2-SECTION 32 PLAYER DESIGNATIONS
ART. 1 . . .A player is one of the 22 team members who is designated to start either half of the game or who subsequently replaces another player. A player continues to be a player until a substitute enters the field and indicates to the player that he is replaced, or when the substitute otherwise becomes a player.
ART. 10 . . .A nonplayer is a coach, athletic trainer, other attendant, a substitute or a replaced player who does not participate by touching the ball, hindering an opponent or influencing the play. See9-6for illegal participation.
ART. 12 . . .A replaced player is one who has been notified by a substitute that he is to leave the field. A player is also replaced when the entering substitute becomes a player.
ART. 15 . . .A substitute is a team member who may replace a player or fill a player vacancy. A substitute becomes a player when he enters the field and communicates with a teammate or a game official, enters the huddle, is positioned in a formation or participates in the play. An entering substitute is not considered to be a player for encroachment restrictions until he is on his team’s side of the neutral zone. A team member entering the field to fill a player vacancy remains a substitute until he is on his team’s side of the neutral zone.
Thanks!
The highlighted part above is what I was looking for (although I now see that it was actually included in one of the posts in that other forum). The fact that a sub participates in the down makes him a player, regardless if he gets inside the 9-yard marks, or not, before the snap. If he fails to get inside the 9 yard marks before the snap, that's a foul, but he still becomes a player. But it looked like some folks were trying to say that such a person could not be called a "player" because he failed to get inside the 9 yard marks (thus, making it some sort of greater foul than it is), but Calhoun clearly corrected that misunderstanding.
NCAA is similar, but a different enforcement. I don't see a reference to Team A or Team B in the NFHS rule you quoted (it may be under a heading of Team A fouls in the book), but the 9-yard marks rule only applies to Team A in NCAA rules. Failure of a Team A substitute to get inside the 9-yard marks between the time the ball is ready for play and before the snap is a foul that, if the ball is snapped, the action is stopped, and the foul is penalized as a dead-ball foul (5 yards). Failure of a Team A player that participated in the previous down to get inside the 9 yard marks between the time the ball is dead from the previous down and before the snap is also a foul that, if the ball is snapped, the action is stopped, and the foul is penalized as a dead-ball foul (5 yards). Note that this foul is rarely called. Players doing this are usually doing it out of ignorance, and a 'talk to' usually solves the problem without us having to inject ourselves into the game.
I was just curious about the definition of a sub becoming a player. That is the same in both codes. If he participates in the down, he is a player, even he is an excess player that causes an illegal substitution foul. As 'player,' it seems he wouldn't be subject to fouls as a substitute or other non-player designation.
