Snapper is correct, if you are saying that the player in question - your designated tight end - is wearing a number other than 50-79, and is positioned on the line and between the ends at the snap. If that is, in fact, the case, I'm not sure what makes you think this is legal. Not in NCAA football.
7-3-3-c covers this situation. That rule says that, at the snap, players on the ends of the line wearing a number other than 50-79 are eligible, and backs wearing a number other than 50-79 are eligible. No other players of Team A (passing team) may touch a legal forward pass until it has been touched by a player of Team B (or an official). Period. Once a ball that has been passed forward legally is touched by a player of Team B, or an official, ALL players become eligible to touch the pass.
To simplify this bit, at the snap:
-if you are wearing a number 50-79, you ain't eligible, no matter where you are positioned at the snap, and you can not become eligible, unless the ball is touched by Team B (or an official).
-if you are an interior lineman, regardless of number, you ain't eligible, and you can not become eligible, unless the ball is touched by Team B (or an official).
Even if the ball is touched by another player of Team A (no touching by Team B), ineligibles at the snap remain ineligible, unless the ball is touched by Team B (or an official).
There is no such thing as "reporting as an eligible receiver," or anything like that.
Finally, an originally eligible player that goes, or is, out of bounds voluntarily, loses his eligibility, even if he fully "re-establishes" inbounds before touching a legal forward pass. Once eligibility is lost, you can't get it back until the pass is touched by a Player of Team B (or an official). An originally eligible player that is blocked out of bounds retains his eligibility only if he returns inbounds immediately.
Of course, all players of Team B are always eligible.
If you 'cover' the TE with another player on the line, what is the point of throwing a forward pass to him?
