A Day in the Life of an Official (Port Huron Times Herald)
September 25, 2012
At least six days a week and occasionally seven, officials all over Michigan suit up to manage our competitions.They do so mostly under the radar, as is the goal.
The Port Huron Times Herald's Joseph Hayes shines a small spotlight on this key part of making our games go. He took us inside the workings of an experienced football crew from that corner of the state, led by Marysville's Joe Venia.
Ref Life - A day in the life of an official (Port Huron Times Herald)
Be the Referee: Intentional Grounding Change
By
Sam Davis
MHSAA Director of Officials
August 23, 2022
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 – Intentional Grounding Change - Listen
New this year in football is a change to intentional grounding.
What’s staying the same? A quarterback in the free block zone – who throws a pass to an area with no receiver nearby – will continue to be flagged for intentional grounding. That’s a five-yard penalty and loss of down.
So what’s different? Now … a quarterback outside of the free blocking zone can legally throw the ball away as long as the pass lands past the original line of scrimmage. This used to be flagged for grounding, but is now legal.
In fact, this rule doesn’t just pertain to the quarterback. Any passer, outside of the free blocking zone, can throw the ball away as long as it lands past the line of scrimmage.