40 Second Clock

[BetweenTheLines]

I'm interested in hearing from some of you who officiate college on how you keep the ball from being snappe too early (before you are in position). Is there a verbal cue to the snapper or QB. or something else?

[bossman72]

I'm interested in hearing from some of you who officiate college on how you keep the ball from being snappe too early (before you are in position). Is there a verbal cue to the snapper or QB. or something else?

U (or CJ) stays over the ball until the R shoes him off.

It's good to pregame with the QB and head coach if they like to go fast to tell them to wait until the U is in position before they snap it.  This will only be a problem if they want to go Oregon fast.

[Legacy Zebra]

The U needs to know the snapper’s name. When he spots the ball, he steps back behind the DL and holds his hand up as a stop sign. Once the ball is ready (officials in position, subs complete, etc.) he drops his hand, steps back into position, and tells the snapper he’s good. If there’s a late sub, the U can just take a couple steps up, put his hand back up and say “Hold on Johnny.”

 DO NOT STAND BETWEEN THE OL AND DL. If they snap it while you’re in there, it does not end well. Once the ball is down, you can control everything from behind the DL.

[Ralph Damren]

Remember, guys, there is no waiting for subs by B/R in NFHS. We are telling our  umpires  to stand over the ball until all his crewmates are in position.

[ElvisLives]

Remember, guys, there is no waiting for subs by B/R in NFHS. We are telling our  umpires  to stand over the ball until all his crewmates are in position.

That being the case, the U will need to remind the snapper to wait until he gets the OK from the U to snap the ball, since he'll need a couple of seconds to clear the DL. By the same token, the U should be willing to hustle, to reduce that interval as much as possible.   As Legacy said, knowing the snappers' names can be invaluable.

That was a significant change NCAA umpires had to make when we first got the 40 second clock.  They could no longer just 'saunter' away from the ball.  They needed to be able to hustle, to get back into position.  Self-motivated Umpires that could, and would, move quickly became a premium.  That role still remains for crews of 7, but, obviously, the C now takes that role (most of the time) in crews of 8.  The rather large Umpires of the 60s, 70s, and 80s have gone by the wayside.  NCAA Umpires are now just as fit as the rest of the crew.  Snickers stock value has dropped, I'm afraid.

Robert

[Legacy Zebra]

Remember, guys, there is no waiting for subs by B/R in NFHS.

The rule difference doesn't really change the mechanic. Whether you're waiting for subs or just for the crew to be ready, it still works the same.

We are telling our  umpires  to stand over the ball until all his crewmates are in position.

This is a bad idea. Standing directly over the ball is a good way to get trapped and either get hurt, unnecessarily delay the offense, or both. Spot the ball and back away. You can communicate with the snapper from 5-7 yards just as much as you can from directly over the ball, especially if you've learned his name. Watch college and NFL games when they're holding the snap. You won't see officials standing directly over the ball. If it's a 7 man college crew the U will be controlling the snapper from behind the DL. If it's an 8 man crew or an NFL game the C (or NFL U) will be clear of the center with a hand on his hip.

[CalhounLJ]

Just curious, Is there a penalty IF the snapper ignores the U and snaps the ball before the U is ready? If so, what is it?

Also, it's been the practice on my crew for decades for my U to stand over the ball until the WH blows the RFP. We've never had an incident before. I'm wondering how the implementation of the :40 will change that?

[xkath]

My guess: administrative stoppage until officials are in position, then a 25-second PC reset. It shouldn't be DOG because ready for play now is when the ball is placed on the ground.


This will require a culture change for HS crews in my area. Our old-school evaluators still want flanks pinching in on all plays. Many umpires wait at the hash for the ball, walk to the spot and straddle the ball until the whistle.

In the interim until 7-man crews are more widely accepted, a sixth man akin to a CJ might get some traction.

[CalhounLJ]

It still feels like hurry-up to me. There was a suggestion on this board that the main motivation was to provide consistency between snap intervals, but it seems like all we are discussing is how to make it easier to snap the ball more quickly instead of more consistently.

[xkath]

I see the the idea of a consistent and efficient readying of play as a good thing. It prepares officials for whatever style they encounter. And it puts us ahead of the curve with how football is trending.

[bossman72]

Just curious, Is there a penalty IF the snapper ignores the U and snaps the ball before the U is ready? If so, what is it?

Also, it's been the practice on my crew for decades for my U to stand over the ball until the WH blows the RFP. We've never had an incident before. I'm wondering how the implementation of the :40 will change that?

I assume DOG foul.

We'll have to wait to see the wording from NFHS, but in NCAA, the ball is RFP when the ball is placed down and the officials are in position.

[Morningrise]

Will the whistle mechanic match the NCAA? The R whistles the RFP only if one or both clocks is to start. Otherwise, there is no whistle; the ball is ready when the U or CJ steps away from it.

It works well. I hope NFHS agrees. There really isn't any need to blow 100 whistles for 100 RFPs. Sincerely, someone who has worked games at WH with a cracked rib that hurt every time

[AlUpstateNY]

Just curious, Is there a penalty IF the snapper ignores the U and snaps the ball before the U is ready? If so, what is it?

Also, it's been the practice on my crew for decades for my U to stand over the ball until the WH blows the RFP. We've never had an incident before. I'm wondering how the implementation of the :40 will change that?

Not at all surprisingly, the initial announcement of adopting a 40 second "playclock", without any supporting details, or relevant insight, as to specifically how the conversion is to be mechanically implemented has produced an ocean of "What if" confusion, presumption and consternation. Hopefully, such information and detail will be forthcoming and will have benefited from the experiences and common sense solutions developed by the NFHS Testing experience and the experiences of other levels (that might/might not be applicable to the Interscholastic level).

Just as predictable, when lack of actual instruction is available, and speculation and imagination are allowed to roam loose, the focus, and possibilities IMMEDIATELY jumps to the worst, and most outrageous, possible scenarios, which is fertile breeding ground for endless and imaginative "What if" problems, that may never exist.   Hopefully, the answers we all seek are being developed and will be provided (in time).

 

[KWH]

Just curious, Is there a penalty IF the snapper ignores the U and snaps the ball before the U is ready? If so, what is it?

3-6-2d - Delay of Game (Yes it will need a little modification to to accommodate the 40 second clock as will 2-35 

Also, it's been the practice on my crew for decades for my U to stand over the ball until the WH blows the RFP. We've never had an incident before. I'm wondering how the implementation of the :40 will change that?

Your practice will need to change as the ball is not, by definition, "Ready-for-play" until the Umpire has placed the ball on the ground and gotten safely out of harms way.

The rules books will come out in May / June
The National State Rules Interpreters Meeting will be held in July
In theory, your SRI (or his stand in) will be in attendance and all the questions will be answered.

[Magician]

My guess: administrative stoppage until officials are in position, then a 25-second PC reset. It shouldn't be DOG because ready for play now is when the ball is placed on the ground.

This will require a culture change for HS crews in my area. Our old-school evaluators still want flanks pinching in on all plays. Many umpires wait at the hash for the ball, walk to the spot and straddle the ball until the whistle.

In the interim until 7-man crews are more widely accepted, a sixth man akin to a CJ might get some traction.

In NCAA and experimental states the ball is ready for play when the U steps away from the ball. I assume the actual wording will be similar. There will be plays where the U will need to wait for one of the other officials or possibly the chain crew before stepping away.

Many of the comments I'm seeing here were the same concerns we had when we started doing this in NCAA and then our NFHS experiment. Everyone is afraid the teams are going to be ready to go the second the umpire steps away. The coaches will think they will want to go that fast. The reality is none of them are able to go that fast very often. It's very rare the U doesn't have time to get back into his spot. If he stands over the ball not allowing the snapper to be on the ball that buys him a couple seconds because the snapper has to get on the ball and then be set or a second before the ball is snapped. There is no need for us to get so hurried we aren't in position for the next play.

If the umpires were that slow before and the R waited for him to get into position to blow the ready for play, you probably weren't very consistent with the ready for play thus resulting in a disparity between dead ball and DOG. That's ultimately what this is trying to accomplish. If you worked at a good pace before you won't move any different than you did before. If you were slow and deliberate then you were part of the problem this rule change is attempting to correct.

[bctgp]

Lots of good points in here for certain, I can tell you from a Texas perspective when we went to the 40/25 clock 4-5 years we had a lot of the same questions and concerns. For sure, Umpires have to be prepared for this. As an Umpire, I would always ensure I knew the snapper's first name (I got it in my pregame). I would also spend a few moments with them pregame to explain that I may be holding them up from time to time until and what I expected from them. Our Referee would do the same with the QB so they could recognize when we were holding the snap. In most cases when we might have a brief hold of the snap, I could stand 3-4 yards off the LOS and talk to the snapper to hold the snap until I released them and I never had an issue with this. This allowed me to back up to my normal position much quicker and be out of the danger zone a lot sooner than if I started from standing over the snapper.

My 2 cents worth.

[BIG UMP]

After working with the 40 second clock last year we realized there were very few hiccups.  U had time to get out, coaches would say we run a hurry-up and when time came with signaling in plays, players looking at their play cards and snappers getting on the ball and linemen adjust to his stance we were all in place and waiting.  Now did we saunter to our positions no but we didn't sprint either.  We moved with purpose.