Be the Referee: Returning Kickoffs

September 22, 2016

Every football game starts with a kickoff, and our "You Make The Call" series will start with the same play for 2016.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – You Make the Call: Returning Kickoffs - Listen

Every football game starts with a kickoff, and our 'You Make The Call' series will start with the same play for 2016.

The kicker kicks the ball high and deep off the tee, and the return man – three yards deep in his own end zone – catches the kick in the air, and now starts to head upfield to try and gain yards. Under high school rules, is the legal?

Believe it or not, the answer is no. Under high school rules, whether it’s a kickoff or a punt, once the ball breaks the plane of the goal line, the ball is dead and it becomes a touchback, with the offense taking over, first and 10, on the 20-yard line.

College and professional players can return kicks from the end zone; high school players cannot.

Past editions
Sept. 15: Concussions - Listen
Sept 8: Equipment Covering the Knees - Listen
Sept. 1: Play Clock Experiment - Listen
Aug. 25: Clipping in the Free Blocking Zone - Listen

Be the Referee: Automatic 1st Downs

October 29, 2020

This week, MHSAA assistant director Brent Rice explains how high school football rules differ from those at the collegiate and professional levels when it comes to awarding automatic first downs. 

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment - Automatic 1st Downs - Listen

Today we are going to talk about one of the biggest rule difference areas in high school football from those rules used in college and pro games, and that deals with automatic first downs.

When watching that college game on Saturday or the pro game on Sunday, all of us know there are several defensive fouls that give the offense an automatic first down. However, under high school rules, the opposite is true most of the time.

The only high school fouls that result in an automatic first down for the offense are the roughing fouls – roughing the passer, the kicker, the holder and the long snapper. Fouls such as defensive pass interference or any other personal foul do not bring an automatic first down under high school rules.

Past editions

10/22: You Make the Call: Illegal Kick - Listen
10/15: Toe the Line on Penalty Kicks - Listen
10/8: Disconcerting Acts - Listen
10/1: Ball Hits Soccer Referee - Listen
9/24: Clocking the Ball from the Shotgun - Listen