Surprisingly few high school football rule changes for 2024

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Every year as the season turns to summer, high school football officials await, usually with dread, the tinkering of rules by the National Federation of State High School Associations — the NFHS. In 2023, the NFHS implemented an overhaul of the all-but-one penalty enforcement principle to better align with the NCAA and NFL. This was a change welcomed by the majority of NFHS football officials, as it simplified penalty enforcement and more “fairly” punished offensive teams for fouls in the offensive backfield. Other changes in 2023 included the definition of a player out of bounds, the definition of defenseless receiver, and additional clarification of the intentional grounding exceptions for passers.

The NFHS rules are in effect for all states except Texas, which follows the NCAA rulebook.

Perhaps the NFHS was still exhausted from all the 2023 changes, because 2024 saw surprisingly few adjustments to the football rule set. With the recent changes to the clock status on first downs in college football, the NFHS could have brought that change to high school football, but chose not to at this time. Other changes are likely being considered to better align the NFHS with the NCAA and NFL, but those changes will have to come in future years.

This year, only a few tweaks were made to the penalty enforcement changes from last year, where the basic spot was changed from the succeeding spot to the end of the related run in a few special cases. A loose-ball play was also clarified to include only legal forward passes and kicks. Passed in 2019, but finally being implemented this year, home teams must have jerseys of the same dark colors that clearly contrast to white. Jersey numbers must be a single solid color that clearly contrast with the jersey body color.

Points of emphasis include sportsmanship, enforcement of player equipment violations, and formations.

This means when you travel to your local high school football field on Friday nights this fall to either cheer on your favorite team or officiate your games, not much will have changed from last year when it comes to the rules and their enforcement. Thank goodness for quiet offseasons!

Image: Chris Seubert/Football Zebras