Be the Referee: Other Football Changes
September 7, 2017
This week, MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl discusses a few final football rules in the final of a three-part series on changes in the sport for this fall.
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 – Other Football Rules Changes - Listen
Today in our final segment of a three-part series on the football rules changes for the 2017 season, we’re going to be looking at three items:
• On passing plays, pass interference will no longer be called when the defender is simply face guarding the receiver with no contact.
• In the final two minutes of a half, the team accepting a penalty will now have the option of restarting the game clock with the snap of the ball, rather than the referee’s ready-for-play signal.
• This is the second year of an experiment in Michigan with a 40- second play clock, which starts shortly after a play is over, replacing the 25-second play clock which was always started by the referee marking the ball ready for play.
Past editions
August 31: Pop-Up Onside Kicks - Listen
August 24: Blindside Blocks - Listen
What's My Why: Official Jarrett Skorup
June 17, 2026
Jarrett Skorup, Midland
Skorup has served as an MHSAA-registered official on the wrestling mat the last 16 seasons and added soccer over the last two school years.
I started wrestling when I was 4 or 5 years old. I had a father who was a coach for 33 years and then became an official. So I love continuing that legacy with our family. I have a son now who is almost in high school, and he was my towel tapper for many years, and he talks all the time about wanting to become an official.
I’ve been doing it for about 15 years. I really particularly love when you get one of these matches, where it’s two kids, maybe they’re newer, but they give it their all, their teammates are involved in the match, they have a great close match, and they get done and they have a lot of respect for each other. So I love staying involved in the sport, and I love seeing kids grow through it and become better men and better women.
“What’s My Why” is a weekly feature telling the stories of MHSAA-registered officials in their own words. If you’re an MHSAA official and would like to share your reason why, please submit a 15 to 45-second video, taken horizontally, to director of officials Sam Davis at [email protected].
Don't miss Officiate Michigan Day 2026, July 25 in Grand Rapids! Check out MHSAA.com/OMD to register and learn more.
What's My Why
June 12: Brady Driver, Sturgis - Watch
June 8: Cindy Tyzo, West Bloomfield - Watch
June 3: Jeff Spedoske, DeWitt - Watch
June 1: Mike Carrier, Commerce Township - Watch
May 27: Stan Wright, Warren - Watch
May 26: Murray Rose, Zeeland - Watch
May 22: Mike VanLaan, Alto - Watch
May 18: Clint Abbott, Newaygo - Watch