Avoid Tunnel Vision
One of the bad habits newer wing officials develop is staring straight down the line once they’ve reached the forward progress spot and squared off. For some reason, they have tunnel vision…
Wing Mechanics
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Wings, Watch Your Gunners!
Note: This mechanics discussion is for a 5-person crew. As I’ve mentioned in previous Ready for Play articles, I watch a lot of Hudl film. One error I commonly observe is poor…
Wing Imperatives
I watch many high school football plays on Hudl during the week and often see the same wing mechanics mistakes from numerous wing officials. Here are the top five: Eye Discipline during…
What To Do When (Part 2)
What to do when you communicate with a receiver about his position relative to the line or backfield and the ball is snapped while the receiver moves? As players leave the huddle…
What To Do When (Part 1)
Our Colorado Football Officials Association President, John Conklin, gave an outstanding presentation called “What To Do When” at our state clinic. I want to devote a few Ready for Play articles to…
Double Action
Here is a Ray Lutz “Forward Progress” post from September 9, 2009 (Edited for clarity) Forward progress is the number one job of wing officials. Last evening at our crew meeting, a…
Wing Official Pre-snap Routine
You’ll hear veteran officials talk about developing a pre-snap routine. Wing officials should progress through the same sequence of events before every snap. The pre-snap routine begins when a play ends (the…