I mean can you do that lol…
I’d imagine as long as the person in place lines up on the LOS you can? Would they be able to catch a pass?
Obviously we’d never do it but now I’m curious lol
So... there was a high school a few years ago that made news with what they called the A11 offense. It was successful while it was legal because, theoretically, all 11 players could be eligible receivers. Obviously, they weren't all eligible receivers on any one play, but they'd shift around and stand still just long enough to not get a penalty for too many men in motion. They'd have 11 guys on offense, but the defense only got 1 second to figure out which 5 guys are eligible. Oh, and I think they put 2 quarterbacks on the field. You didn't know which was going to get the snap. Something weird like that. I think they made that offense illegal, though, at least at the high school level. It was too difficult for even the referees to figure out who were eligible receivers.
So imagine 6 wide receivers. Or 1 back, 1 TE, and 4 wide receivers. 4 linemen. There's enough shifting around that the defense gets confused, and then you snap it 1 second after getting set. But 7 guys are on the line of scrimmage, per the rules, and only 2 of those can be eligible receivers. With only 4 linemen, 1 of those guys on the line is ineligible. Watch Ohio State - they line up with an ineligible receiver all the time. The defense still puts a defender on the ineligible receiver.
This is the play they scored the go-ahead touchdown against Penn State in 2018. The three receivers at the top - only 2 are eligible. When they line up like this, either it's a running play, or a screen pass, or the ineligible receiver is going to run some route where he doesn't cross the line of scrimmage. In this case, it's a screen pass. Since the pass didn't go past the line of scrimmage, the ineligible receiver can be wherever he wants.
I know I'm spending a lot of time on something I'm not being serious about. But my joking suggestion is to line up with 4 linemen in this formation, and another receiver at the bottom of the screen. That middle receiver at the top needs to follow the rules. And, if Ohio State so chooses, they can shift him back a yard and the one receiver moves up a yard. The defense needs to be able to shift very quickly to catch that kind of thing.
Hell, while we're at it, go with 3 linemen, 5 receivers, a tight end, and a running back. Cover all of those receivers, Bitches! And if you cover them all, here comes Henderson right past where the linebackers used to be.
