Thanks for mentioning that illegal shift. What make me curious is that Central did both of those under the coach 7 or 8 years ago too.
What illegal shift? One goes in motion. If it was an illegal shift it would be called. Everyone thinks they understand the double wing and in reality you know nothing about how it works.
When the player extends his arms and pushes, or the runner grabs his offensive player for a “tow” is when it’s usually called. But it’s like a basketball player “palming” the ball. If you do it on every dribble, it’s never called. Same with Central’s illegal shift and aiding the runner. It’s virtually every play.
If you read BKN’s post, you’ll see what he means. Two players are in motion as one of the set backs leaves a half count before the snap. That’s what makes it illegal. Called twice against Thomasville but happened on most plays.
It usually takes a little while to trickle down. When I was in high school linemen couldn’t extend their arms or use their hands to block, forearms and flippers were the rule. Just a year or so after I graduated they changed the rule to match college rules.
I know about the Art. 2 part, that a runner may not grasp a teammate....South Granville was flagged for that two years ago when QB was running with the ball and a blocker out in front.....defender was approaching and QB almost came to a complete stop behind his blocker, then put his hand on blocker's back; might have/probably actually grasped his jersey for a second, then with that motion kind of propelled himself downfield....at first our sideline was up in arms because the official referred to the penalty as "assisting a blocker", which as far as I know, is not a rule, but the action in question did violate this rule about not grasping a teammate....the signal from the white hat was the same as you see for illegal use of hands/illegal block in the back and walked off 10 yards from spot of foul
Yes, i know the signal for assisting the runner, and thought (but wasn't sure) that it was 5 yards....so it should be the same penalty for grasping a runner as assisting a runner?
