Over the past several years, there has been a considerable decline by many teams in their efforts to line up legally. There has also been a decrease by game officials with enforcement of illegal formations, especially involving offensive linemen. As a result, formations are a 2024 NFHS Football Point of Emphasis.
Linemen are legally on the line of scrimmage when they face their opponent’s goal line and have head or foot breaking the imaginary plane through the waist of the snapper. It has become fairly common to see guards or tackles line up a yard or two off the ball to aid in pass blocking or pulling. Doing so provides a significant advantage for the offense and should be addressed at the first opportunity by coaches and game officials.
A back is an “A” player who has no part of his body breaking the plane of the waist of the nearest teammate who is on the line of scrimmage. Formations become illegal when backs are not clearly in the backfield. If an offensive player lines up by intersecting the waistline of the tackle, but not the center, Team A has committed an illegal formation foul because all Team A players must be a lineman or back. Receivers who wish to line up as a back should have “daylight” between the rear end of the nearest lineman and their nearest body part. Communicating with the line of scrimmage official on your side of the field is the best way to avoid a formation foul.
All coaches should spend time learning and periodically reviewing the current NFHS football playing rules so they can effectively pass correct information on to their players. Someone on the coaching staff should be assigned to monitor player compliance and understanding of formation rules during practice and game play. Early and consistent communication between coaches, players and game officials will permit the game to proceed with less disruption to the flow. Game officials should monitor pre-game warm-up and communicate (through coaches) to allow them to correct borderline or illegal formation issues they have observed. Once the contest begins, preventive officiating skills should be used at the earliest opportunity to allow coaches to make adjustments before formation issues become egregious. However, formations that clearly and obviously do not meet the specifications of NFHS Football Rules 2-32-3, 2-32-9 and 7-2 must be penalized as fouls without warning.
