any contact with the ball).  Even there, even "touching" only matters whether it's observed, or not, by a game official.

I agree with da Master Mainer