A significant change to Rule 10 of the NFHS Football Rule Book will eliminate additional penalties for offensive fouls in high school football.
Rule 10-4 (Basic Spot) is one of seven amendments recommended by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee at its Jan. 8-10 meeting in Indianapolis. All of the changes brought about by the absence of the NFHS Board of Directors for the next 2023 high school football season.
To achieve one of the committee's basic functions of balancing offense and defense, this amendment makes the primary place of enforcement of a foul behind the foul line instead of the foul spot. Current penalties for illegal kicking, batting and participation fouls, as well as provisions for offensive fouls committed in the end zone that could cause a safety, remain intact.
For example, with the change to Rule 10-4, a team called on offense at its own 40-yard line is called to hold 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage at its own 30-yard line, first faceoff and its 30-yard line. 20 from the yard line than the nearly unstoppable feat of first and 30 from his own 20-yard line.
This is a great rule change that was requested by the majority of game officials and coaches and was unanimously approved by the members of our NFHS Football Rules Committee,” said Richard McWhorter, Chairman of the NFHS Football Rules Committee and Assistant Executive Director of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA)."I believe this change will make the rules clearer for coaches and easier for game officials to manage now.
In a change that addresses another goal of every NFHS rules committee — risk reduction — additional criteria were approved to help identify players who should be defined as defenseless receivers related to unnecessary or excessive contact applications.
Addendum (d) to Rule (2-32-16) states that another example of a defenseless player includes a receiver, as previously defined in the rule, including pass interceptors, who is forced to make contact by an opponent who is not 1) on the ball. Making a play results in incidental contact, 2) starting with an open hand, or 3) attempting to tackle by wrapping the arm(s) around the receiver.
The committee also approved an explanation of the intentional grounding rule changes implemented last year. The change to Rule 7-5-2EXCEPTION allows the first and only player to make an exception for intentional grounding after the end of the snap.
An amendment to Rule 2-29-1 clarifies when a player is inbounds after going out of bounds. Although the committee approved additional language for clarification, there are no changes to any rules regarding the eligibility of a foul or subsequent penalty, or illegal participation or catching a pass.
Authorized a change to Rule 1-5-3 regarding player equipment, specifically player towels, which may now bear a manufacturer's logo and/or a school's logo, no larger than 2¼ square inches. The towel must be a solid color, but not the same color for each player. However, the towel may not be the color of the ball or penalty flag.
Removed the word "intentional" from Rule 7-5 (table) regarding forward pass interference, making the rule consistent How it's already implemented, which is a 15-yard penalty.
A final change was approved to a variation of the six-man football rule, which uses the basic 11-man football rule with exceptions for eight-man and nine-man. An exception to Rule 7 was allowed for six-man football that "a straight forward handoff may be made during a scrimmage before the change of possession, provided both players are in the neutral zone or back unless it is near the snapper.
This change, while prohibiting handing the ball to the snapper, allows the ball to advance on a running play with the guard/end if both players are behind the neutral zone.
The NFHS Football Rules Change Committee continually strives to clarify the rules of the game for optimal playing efficiency, McWhorter said., McWhorter said. These changes exemplify that goal.
The NFHS Football Rules Committee consists of one representative from each NFHS member state association that uses the NFHS Football Rules, along with one representative from the NFHS Coaches Association,NFHS Official Association and NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.
A complete list of football rule changes can be found on the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org.Click on "Activities and Sports" at the top of the home page and select now"Football"According to the 2021-22 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey now, 11-player football is the most popular high school sport for boys with 973,792 participants from 13,733 schools. In addition, 34,935 boys participated in 6-, 8- and 9-player football and 3,633 girls in all four versions of the game, for a total of 1,012,360. US Hd Sports covers USA High School Football sports and entertainment event based websites. It provides latest sports and entertainment news.