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: Always 1st-and-Goal
October 3, 2018
This week, MHSAA assistant director Brent Rice explains how every series of high school football overtime in Michigan begins with 1st-and-Goal.
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 – Always 1st-and-Goal - Listen
In Michigan, football overtime for each team starts with 1st-and-goal at the 10-yard line. Other states which allow overtime to begin anywhere from the 10 to the 25-yard line, and in some of those states, you could actually pick up a first down while on offense.
But Michigan is always 1st-and-goal. Even in those situations where a dead ball foul from the end of the first team’s possession in an overtime may start the second team’s series at the 25 – it is still 1st-and-goal.
The only way a team on offense can pick up a first down in overtime is on a penalty providing yardage plus an automatic first down, and those are only the roughing calls – roughing the passer, the kicker, the holder and the long snapper.
Past editions
September 27: Unique Kickoff Option - Listen
September 20: Uncatchable Pass - Listen
September 13: Soccer Rules Change - Listen
September 6: You Make the Call: Face Guarding - Listen
August 30: 40-Second Play Clock - Listen
August 23: Football Rules Changes - Listen