Ball rotation for 7 man

[SideLine]

Guys, 

Does anyone have a good guide to share or direct me to that spells out the common ball rotation mechanics in a 7 man crew. 

That is one of the things I'm feeling least confident about as I near my first season in NCAA football, because I can't seem to find a good resource.  CCA manual doesn't appear to have much on it, unless I'm missing it.

Thanks to all. 

[BenG]

I could spend an hour giving a full presentation on it. But the important things are:
• Everyone on the crew knows what to do and is doing the same thing
• The Ball Boys are briefed to know what to do (and you should know their names!)

What I use/preach on my games is:

•Incomplete Passes:
 - New Ball from Wing Official (HL/LJ).
 - New Ball should come in from the side the pass is thrown to
    i.e. Incomplete pass to HL's side of the field = New Ball from HL)
 - If Ball goes straight down the middle of the field ball should come in from non-chains side
   (Press-box-side, LJ etc...)
 - Deep Officials relay old ball off field - Old Ball should go to the same side-line the new ball comes from.
•Runs that end outside the numbers (where Wing official has the spot)
 - Deep Official (or occasionally on big losses CJ/R) retrieves ball from ball-person.
•Runs that end inside the numbers
 - Re-use old ball
•Kicks-Offs/Punts that go out of the bakc of the end-zone.
 - New Ball from LJ side of field (or non-chains side)
•Reverse Mechanics
 - Same as a Run except Wing gets ball instead of Deep Wing (as DW has spot)

This may change if:
• You're in "Wet Ball Mechanics"
• The goal line ins involved and the normal official who would retrive the ball from the ball-boy is covering the spot.

My personal preference is for the ball-boy to stand part-way between the Wing Official and the Deep Wing (about 5 yards away from Wing and therefore 15-20 from deep wing).
If each team are using their own Footballs (then presumably you have at least 2 ball-boys per sideline), then I want the Ball-Boy for the team on Offense to be the one passing balls to me. I encourage the other teams ball boy to assist as a retriever for the old ball (my experience is that most ball-boys tend to do this naturally)

[SideLine]

That is great Ben.  Thanks for taking the time. 

What about normal change of possession type plays?  Say a punt is down at the 20.  I'm assuming the ball would come in from the offense side of the field, by the deep wing on that side?

[Bwest]

That is great Ben.  Thanks for taking the time. 

What about normal change of possession type plays?  Say a punt is down at the 20.  I'm assuming the ball would come in from the offense side of the field, by the deep wing on that side?

Ball comes from press box side on all changes of possession.

[BenG]

That is great Ben.  Thanks for taking the time. 

What about normal change of possession type plays?  Say a punt is down at the 20.  I'm assuming the ball would come in from the offense side of the field, by the deep wing on that side?

(Again I'll caveat this with - different crews, conferences, supervisors, Mechanics do different things - this is just what I practice & preach)

If you're Deep Wing, you're into reverse Mechanics, so you have forward progress, so your wing official should be getting a new ball if it's needed.

The answer - It varies depending on whether both teams are using the same balls.
• If they are - you can either re-use the old ball if it's dray and inside the numbers, if not my preference is that the new ball comes in from which ever the sideline the old ball is nearer.

•If each team is using their own balls - then it depends where the "spare ball" is (bear with me for a moment!). If each team provides 3 balls*. Then the team on Offense has one ball on the field and one on each sideline. However when that team is one defence then there's going to be more balls on one sideline than the other. Everyone on the crew should know where the "spare ball" is going to be located.
It can either be:
- Always on the same sideline (e.g. the press-box sideline) (so when you do a change-over in balls) then the old "spare ball" is replaced by a ball from the same sideline.
- Always on that teams side line, (i.e. the spare ball for the home team is on the home team's sideline when they are on defence and the spare ball for the visiting team is on the visiting team's sideline when they are on defence. So when there's a change-over in which team is on offence (and therefore a change in balls) then the old ball goes to the new defensive sideline and the new ball comes from the new offensive sideline.

* Usually more than 3 balls are provided - but 3 provides an easy illustration.

[BenG]

Just to re-emphasise a point I made earlier - the importance thing is that everyone on the crew knows what to do and is doing the same thing!

[bossman72]

That is great Ben.  Thanks for taking the time. 

What about normal change of possession type plays?  Say a punt is down at the 20.  I'm assuming the ball would come in from the offense side of the field, by the deep wing on that side?

You start the game with 4 footballs on the press box (PB) side (2 of each team) and 2 footballs on the opposite side (1 of each team).

All changes of possession you bring a ball in from the PB side and rotate the other ball out on the same side.

So, when the ball is in play, the offense will have one ball in play and one ball on each sideline.  The defense will have 2 balls on the PB side and 1 on the opposite side.

Incomplete pass, bring a Team A ball in from the sideline where it went out.  Usually we use the far hash mark as a line of demarcation when the ball should come from the PB side or not.

Punt into opposite PB sideline - grab a punting team ball and rotate it out and have the ball boy shag the punt that went OOB.  Much like an incomplete pass.

[refbuz]

Relax and don't overthink it. 

Anything that ends outside the #'s get a new ball from the short/deep wing on that sideline.

After an incomplete passes, look to the short short wings on a 2/3 (Press Box) - 1/3 basis (Sticks) depending on where the ball is thrown.

ANY change of Possession should come from/go to the Press Box.

The ONLY exceptions are:

2-minute offense
ALWAYS use the same ball (unless incomplete pass) U should be going Sideline to Sideline to minimize errant throws

Rainy Conditions
Switch out as needed from the appropriate sideline

[RedTD]

I would like to add one caution for new officials in ball rotation. Don't get so wrapped up in "getting a new ball in" that you fail to officiate the dead ball action to its completion. I have seen some younger officials get so concerned about getting a ball that they fail to officiate that critical part of the game.