Hard to believe but the college season is already starting. Sunday I attended the first of two college clinics in Stockton. During the clinic we watch film and discuss various play situations. This clinic focused on the two-minute offense. As was pointed out at the clinic, there is very little mentioned in the mechanics manual on how to handle this situation. Ironic as this when some of the most important plays occur during the game.
Midway through the clinic we broke out by officiating position. During the Umpire meeting we focused much of our time reviewing where to line-up during scrimmage downs. There are several points of view on this. The mechanics of the Umpire position are evolving, due in part, to safety concerns for the Umpire. Many of the old school rules-of-thumb donot work all that well with modern football. Do we begin six yards deep or eight yards deep, do you move up to the line-of-scrimmage on passes or stay put, cheat-up during Trys or take a wider view, etc. It all boils down to what each of our conferences what us to do. And no, they are not consistant.
I learned this at the Reno clinic last year. Each conference has a prefered way of working each position. There are no universal standards.
We also had several DI and DII conference supervisors speak about their respective conferences and how one becomes an official in these conferences. Sounds like I can begin to get on the radar, but I would not be accepted until I have five years experience. I'll start applying and see what happens.
The next clinic is July 25th, which is where we take our tests.
