Changes in basic spot for penalties headline football rules changes for 2023
Indianapolis — A notable change to Rule 10 of the NFHS Football Rulebook will eliminate excessive penalties for offensive fouls that occur behind the line of scrimmage in high school football.
This change to Rule 10-4 (Basic Spots) is one of seven revisions recommended by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee at its Jan. 8-10 meeting. in Indianapolis. All changes were then approved by the NFHS Board of Directors for the 2023 high school football season.
In an effort to achieve one of the fundamental tasks of the committee of maintaining a balance between attack and defense, this revision states that the basic point for the application of fouls behind the line of scrimmage is the previous point rather that the point of fault. Current penalties for illegal kicks, kicks and participation fouls, as well as provisions for offensive fouls occurring in the end zone that can result in a safety, remain intact.
For example, with the change in Rule 10-4, an attacking team on its own 40-yard line which is called for holding 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage on its own 30-yard line, would be faced first and 20 from his 30-yard line rather than the nearly insurmountable task of first and 30 from his own 20-yard line.
“This is an excellent rule change that the majority of game officials and coaches have requested and our NFHS Football Rules Committee members have unanimously approved,” said Richard McWhirter, Chairman. of the NFHS Football Rules Committee and Deputy Executive Director of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. (TSSAA). “I think this change will make the rule clearer for coaches and easier to administer for match officials.”
In a change that addresses another goal of every NFHS Rules Committee – risk minimization – additional criteria have been approved to help identify players who should be defined as defenseless receivers related to the application of unnecessary or excessive contact.
Addition (d) to Rule 2-32-16 states that another example of a defenseless player includes a receiver, as previously defined in the rule, including the person intercepting the pass, who is forcefully contacted by a opponent who is not 1) incidental contact following a play on the ball, 2) initiated with open hands, or 3) an attempted tackle by wrapping the arm(s) around the receiver.
The committee also approved a clarification of the intentional grounding rule change implemented last year. The amendment to Rule 7-5-2 EXCEPTION allows the exception for an intentional grounding to the first and only player to possess the ball after the snap is completed.
A revision to Rule 2-29-1 clarifies when a player is in bounds after being out of bounds. While the committee approved additional wording for clarification, there are no changes to the fouls or subsequent penalty provisions, nor to the rules regarding illegal participation or the provisions regarding eligibility to catch a pass.
A change has been approved in Rule 1-5-3 regarding player equipment, in particular player towels, which may now contain a manufacturer’s logo and/or a school logo, not exceeding 2¼ square inches. Towels must be a solid color, but no longer have to be the same color for each player. Towels cannot, however, be the color of the ball or the penalty flag.
In Rule 7-5 (TABLE) regarding forward pass interference, the word “intentional” was deleted, bringing the rule into line with the way it is already applied, which is a 15-yard penalty.
A final change has been approved in the rule differences for six-man football, which, with eight players and nine players, uses the basic rules of 11-man football with exceptions. An exception to Rule 7 has been approved for six-man football stating that “a direct forward transfer may be made at a scrum before a change of possession, provided both players are in or behind the neutral zone, except in the case of snapper.
This change allows the ball to be put forward on a running play, including to guards/ends, while prohibiting the ball to be put to the snapper, provided both players are behind the neutral zone.
“The NFHS Football Rules Committee continually strives to clarify playing rules for optimal playing efficiency,” McWhirter said. “These changes exemplify that goal.”
The NFHS Football Rules Committee is made up of one representative from each of the NFHS Member State Associations that use the NFHS Football Rules, as well as one representative from the NFHS Coaches Association, NFHS Officials Association and the NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.
A full list of football rule changes will be available on the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org. Click on ‘Activities and Sports’ at the top of the home page and select ‘Football’.
According to the 2021-22 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, 11-player soccer is the most popular high school sport for boys with 973,792 participants at 13,733 schools nationwide. Additionally, 34,935 boys participated in 6, 8 and 9-man football, as well as 3,633 girls in the four versions of the game for a grand total of 1,012,360.