Okay. Well, thanks everybody for joining us tonight. The plan for this presentation is we're just going to talk about our pre-snap routines and crew expectations.
I thought it would be important for us to talk not just about our own positions, but also what we and our positions expect from other positions. So we'll kind of have different people popping in and out, doing a lot of conversating about the various positions. But if you have something that you want to bring up from your perspective, if it's not mentioned, don't hesitate to jump in with a question.
just let us know who you are when you're talking and we'll go from there. So a real brief summary, you know, we're talking about pre-snap routines and expectations and time for questions. This will be as long a conversation as everybody that's on the call wants it to be.
So we'll kind of take it from there, but obviously we'd start with what I'm sure they think is the most important position on the field and that's the referees. So JV and Dave, take it away. Well, thanks, Nick. Presnap routines as a referee, the slide pretty much says it all. I won't go through every single item.
And the difficult thing about a presnap routine in general is there's no necessarily the right way to do that. Everybody has their own preferred way to run through their presnap routines. To everybody else's discussion as well that I wanted to share with everyone. Something that's been developed over the years is the principle and concept of multitasking, especially when it comes to getting all of your pre-snap routine completed in the amount of time that you have between plays.
As more and more teams start to run this hurry-up, no-huddle-style offense, officials are finding themselves compressed or restricted for the amount of time they have between plays to really nail... every item off of their check every item off of their list and then pre-snap routine when it comes to multitasking what do i mean by that is trying to hammer down and hammer through as many items uh in the middle minimal amount of time being efficient with your pre-snap routine uh for example what i would typically do um during my pre-snap routines uh during plays is if a team's not huddling and they're in a formation or going out to the formation and i need to get my first or second count, I'll start my count on the far side away from the chains. As I'm counting the players on the far side, I get to the linemen and I get to the near side of the field.
As I'm passing from the left to my right or my right to my left, depending on what side the chains are on, I'm taking a glance at the play clock. I'm taking a glance at the game clock. I'm also looking at the far sideline of scrimmage official, the far side deep wing, the back judge, the near side deep wing, and the near sideline of scrimmage official. So I'm able to interact with the entire crew to make sure they're ready to work.
I'm able to observe and interact with the game clock and play clock to make sure that they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. And when I finish things off, I'm able to look at the down distance and line to gain from taking a peek at the chains. Most of the time, I'll also get that five will get me one, excuse me, from the line of scrimmage official as well. So there's a big list there. It's a great list that's been created by a number of officials.
The biggest thing that I would suggest is multitask and get as many as those items done through one or two sweeps of the field versus trying to jump around from the left side, back to the right side, back to the left side. Almost like what we talked about a couple weeks ago with holding. The more your eyes are moving, the less you're going to be able to see ultimately during the dead ball in line. Dave, you got anything to add?
And that was well covered. One thing I'll add that's not on the list is just to get in the right position and try to be consistent with the position. You know, and it really applies for, I think, multiple officials on the field.
You know, I'll share just from my perspective, I like to be 15 yards from the line of scrimmage and off, you know, outside the tight, tight end or tackle or however wide. But the point is, is I know a couple years ago. I noticed during the season I was getting closer to 13 yards. And you may think, well, what's the difference between just two yards of perspective?
But as I was evaluating myself after the season, I noticed I was not seeing the play as well by being those yard or two yards closer. So, you know, especially the deep three and, you know, the umpire and center judge. Getting into a position that you're familiar with so you can see the same angle as many times throughout the game can help you start to recognize patterns of what is normal football and then a pattern of what's a foul.
So that's just something else I'll add onto that list. Thanks Dave, JV. Are there any other referees on the call that have questions or have other techniques or things they recommend in their pre-snap routines? All right, hearing nothing, I'm going to move on to the center judge position.
Now I'm turning it over to Ryan Weyers. Thanks Nick. First thing I'll say is center judge is still a pretty new position relative to all the others. And talking to officials from other conferences, sorry, there's preferences.
So do what your supervisor wants. SEC has done things different. Big Ten, COC has done things a little bit different. Some are a little bit more strict on what they want.
And some are a little bit more. laissez-faire. For the center judge, with every position, but pre-snap routine, I think is imperative to how you end the previous play really impacts how you're going to start the next play because of your motion, spotting the ball, and the give and take with your umpire specifically. So you're going to kind of have a... accordion effect, a yin and yang, a give and take with your umpire a lot of times, it's going to impact this process.
But first thing, pre-snap routine, ending the previous plays, don't go too fast. I think as a center judge, it's common when you start off to want to run, sprint everywhere, and I would encourage you to not do that. You got to locate the umpire and know who's going to get the ball in what zones and in what situations. That's going to dictate what you're going to do next. Being aware that while, yes, we need to spot the ball, as with any other position, we've got to take care of dead ball action first.
So don't sacrifice that to run and spot the ball quickly. Typically, when I'm moving to spot the ball, if I'm not too close to it, if it's a longer play, I'm trying to catch a glimpse at the offense's sideline to see if they're subbing. So I'm not solely reliant on my referee or other officials to know. the substitution process is being initiated.
Next, finding the spot. You know, it kind of gets into expectations, but hoping that your short wings are going to give you clear spots. Work with some that just kind of stick a leg out there and it's not really on a tick or it's not really a half, they're not giving many communication and making sure they're lined up with each other or know a go-to if it's a questionable spot or if it's not clear that everyone's in line.
After spotting the ball, locating the referee, understanding if there's a sub-situation, and then getting into your initial starting position. Now I prefer to be a little wider, about 10 to 12 yards off the line of scrimmage, and then a yard or two outside the tackle or tight end. After that, in my head I'm trying to understand on my side of the formation if there's a tackle or running back.
and are they in or outside the tackle box what numbers are they i'm getting in a position where if it's a wing back offset to the tackle but they're not blocking my left tackle which is my key other things if time allows jeremy referenced it you know the pace of the game can make it really difficult to do extra so understanding what your priorities in this process are at so really spotting the ball knowing the position of the ball you and then getting your keys. But if I have extra time, try and make a mental note of the offensive formation, down and distance, game situation, reading the defensive formation. Is the left tackle threatened on the inside or just the outside?
And then that's going to help me anticipate what's going to happen and then be ready to officiate dead ball fouls. If there's extra time, counting the offense, but there's other people doing that, so that's really not high on the priority scale. and having clock status and being aware of late subs and working with the umpire and who's going to come and cover if there is a late sub. Thanks, Ryan. Are there any other senators on the call or anybody with questions about Senator Jeff's pre-staff stuff?
All right. Thanks, winners. I'm going to turn it over to one of our newer members, if you wouldn't mind a brief introduction for everybody. Sure, my name is Nolan Nowak from Toledo, Ohio area.
I've been officiating for, gosh, about 17 years. This will be my fifth year in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. I had the pleasure of working with JV and Nick for a couple years, so I'm glad to help out and help you guys out whenever possible.
Kind of to reiterate what JV said and Dave and also winners, the pre-snap routine, it's a very important thing. important, a very important process that we go through. And really, it should come almost second nature to you. And when I say that, I don't mean, you know, take it for granted. But, you know, you want it to be repeatable, you know, on play one as it is on play 150. Right.
So, you know, I have some some, the things that I do on every snap, not in any particular order. These are just the things that you know, I find important that I need to do to get myself mentally prepared for each play. You know, and as JB said, you know, with the high potent or high speed offense now, multitasking is very key.
But I also will throw out there, you know, kind of a couple of cheats as well. And by cheating, it's not, it's more for, you know, the, you know, making sure you verify you've got five players, number 50 through 79. You do that on the first. couple of series for each team and you pretty much know the the you know tackle the guards in the center what their numbers are you know unless they go down or you know some odd teams you know might rotate guys in but for the most part they pretty much stay the same right so you're close enough to them you're familiar enough with them you know after the first couple of series for each team that you kind of know them by by just looking at them so you know that one's you know kind of a I put that one on the back burner, just knowing that. And then two, counting the offense.
I know JV said he starts, I think he said on the opposite, the chain side. I start on the defensive side of the ball. By the time I work my way over, that gives the offense a chance to sub.
So at that point, if we're working seven-man, I'll get up to the ball and I'll continue my count. I like to count at a minimum of three times typically. If I, you know, my first count or my first couple counts, I don't get to 11 or I get higher than 11. I'm typically counting, you know, five or six times just to make sure I'm not missing anything.
You know, and then the other thing, too, with the count, if the offense isn't substituting and there was 11 guys on the play the previous, there's going to be 11 guys out there now. So, you know, that would be, you know, still important to count, you know, maybe one or two times. Right. So, but again, you know, the ball position, you know, I wear a down marker on my hand. I don't know how other guys do it.
But, you know, make sure that, you know, I'm verifying, especially if the play was coming back to the previous spot where that ball's going to make sure we have it in the right spot, you know, and then on the successive play, making sure that that gets moved to the appropriate position. Every play we need to know the down in the distance and verify that the down box is correct. I know that's not, you know, our really primary focus, but my opinion, everyone on the crew should verify that. You know, clock status, again, not our primary by the rule, but I think it really should be everyone's primary out on the field.
You know, you definitely got to find the referee, not only to check for subs, but to also verify the count with him. on every play you know that's really important you know make eye contact give the signal uh a lot of times i'll verbalize it as well you know hey jeremy i got 11 um you know obviously depending on pong crowd noise and all that kind of stuff right i don't like to get over the oats well and say that though uh there's too much other stuff going on that the other guys are doing at this time to uh you know kind of get in their ears on that so um you know i know it's been said the initial position for an umpire uh we try to be five to nine yards nine mike my opinion is too deep. I like to be within a yard off the linebackers.
If there's linebackers present, you know, kind of just off their, their hip, you know, that way it gives you the freedom to move and kind of anticipate what, how the play's going to get out of their way. You know, and then obviously we're going to, we're going to get our keys. The one nice thing about being an umpire, we, we have the same keys on every play.
The bad thing about that is we have three, right? And then they did add one new thing for us this year on scrimmage kick plays. Again, your supervisor might be different, but in the COC on eight-man crews, the young players expected to spot the ball on all scrimmage kick plays. Part of that is to be able to verify that with the defensive linemen that they're not lined up over the body of the center because that would be a formation foul this year. So, again, just to reiterate, this kind of should be second nature.
but don't take it for granted. You know, get a repeatable process that you can do on every single play. And just so, you know, it kind of gets you ready for that play as it comes.
Thanks, Nolan. Any other umpires on the call that want to add anything or any questions for Nolan? Yeah, this is Ted.
I have a question for Nolan that I've been told quite a bit at the time to find your anchor on your offensive line when you get set and ready to use. do you do that or do you not? What do you mean by find your anchor, I guess? I guess your starting point of where you're going to, you know, where you see a potential, you know, two-person block or who's going to be your first one that you think you're going to have to watch, I guess would be my best way to put it.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, if you always want to read the defense, you know, if they're lined up, you know. You know, in both A gaps, you know, there's a potential for a double team and a potential for a single, you know, a single block, right?
And you want to get with that single block. So you're going to kind of officiate, you know, what the defense has given you. But, yeah, I mean, where you're going first is going to be predicated on where they're lined up.
And, you know, obviously quick to adjust because with all the stunts and blitzes and things that come through, it changes, you know, rather quickly. But, you know, that is a good starting point. Okay.
Well, I appreciate it. Thank you, Nolan. All right.
Thanks guys. Nick, if I can real quick, this is weird. Nolan mentioned it, but as something I probably didn't mention enough was, obviously Jeremy mentioned the process pre-snap, kind of the mental checklist that you're going through. Everyone's got to find their own sequence and rhythm. As a center judge, Anybody who transitions to center judge, one of the things that's probably going to be hardest to pick up is ball position.
And so that is typically when I work with an umpire for the first time, especially. I always say I'm going to need help with that. And so that's a situation as umpires have a lot of practice at it.
You're kind of second nature. I would say center judges or anybody kind of know where your weakness is and where you can get help in these pre-snap routines if you need to fall back on somebody. Yeah, that's a real good point. You know, it is nice with eight man to have that secondary, you know, ball position person out there because, I mean, there's times, especially in those, you know, up-tempo games where, you know, things are going on, you're breaking up some after the play crap that's going on, you know, and, I mean, there's times when I'm thinking about it, you know, especially on an incomplete pass, I look down and I'm thinking, man, this doesn't seem right, you know, where I got the ball position marker. But, you know...
unfortunately in seven minutes it's on it's on the umpire to know that right um but you know that's a that's a real good point laners good stuff guys all right we'll roll on to the line of scrimmage um you know i'm i'm very personally when i think about my pre-snap routine it's been drilled into our heads a lot from our position trainers that we need to have that mental checklist that everybody else has been talking about and so we were given a couple years ago they had us all email our pre-snap routines to our position trainer. So we could basically get graded and then they sent back what we had to do. We had to make sure it was everybody was in everybody's. So one of the things that I've been, that I've been fortunate to be able to do is I was not, when I started in college football, I was a, I was a back judge. And moving to live scrimmage where we have no offense, because I'll be taking shots at other people later.
No offense. There's a lot more stuff going on in live scrimmage than there is. at other parts of the field at certain times. That's as nicely as I'm going to put that. But with that in mind, I found it was really easy for me to go through and start to develop these processes for myself because coming from a different position where I was maybe a little less busy sometimes, this is something that helps me manually go through and check off in my mind as we go. The first thing I want to make sure I'm doing is on the clock, mostly because as I think about the clock, whether it's running or stopped or where are we in the game, I want to be the person, even though we know that the deep wings are responsible primarily for the clock.
Usually I'm standing right next to a coach. If there's some kind of decision to be made that has to do with the clock, I would be able to turn to them and get that answer quickly. because I think that helps us all get the game administered more quickly. I want to know the game situation. Jeremy made a reference earlier to the five will or won't get you one.
You know, I'm here if it will, and I'm not if it won't, just so he can look over at me and know what's going on. Some referees want different stuff. The guy I work with in the bowl game just wanted on the 0-2-0 five will, if five will get you one without a signal. So, again, find out what your referee wants. If Team A is substituting.
or they go into their sideline, I'm coming up with the iron cross for subs. And I'm sure people are taking shots of me in the chat. I haven't opened the chat yet, but I can see that it's happening, which is fine. But I'll make sure that I come up with the iron cross so that me and my deep wing are matching on that so that the referee can pick it up.
And once he picks it up, I can drop it and go about my business. It was hit big to us this past year that we wanted to make sure that the wings are counting. Team A, I think some guys probably got a little lax on that and clearly signaling.
And that signal in our leagues is just with each other. So I'm not really checking off with the referee like I used to be doing. Maybe I can do that if it's part of just the sequence of how things work out.
But I'm waiting really with my line judge to make sure that we both have 11 so we're good. And we don't miss too many players on the field for the offense. I also want to make sure I identify my important yard lines.
I will readily admit that I stole this philosophy from a guy in the Big Ten. But I want to know the spot of the snap. I want to know my plus three, my plus five, and my line to gain so that I can more readily identify quickly, do I have a guy down, do I have a potential IDP?
Is that block legal because of its distance from the line of scrimmage? I have not quite mastered getting all of this information every single play, but it's certainly something that I've been working on, and I think it helps a lot. And then I want to make sure I'm going through and recognizing my formation.
Is the formation legal, first and foremost? You know, do we have players that are covered up that I need to be aware of? So, like, covering the tight end, do I have a tackle on the end of my line?
Because I like to hop on my own low and let my deep guys know, hey, tight end number 84 is covered to H, so that that helps the back judge know not to worry about him. He can go find somebody else as it relates to strength of formation. I'm going to confirm everybody, all the eight players get set, signal my widest guy off the line if that's applicable to us.
I know some leagues don't do that anymore, but we certainly do. But then I want to identify my initial responsibility so that I'm ready to go with the snap. And there are some situations that modify our regular mechanics.
We know that if we're on or inside the seven, we'll go right to the goal line. So that changes up some responsibilities, puts a little bit more responsibility on the umpire as it relates to IDP and potentially illegal forward pass. So I readily admit that's challenging for the umpires to get to based on where we are, you know, everywhere else in the game.
And the fact that it's super busy in that area of the field, we know that if we're inside A's 10, then the H's responsibility shift because I'm going to start working my way back to the goal line as the play dictates, or if we're inside A's three, where both of us are going back to the goal line. And then one of the things that our league does that your league may not. there are trips to the line judge side, then the headline judge and the line judge basically switch responsibilities. And so instead of the line judge holding a line of scrimmage and the headline judge releasing, the headline judge will hold the line of scrimmage and the L will release if that's where his key is. So that would put me on the hook for forward-backward pass decisions and things like that.
Again, that's something that you need to know. Whatever your supervisor wants, do what they want you to do. And then our focus is on players from the center toward me.
I'm looking for false starts and DOS primarily in those circumstances. And then the ball snapped and we go. So that's kind of, that's how I take, I handle stuff pre-snap with line scrimmage or their other line scrimmage guys that want to have anything they want to add or anybody with questions. Hey Nick, this is, this is Frank Bullock.
Hey, great job. Part of mine is some foot motion. I want to give that wide receiver coming out to me the line of scrimmage spot.
And that's a big part of my getting kicked off is getting him that spot while I'm doing, you know, my counting and all my confirmations and stuff. So that's good for me. And also, I use the second rubber band on my wrist to keep the clock. I think that's a little hack for folks. It's either on or off.
That helps us versus having to mentally keep it. We can keep it on our hand. You know, I do that too. And I actually stole that from Frank. So I recommend that.
I recommend that also for those of you who want to be a little more clock aware, because I think it's super helpful. That's what this is about, isn't it? Absolutely.
I know there aren't any real questions in the chat, but I will answer that I am the most important person in this room because I'm the only person in this room. So that's pretty much how my life is. I'm going to shuffle this along to the deep wings. Wait, hold on.
I got a question, Nick. You mentioned that you get on the mic or the O2O and tell the back judge at the tight end is covered up or not. I have heard conflicting information.
on on this because I thought that would be something I wanted to know when I started learning the back judge position but I've been told kind of time and time again that it doesn't matter because you still need to if he's an eligible number you should still stay with him even though he's not going to be able to catch a pass whatever that's more of a line of scrimmage call but we still need to know about low blocks and what what actions he does and if I change my keys, then we might lose him in formation and who has him or whatever. Do you have any comments on that? Well, I totally like I think that's a reasonable concern.
I think from my perspective, if the tight end's covered, and I tell you the back judge that the tight end's covered, and we all know that that's what that means, and the strength shifts, that probably is going to free up a lot of scrimmage guy to watch the tight end. Because if I'm in a situation where if we're in a double, let's say we line up in a double-double, right? Except that in the double-double, the tight end's covered to H, but the tackle is exposed to the line judge's side of the formation.
So we've got two guys off the line where the tackle is not eligible. So we've still got the two eligibles to that side. On the near side, we've got a covered tight end and a wide receiver and a back.
That would tell me that the back judge should go. theoretically, should go to the side with the two eligibles on the far side of the field, which would put the F and the B on that side of the formation. The L would take the back, the S would take the wide guy, and I would watch the tight end because now the tight end's not in consideration for any of the deeps. And it's going to be easier for me to get a low block by that guy than it would be for others. But I could, I mean, I don't know, I can't speak for what what you guys all want.
I think that it's always been appreciated, I think, at least on the crews I've been on, that we've known that because it helps us out if that guy goes downfield or touches a pass. And that's something I started doing a couple years ago, and I think it's been helpful. Make it a crew preference.
As long as the crew's on the same page and everyone on the field is covered, it's not going to be an issue. I know the mechanics manual clearly states that the number of eligible receivers on one side or the other determines strength, and that's where the back judge is going to go. and it calls out the initial responsibilities as the eligible receivers for the back judge, field judge, and side judge.
I will say if I hear that over the 0-2-0 as a referee, and I'm sure wingers will say the same thing as the center judge, our ears are going to perk up, and our eyes are probably going to go to that tight end as well to help out since he's going to be next to one of the two tackles as well. That also tells really everyone, if the tight end's covered, that there's... probably a 90% chance that we're going to see a running play.
So it's even a better chance for us to get a good read on the play and anticipate what's potentially going to happen post-snap. Yeah, I would chime in also. Umpires sometimes help out if we have an unbalanced set. Depending on your crew and your pregame and what teams like to do, you may shift your keys.
So if it's, you know, one side of the line of scrimmage is tight end, guard, center, and then guard, guard, tackle, like they're overloading a side. All your keys may shift. So at least I've had some people say they don't want to know if somebody's covered, and I've always wondered why. Like, as a crew, we're going to adjust to cover things. Otherwise, we're in duplicate coverage areas.
And so unless someone tells you no. or you're working with someone new, I'd make that maybe like a pregame checklist comment to bring up. Just ask the question if you're with a new crew and set that standard up front. Thanks, Ryan. All right, I'm going to move it along to Brian Selzer and Jay Ford on the Vs. Sure. So like everyone else has already said, I mean, this should come as second nature for me.
When it comes to pre-snap routines, this is how I know if my head is in the game. For me, this is the same checklist I go with. Maybe something crazy happened on the previous play or something. I go back to this checklist to get my head back on straight, if you will. So for us, checking the game clock, it's everybody's responsibility.
But, I mean, Mechanics Manual has our side judge. It's 100% yours to know every time, regardless of what's going on. But obviously the rest of us are helping out. I, too, use a second down indicator on my thumb to know if the clock's running or the clock's stopped. Like they said, it's a good cheat, especially if you get into a foul that you want to know and maybe something happens.
So you always have something to back and look at. But biggest thing for us, watch for the subs, getting the iron cross in the offense. So it's very important for us to come out onto the field. So line of scrimmage, guys. We won't do this as much.
We, as deep wings, have the opportunity to get out on the field, make sure people see us so that we don't let that ball get snapped. We can sometimes hide back there, so make sure we're coming out. Get seen.
As soon as we're seen, drop it and head back. We want to make sure that, especially if it's one of those late subs, we're getting out in the field and making sure it doesn't happen. Moving in position to get new depth. or sorry, count defense, single and sentence, the other deeps, every play.
Some people will say, you know, if we have 12, then all three of us should throw a flag, do what your assigners do. Some people have different philosophies on that. But we're counting the players every time.
For me, I count from offense's side to the defense's side, so I'm counting towards the bench that I'm coming on. it's not always to my sideline, it's to whichever side they would be subbing from. So I'm going to start opposite the field from that bench and then count the other directions so that I don't miss somebody or if someone's running that line, I don't miss them at the last second either. Moving to position on the sideline, as I pointed out there, depth varies by conference. My conference, we start at 21. COC, I think, starts at 25 for our deep wings.
This is all happening at the same time. We said multitasking was one of the other things people have said already. We're doing this all at the same time. We're getting into position. We're counting the defense.
We're doing all this. All as we're getting into our position in the spot and knowing where we're at. So next we're reading in the formation. So once they break the huddle, figure out where our keys are.
Nick will tell me that I only have one key and one key only because I always watch the same thing. The widest guy on the field. It's not wrong, but... We also want to see if that person is pressed or not, because then we can expand our vision.
If they're within that yard and we need to make that decision right away, obviously we're going to key in on that person a little bit more. But if we're in a doubles or trip set and they're all playing back, giving them a good kitchen, we can widen our vision out. So know not just what your key is doing, but then also look at the formation and see how the defense is playing. some situational additions that that I add in there going with goal line responsibility with your line of scrimmage so nowhere out on the field with that especially if there's a first down marker close to the goal line where you might want to have that conversation with your line of scrimmage my my guy this past year always said you know if it's at the at the two or the one I'm probably going to come in and kill it if so that you because he's used to that, and we as deep wings don't always get that chance to, oh, yeah, yeah, first down, I've got to kill this clock and mark this spot. So know what your line of scrimmage guy likes and how you work together, and especially in those first down situations where it's between that two and goal line.
Stop and wind the clock for the referee. Referees look at different people all the time. Some look at their back judge, some look at their side judge. across the back was as the most of us are going to be giving the winding signal if the clock's running or the kill clock just a good habit to get into so that wherever the referee looks you have a chance to communicate that with the rest of the crew and then part of that was also immediately part of the pre-snap routine is immediately off the dead ball we're cleaning up dead ball officiate coming accordion in clean up the sideline um and then also getting the new ball if it goes outside and get things there.
And then it kind of all starts over again with a signal down, another clock status, and then we go straight through the checklist again. Okay, Ford, did I miss anything? I guess not. We're all good.
Anybody have anything they want to add as a deep or any questions? All right. We'll roll right to the back judges.
Billy? Which Billy? I was hoping for Willis because he's the one who put the slide together.
Thanks, Walt. Appreciate it. Appreciate your willingness to step up. Willis, you ready?
I'm ready. All right. I'll back out.
You can go first. That's fine. Go for it. All right.
Anyways, so as much as I'd like to take credit for putting the slide together, I did not, but I did make some notes and some differences of... what this slide shows versus what I do as well. You know, as a back judge, you know, this is going to make Nick smile, but yes, it can be a very easy position where you just sit in cruise control and just hang back there. But if you make it what it's supposed to be, it is arguably one of the best positions to work because you're the quarterback of the deep. you kind of control and you're the extra set of eyes on the crew to make sure everyone's ready to go as everyone is just managing so many other things.
Being out in the middle of the field, we can get a much bigger perspective of the entire game. So being the quarterback of the crew, we can make a lot of crew saves. So we need to be aware of what's going on 100% and not so focused into one single position in my opinion.
We don't have coaches to deal with, thank God. So with that, dead ball officiating, have to do it. Have to stand still if you can and survey the field.
I try to do it twice, back and forth, make sure that I'm getting my piece of the pie and understanding when another official might not be able to get his piece of the pie. and help them out. Kind of going back to JV's point on multitasking, you got to check the play clock and the game clock immediately. At the lower levels, many stadiums only have one clock, so sometimes it's really hard as a back judge if the clock's behind you. You know, you kind of have to rely on others because you don't want to take your eyes away from the field during that dead ball action.
Giving clock status after a stop, you know, the game stoppage. Referees are typically looking for the back judges, so make sure you're giving it every single time and get into position where your referee can find you. You know, if you're heading between the linebackers and the safeties and stuff like that and the referee can't find you, you're not doing any good.
So move to a point where you can see the referee, so if he needs you, you're there for him. Counting every single time we got to count our players and we have to verify I believe on the slide that whoever put these together said they look at the one side or the other but I get counts from both sides and I don't put my hands down until both wings confirm with me or the snap occurs but that's kind of my way of Knowing on film who gave me a count and who didn't, and I can give my deep wings a hard time about that if they're not giving me a count every time. Check play clock again as much as time allows. You've got to check that play clock. I check it probably three or four times within the first 15 seconds if there's a long enough delay between plays.
Down and distance. Not only do we need to know it, but then we need to think logically what's coming, you know, third and one versus third and 12. You know, we can't assume that third and one's always going to be a run, but, you know, we can be a little bit more ready for a run play and those running type actions. Again, if time allows, I get the numbers of the linebacker and the safeties that would be involved, potentially involved over my keys. You know, safeties are important. Because chances are if there's a targeting foul deep downfield, it's going to be the second guy in.
and that's typically going to be your safeties and your free safeties. So we can't lose those numbers if you have a targeting foul, especially if you're working a game without replay, because if you don't have the number, then you definitely can't call it, and that's not a good thing. It's a good way to stay home next weekend. Initial position varies by league, but being consistent, not only for your eyes, as has been mentioned. So you're looking at the play the same way.
But also if you're trying to move up, you know, different assigners may have different expectations on where you are. But if you're in the same spot every single time, they're going to see that consistency. And they know that, oh, I can move you from 25 yards to 30 or 28, wherever they want to without a problem. But if they see you 25 sometimes, 27 another time, 23, you know, That's going to look poor mechanically, you know, and always know where the game changer is, even if it's not your key.
You know, when it comes to a wide receiver or even a defensive back, if you have a premier defensive back, you'd have to know where they are and be ready for anything. So those are just a couple of notes that I made outside of what's on the, on the slide there. So, uh, Foltz, Amy, Matt, Roger, anything you want to add as back judges? There's something I just learned during this offseason that I'm going to, if we had scrimmages, was going to try and add to my pre-snap, which is tracking the position of the ball from, like, one to five, getting a veteran back judge was telling me that he does that every play, and that's something I haven't been doing.
So it does mean that I now need to have three down indicators in play, which is why I was really looking forward to trying it in scrimmages. But, uh... doing clock status, what down it is, and then also getting positioned just in case we have an enforcement and everybody's brain shuts off. We could be somebody to come in and save the crew on that. I would just add on the play clock, just making sure you're ready if your play clock malfunctions.
I think I had about four play clocks malfunction this season in four different unique ways. So just knowing that as the back judge, you take over that play clock responsibility. and you need to make sure you have a timing device and just be ready in case it goes down, you're informing the referee and then making sure that both sideline knows that you are the play clock. And even if it starts to flash back on in the middle of a series that it's still you, because that's not something I had to do my first year in college, but then my second year, four different times had to become the play clock.
So that was, that was a joy. Players, you have something? No, that was an accident. Okay, just checking. All right, so we kind of talked about our pre-snap routine.
Nick, do you mind if I add a point or two? Please, Rick, go right ahead. Yeah, so one thing that might help save a down indicator is for clock status rather than use a second indicator. I've started just wrapping it around my finger differently, so I'll wrap my one finger if the clock's running and wrap my whole hand up to the finger of the down.
if the clock is stopped still gives me that same signal, but that way I'm not having to use two indicators. And it's still something I can change on every play quickly. One other pre-snap point is in appropriate situations, I think the back judge has a great angle to help.
Looking for a coach coming down the sideline to call timeout in the right situations, your line of scrimmage officials are focused, and even your wings, your deep wings, if their key is tight on the formation, their view might not be at the sideline. Back judge from 28 yards away, he's got a good look at both sidelines that can help on that. Thanks, Rick. I will say one thing that I know that our back judge does that I found to be super helpful is, you know, we talked about using the 0-2-0s and dealing with eligible receivers.
If we've got a back, a wing back that's not clearly, is he in, is he out, is it unclear to us on the line of scrimmage, our back judge might pipe on his 0-2-0 and go, just say, in Nick and he'll say we're in Mike is the name of our line my line judge so we then know if he says he's either gonna he's gonna tell us he's in or he's not gonna say anything we know that he's out so if he says in Nick then we know that he's not considering him for strength he should fall to one of us in the last round which we found to be really helpful Nick I got one more question for really not just the back judges but all the deep folks in general and I'm sure this applies to your pre-snap routines and really I'm curious. In all the clinics and the pregames that I'm a part of, we always talk about when it comes to OPI versus no OPI in relation to the line of scrimmage. When in doubt, you'll throw your flag and then we'll determine if the pass was touched behind or beyond or if the block occurred behind or beyond. And we'll pick it up after the fact.
To tell you the truth, in a 20-year officiating career, I don't think it's ever happened on the field for me. It might have happened to a couple other referees, but... I've either had really good deep officials who incorporate that in their pre-snap routines one way or another, or really bad deep officials who don't really look at OPI very well after the snap. But what do you as deep officials do to A, know the line of scrimmage before the snap, and B, apply that knowledge during the play? I'm trying to look at...
big marks to kind of gear myself towards get the biggest mark and you know halfway past this one or something but I'm using the big lines to to kind of anchor myself uh to get a pretty good sense of where where I am where you know when at what point it's going to be a problem yeah so I'm 20 and I've always been 25 yards deep so therefore I'm counting or I'm saying the line of scrimmage out loud and and I've had safeties like turn around and look at me all all funny and stuff because I'm constantly talking out loud to myself to help me remember so if I'm saying snap at 41 line to gain 45 46 is you know the five yard belt and so talking out loud that's what I do so I know what's going on and it just helps me remember But to JV's point, I've thrown it once and had to go talk to the line of scrimmage. So once in however many snaps I've had, that's pretty minimal for as much as we do talk about it in clinics. So may have missed them, may have should have thrown and talked a couple times, made some assumptions sometimes. So that's something that definitely want to focus on and get better at, make sure I don't miss it. Hey, Bergatti.
Yeah. If you had heard something over the O2O that says, where was that touched, what would your response be? Well, actually, we resolve, I would answer that either beyond or behind. But on our crew, our line judge most of the time and me in those trip situations away, if we have a forward pass that's caught behind the line of scrimmage, we will pop the O2O and say behind.
And that's our answer to that question, hopefully before the flag goes down. So we're either staying behind because it's a forward pass, it's behind the last scrimmage, or we're not saying anything, and we can assume it's a forward pass beyond. Perfect.
Thank you. And it's clear, concise, and good communication and easy to understand. Yeah. No piggybacking off of that. Had a line judge that did that, loved it.
Our crew loved it. We asked every other line judge that rotated in because we had a year where. Unfortunately, our line judge passed away during the summer and before the season.
And so we asked every other one to try and incorporate that. The line judge that passed away, though, he wasn't a huge O2O fan. And what he did, he just pointed at like a 45-degree angle down towards the ground.
So out, but not really conspicuously, so that the deep wing, if they wanted to check down the line, he was pointing down. He knew that the pass was caught behind the line. line of scrimmage.
So that was a non-verbal way to communicate the same thing. Yep, I think that's another good tool. Stelzer?
I was going to say there's an expectation too for me as for deep wings and for my fellow deeps, it would be reading those formations. So in the trip situation is typically when we have this question, because you have those bubble screens that are happening. Part of my pre-snap routine then is knowing how the receivers are set up in that formation. So typically you'll have your one on the line of scrimmage and then two back. So knowing if two fire out and one goes backwards, well, the one that went backwards is probably catching the pass and he's probably catching it behind the line of scrimmage.
So knowing how they move in those first few steps is the other piece of the puzzle for me. is knowing where they started and how they moved. So that gives me an indication of, did he go backwards to catch it? Well, then he has to be behind the line of scrimmage. Did he run sideways to catch it? He's still behind the line of scrimmage.
That's a piece of the puzzle to me is knowing where each of those receivers lined up so that we know if they make a motion one way or the other, that's going to give me a better indicator. So most of the time it's a bubble screen like that where you have someone running back towards the line of scrimmage. So if you know where they started, it's much easier to say, okay, well, I know where he went.
I have a much better idea of where the ball got caught. Okay. Sounds great.
Thanks, everybody, for that. We're going to move forward a little bit because I know some people have to leave at 9. We're going to start, actually, with our expectations of each other, and we're going to roll with the center judges first. I'm back to referees.
So, Winger, stay away. Jeremy, sorry to jump you there. First is just communicating with the umpire on who's going to cover the balls, especially on late subs and what the expectation is.
Under one minute mechanics, making sure we're on the same page. Really, because some umpires still really want to spot the ball a lot, and so really don't want to move at all. Some conferences have different expectations, so just being on the same page with that. Deep wings or short wings if possible. Now, obviously not everyone uses 0-0, but if you can say sub on 0-0.
I think that's a huge help. Obviously, I'll confirm with the referee and do what I need to do. But just that during the pre-snap, knowing what to expect and what's going to be coming as we're spotting the ball, I just find that extremely helpful. Line judge and headlinesman, giving clear spots and trying to be on the same page is very frustrating when you're just not even.
I'm sure it's frustrating for short wings the same way. Clocking off penalty enforcements, obviously. Referees, I've worked with a couple where well, they'll be done with their signals before I even get a chance to look at them.
It's like, okay, so am I waiting? Am I not? Have we done this process already? So being clear and being quick but don't hurry through signals. And then as a crew, having a ball ready.
I understand that we need to wait for the dead ball officiating and all that, but sometimes, you know, as a center judge, we're responsible for the pace. And if... if it's clunky it's on us and I hate it and then if we have bad relays too it makes nobody looks good but it makes us look especially bad and then lastly is prelim fouls I know Odo is great I know some but we can't miss prelims you know for efficiency's sake I'm not trying to be in every conference I'm trying to decipher and understand if I don't have to run or walk 15 to 20 yards to the referee and I can be in my spot and understand what's going on. I want to do that.
So just preliming and kind of communicating holistically as we did before, not just one-on-one with the referee or being not complete in your O2O communication. Thanks, Ryan. Lawless, I see you popped in.
You got anything else that you expect from other people as a center judge? Ryan touched on most of it. I would say all the other things, change of possession, getting yard lines on 0-2-0s is nice.
It's a long one, like after a punt. But really echoing the ball mechanics. I know I get really frustrated if I get a bad ball because it comes down to us putting the ball down.
And I think that's what people look at. So communication, ball mechanics, all that. Yeah, Nathan, you mentioned it. One, get the right ball on change of possessions. Yep.
And that's super frustrating when you get the wrong ball to getting spots on kickoffs. So if they get to pick where we're at in between the hashes, we're not sitting there waiting. And then deep wings are back to just not leaving too soon on change of possessions.
Like Nathan said, sometimes you get down there and everyone's vacated thinking somebody had it. It's like, okay, so where are we? That can be, that doesn't look good.
Yeah. Ryan, like you said, I think last year we had some challenges on free kicks that we had a fair catch, not remembering that they could then choose the ball position. And so sometimes we just stand there waiting for everyone. So, yeah. Thanks, guys.
We'll jump back to referees. JV, Dave? I'll start this one off. Just to touch on or to use one of the points there from the center judge.
discussion is how important it is for signals. You know, we've talked a lot about O2O usage tonight. But let's remember, first and foremost, that there are pages in the rulebook about signals.
And signals are important because that tells everyone in the stadium, players, coaches, fans, what our ruling is. They're not going to know what we're saying over the radios or the O2Os, but they need to know what our ruling is. And also, obviously, that helps communicate a lot of information efficiently to the rest of the crew. So it's important to finish the play, make a ruling. And even on the basic things, such as, you know, if we're close to the sticks, is it a first down?
Is it going to be short? Is it inbounds or out of bounds? And those things are critical at the end of the half. So, you know, no one's guessing. And when time is of the essence, signals.
can usually do a much better job of communicating to the whole crew and both coaches what the status of the play is and what the next the game clock is going to be or just even what the game situation is going to be. Listen to the referee announcements. I put this one on here because I know often I hear I couldn't hear the referee's announcement.
And sometimes it's true. It is difficult to hear the microphone in the stadium's public address system. However, do what you can to make sure the announcement is correct. Because that's one way to ensure that we're correctly enforcing each penalty or each situation. If the referee says something wrong, it's an opportunity right there to speak up and make sure we get it correct, as opposed to waiting until we mark off 10 yards instead of 15. or, you know, go from the wrong enforcement spot.
So those are other things as well. From an umpire and center judge point of view, you know, we expect that you're the ones that really control the pace. You're the ones that if you're putting the ball down consistently, you know, I think the target is usually 28, 32 seconds on the play clock. That's going to ensure a smooth game flow for the entire crew.
If we rush and put the ball down too quickly, we're really helping no one. You know, we think we're allowing or doing a better job for the offense that wants to play quickly, but really what we're doing is we're not allowing the rest of the crew to be ready and in position to officiate. So putting the ball down at a consistent pace is pretty important.
Be aware of what happened in every play. And this just means is that we can sign off on every play. Granted, you can't see everything, and we're not saying that we have to see everything.
everything on the field, but we need to have an idea. So, you know, if a flag is thrown, you know, we may not know exactly what it is, but we have a good guess. We have an intuition about what the flag is to at least begin a conversation with a coach about what the foul might be or what enforcements might be so that once it's confirmed when someone uses that preliminary signal, we can give the coaches their proper options in a much more quick manner.
or even just to know which coach to go to. That can start to lead us in the right direction there. So be aware of what happened on every play.
And again, it just helps make sure we get something correct. And really the last point there is most important. Speak up. You know, we always have until the next snap to correct something. It doesn't matter if the next snap takes three minutes or 40 seconds or however length of time.
But once that snap comes, goes, we lose a lot of ability to make it right. So, you know, I think those of us that have made some pretty major mistakes will always say, let's rather take an extra five minutes and look like a few idiots on the field, but let's just keep it to those five minutes as opposed to a couple days or weeks or even the whole season. So speak up if something doesn't feel right. Jeremy, anything else to add from expectations? No, good stuff, Dave.
I appreciate that. I'm sure everybody else does as well. I can't stress enough the importance of communicating the results of the play, though, as referees. I would say 80% of the time, if not even more, the referee has absolutely no idea what the results of the play is when the play goes downfield. A lot of the times as referees, we're reacting to either crowd reaction, player or coach reaction, or seeing what your signal is three, four, maybe even five seconds after the fact once the play ends.
A great example will be on pass interference fouls. And I challenge everybody to go back and look at your DPI flags and see what signal you make immediately following a DPI. Most of the time, if you have a DPI foul, the pass is going to end up as an incomplete or it'll end up incomplete. But what we end up seeing is the official coming in, making the stop the clock signal, running into the referee to say, hey, look at me, I have a flag.
we all know that the stop the clock signal means exactly that, stop the clock. It does not mean, hey, look at me, I have a foul. The incomplete pass signal also means stop the clock.
It also signals the end of the play and finishes the play for that particular official. When I see an official as a referee coming in killing the clock, what that tells me is that the official is ruling a completed pass for a first down because that's the correct signal. for that result of the play.
If I look up and see an official signal incomplete pass and then continue toward me to report a foul on the field or to report his flag in the field, not only do I know the results of the play right away, but we can also start processing that and figure out what the actual enforcement is going to be once we get into that penalty enforcement mode with remainder of the period. So the results of the play in that communication is paramount. when it comes to really getting the referee what he or she needs to not only process the results of the play, but anything else that might have to be processed throughout the dead ball period.
Thanks, JV. We'll move on to the umpires. Umpires. So I don't think I have high expectations or anything.
You know, obviously, I expect the line of scrimmage, the deep wings and the iris to recognize the subs and, you know, not only give the iron cross signal, but especially on late subs, you know, a verbal signal. Hey, sub, sub, sub over the 0-2-0, you know, just because we're not looking for it. You know, as an umpire, we're not looking for it.
And we're responsible in seven man to get up over the ball and hold that play up. You know, I expect that the iris is going to look to me every play. for game clock status.
He may never look at me once during the entire game, but if I'm not thinking about it, you know, and that one time that he is looking towards me and I can't help him out, he's going to remember that, and I'm going to, you know, look like crap out there, right? So, you know, the next one's key for me. You know, expect everyone to know their key so I can focus on mine.
I guess, you know, another way of putting this is expect. your crewmates to do their job so you can focus on doing yours. You know, I don't need to be worrying about other things, you know, that other crewmates, other positions should be focusing on, right?
Like I said, you know, we have, as umpires, we have three keys where the majority of the other crewmates have one. We have enough going on. I don't need to worry about it, you know, the other guys'keys.
I expect good communication, you know, both verbal and nonverbal. You know, Dave said, you know, the signals is what, you know, the coaches, the players, the fans, you know, and if your game's televised, the people on TVC, they can't hear what we're saying. So, yeah, the O2O is a very nice thing to have, but we need to maintain, you know, our signals and our crisp signals when we're out there.
You know, one other thing I will say with communication, too, You know, and this is more probably focused to referees, but as an umpire and center judges as well. When you're reporting your penalty to the referee, you know, obviously the umpire and or center judge will be listening. We expect the result of the play, the foul, the number, offense or defense. I mean, that's typically what I'm what I'm listening for.
Right. I don't need to know what you think the penalty enforcement is. because that's, I consider it my primary job. If I have questions, I'll ask, but I just expect clear communication on what the penalty is and especially the results of the play.
Line of scrimmage guys, I expect to mirror each other. If they don't, it can cause a headache and they need to hold that spot. especially the backside official.
You know, if a play is going to the H side, you know, the chances are the line judge is going to get that forward progress spot. And even if he doesn't, he needs to mirror the headline judge. Because I don't wanna be turning around back and forth while I'm out there. I wanna be able to look at the, as I'm running into the hash to spot the ball, I wanna be able to look at the fireside official and get a good spot off of him so I don't have to turn around. I expect good ball relays from everyone and I know.
You know, winner said it too. I expect the proper ball, the right ball to be, you know, coming in. You know, it goes through at least one other person's hands before it should get to me.
You know, and I should be that last check, not the first, right? So, you know, the last thing I want to do is look at the ball and have to send it back out. I already talked about forward progress spots.
You know, know the penalty enforcement procedure. You know, who's walking it off with me? Who's following us up?
and just ensure that we have that three check process. You know, the last thing I want to do is put a ball down and then have a question, you know, after the fact and have to move it. And then the last thing for the line of scrimmage officials is, you know, good communication when it's close to a first down.
You know, I expect them, if it's close, that they're crashing hard and, you know, they're going to come and request the ball from me in the middle and, you know, make that spot, put the ball in its spot. I don't want to put the ball down and then have to have a measurement where I flip it out to them or something along those lines. So those are my, I guess, key expectations.
Anything for Nolan there? I have a quick question for I guess it's for Senator Judge and umpire. But on a punt, Senator Judge was talking about not leaving too soon.
Would you prefer people stand there, hold that spot, or giving you a verbal, we're at the 35, position one, something like that? Do you guys have a preference on that? My preference is as long as I know where the ball's going. I don't need you to place the ball down on the field or anything.
But, I mean, yeah, just what you said. We're at the 36-yard line, ball position two. Or we're at the... the 42 yard line and we're at five, you know, that's fine for me.
You know, as long as it, and really the most important thing, chances are we're going to get the yard line, you know, and if we're off by yard, whatever, fine. But, you know, the more important thing for me in that, in that scenario is, is the position of the ball, because that seems to, you know, be the thing that sometimes gets lost. Right. Yeah, I would agree.
For me, I'm a little bit on the shorter side, so I only need it verbally if the team's going to huddle in front of you and then I wouldn't be able to see you. But as long as either you're there or the short wing replaces you where you say it verbally, that works for me. Okay, cool.
Thanks, guys. As a back judge, I work in two different conferences, and one conference expects us to have the ball on the field and wait. And then clear it once the umpire is there with the new ball. And then the other conference, it's get the heck out of there. Let's go and communicate verbally to your umpire and center judge.
So that could be a conference thing as well. If you have a media timeout, you might as well just stay there and make sure the process is slow and deliberate. Yeah, I would agree with that.
There's no sense in rushing at that point. And the red hat's going to get lonely standing by himself. All right.
Thanks, guys. I'll move to some Linus Krimmich stuff. You know, from referee, I expect some help from ball relay when he gets an opportunity. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't.
And also help with coverage behind the play when the play comes to me. You know, if The play's coming at me and I have to start shifting my focus upfield. I'm hoping that the referee or potentially the center judge, depending upon which side of the field I'm on and the play's on, will clean up behind me.
For the center judge and the umpire, let's make sure, to Nolan's point earlier, we want to make sure we're doing all of our appropriate checks on penalty enforcement. So I don't want the umpire or the center judge, whoever it is, is enforcing the penalty to put the ball down until we're all where we're supposed to be. So we don't have to pick it up and move it when we can avoid it. for the again for the for the Synergy Empire get an open area so I can relay the ball without having to dump it over top of players look for forward progress initially, but if the play's coming to me, but as Nolan pointed out, the backside stuff is the most important. So as long as we're lined up, we should be all good with that.
And if the ball is close to the line to gain, and I especially if I start calling for the football, because I want to put it down on my feet, get it to me as quick as we can. For the deep, for my deep wing partner, be primary on keeping the sideline clear. You know, you have a better look because you're looking back up towards the ball to see where everybody's at. I can get the guys that are right in my immediate sphere of vision, but if you've got a better look to push people back, that's helpful too. Help on passes over the middle where the ball's on the inside and I can't see it, that back judge is helpful there too.
Catchful and non-catchful passes are important there. Eye contact on close sideline catches before either of us come up with a decision, unless one of us has a complete, and then in which case just come up with it. But if we look like we're uncertain, let's make sure we're looking at each other first. If I have to get a progress spot, help clean up plays on my sideline, I do the same for you on a punt play or a reverse mechanic situation. Make sure you're getting forward progress on punts.
If the punt's caught in advance or in the goal line situation inside the two, that may mean we have to start yelling at each other where we think the ball's at. And then initiate the ball relay that we've already talked about. So, especially if we're press box sideline really only in that case. So. Anything, any other lines for me?
People want to add anything there? AJ, anything? Nope, you're rolling. Keep it going. All right.
Deep wings. Yeah, so some of the things from a deep wing perspective, referee, I'm expecting he's going to be looking for the clock status when that's necessary. Obviously, not every play is that necessary. Scan the field for fouls so that we're not moving any faster than we need to, just so that we're all slowing down and getting the process.
And for all officials, if we do have a foul, I'm expecting the funny whistle to come out. So, the double tweet so that we're like, hey, there's something else going on here just so we have it. Center judge, obviously, I'm expecting them to be helping out with those fouls processing.
expediting the enforcement just by knowing the rules so that if we have a foul, we get it out there, we know that you're going to be enforcing it and we're going to make this whole process run smoothly. Any of those passes through the middle, Nick kind of helped it. We as deep wings in the deeps need it too from the umpire side where there's that skipper that comes in and it's that quick turn from an umpire.
Um, you might have that, uh, best angle to see that the ball bounced right before it came into his bread basket or something. So we're expecting from there, obviously helping with enforcement from that side as well. There for necessary ball relays.
When the ball goes outside the numbers and we need to come in my umpire, I love it. He's all he says is I'm right here. So I know, so I know when I'm getting the ball, I know exactly like he's there and he's expecting me to get the ball to him.
That's all it takes is that quick word. So like I'm here. So. I'm like, oh, yeah, I should probably go looking for the ball if I wasn't already getting it before because I was cleaning up a play or something like that.
For me, as a deep wing, it's the line of scrimmage we have the most conversations going on. Nick alluded to it. Helping out with the sideline control and sideline management, particularly if there's a coach that's asking questions.
Every league has them. You wear that one coach that you need to be on the same page with so that you're always talking. and not giving him bad information.
So no, and so some of that's pregame. So if you've been in the league a while and you know, Hey, this coach is a hothead. Here's some things that you might want to work with so that you are on the same page. And then when you flip sides, the same thing for both, both lines of scrimmage guys and deep wings know what we're saying to our coaches communicate. I communicate with my line of scrimmage, every play in some way, it could be something as simple as, Hey, I haven't, I have a second down.
At the very minimum, we're looking at each other and giving each other the downs so that we're at least getting that opportunity to communicate both visually and verbally. It slows me down when I'm making a call. One of the things I really appreciated from my line of scrimmage guy was if I had a foul, he'd ask me, is your flag good?
It might have been a spot foul. What do you have? Just to get me to slow down. I always appreciated that from my line of scrimmage. anybody any other deeps have anything they want to add or all right Back judge.
Billy, Bill. All right, I'll take it. Go for it. One thing I have noticed is no one has any expectations of the back judge. And I'll go from pre-snap to during the play.
Thanks. I expect that the referee will always look for you for game status, whether he does or not. You have nothing else to do, obviously, so make sure that you get in a position where you're consistently in his eyesight so that he knows to look for you for clock status. Going back to counting, I always have the perception that the Deepwing on the offensive side of the ball is going to be busy with substitutions. I will show him my confirmation.
I expect that the deepwing on the defensive side is always going to confirm back with me. I hope that the Lennon scrimmage knows the strength of the formation so that we're not leaving an eligible receiver unwatched. We are going more to zone quicker than... keeping on those initial responsibilities.
But we still need to know where they're at at the snap if they're not free of foul or free of fouling. Immediately after a play, I hope that whoever I'm officiating a play with will be slow and deliberate and give me eye contact if we need to rule on complete or incomplete. If I see a flag down and it is in an area where I can help give information, I would hope that that calling official will be slow and deliberate so that if I have information to give or if I have a question that may affect that call, they'll be slow before they're going to the referee. For penalty and seven-person mechanics, since the back judge is not talking, talking to a coach, they're not with players, they have an opportunity to go up and listen and make sure that they are confirming the information that is being conveyed so that the enforcement goes correctly, so that we don't have to go back right before the snap, slow it down, stop, and start over.
That's all I got. We're out there, so look for us if you do need us. Thanks, Bill.
Any other backjays? Go ahead, Billy. Yeah, especially umpires and seven-man and, you know, I guess combination of center judge umpires. Make sure you're going to the right side of the field to get a new ball, especially on incomplete passes down the middle. When I work on mixed crews, that seems to be the biggest issue, and then we're messing around because we're off, you know.
one side doesn't have enough game balls and stuff like that. And now we're worrying about stuff that we shouldn't even be worried about, you know, and taking our focus away from the actual game. So, you know, make sure you, if the ball goes down the middle of the field, you know, my understanding is you should be going to press box side. If it's outside the far third, you should be going to the other third or the other side of the field. So Yeah.
It just makes us look smoother so we're not tossing a ball back and forth from, you know, F to B, B back to F or, you know, whatever. You know, that's happened a couple times to me, like I said, and that's, you know, it's just something that can be fixed so easily if we're doing things properly. Anything else?
Other back judges? All right. Any questions or anything about any of the stuff we've talked about tonight? Any final thoughts?
Okay. Then I will wrap this up with a few small items. Did that share change? You guys see the schedule now? Yeah.
Okay. So next week. Klee Sellers will be presenting on Wednesday night live scrimmage fouls. Additionally, next Monday, we'll return to our weekly quiz calls with the first 50 questions of the COC offseason quiz number two. That'll be at 8 o'clock Eastern.
On Monday night, I'll send out all that information and links for everybody. Additionally, for those of you with Google Drive access, and I will send this link out to everybody too, you'll notice that the 2020 manual has been released, but it's only available if you go on the app right now. I put it together in a PDF, so I will put that in an email to everybody so you can start working towards the mechanics for the upcoming season.
Note also on the schedule page, we still have a few more weeks to fill in presentations. But we have a lot of opportunities if those of you on the call want to put a presentation together. Additionally, looking at the week of the 14th to do a submit your video, kind of walk us through your own plays, whether that's a send me plays or we just share hosting duties, let people share their screens and get those plays to walk through with everybody.
We'll figure that out. But be thinking about a play or two that you'd be willing to share and discuss with everybody. JV, you got something? Yeah. On this schedule, a lot of these topics have been something that the presenters wanted to share with you.
I'd love to hear what you guys want to hear from us as well. So if you guys have a topic that you want Nick, myself, Dave, Nolan, anybody that you want to hear from, get that email to Nick or myself and let us know what topics you want to hear about. And we'll be happy to throw a presentation together. There's a lot of... information available through the CoC training we all have access to the X XO so any foul topic that you want to hear from any a philosophy topic we'll be able to put a presentation together in about three or four weeks and get some out to you guys so don't leave it up to us to tell you what we want you to all hear about if you have a specific topic you're interested in by all means share that with us and we'll get something And don't be afraid to step up and present to this group.
We're always willing to support and give feedback. So, all right, everybody. I know we got a little late tonight, but I thought the conversation was good. Thanks to everybody who could join us and enjoy the rest of your evening. And I'll look forward to seeing everybody here next week.
So, have a good night.