Does he need to bring the ball to his chest and secure it for it to be a catch? Say he has control with the ball at his waist, comes down and hit the grind, and then it pops loose as he tries to resecure it. Is that a catch?
that would not be a catch.
There’s actually a perfect situation going on right now in the Kentucky-Ole Miss game, with the same rule expert for ESPN last night.
The Kentucky receiver catches the ball in the corner of the end zone, with the ball away from his body, takes two or 3 steps, does not have it pinned to his body, goes down to the ground, then the ball moves. By the time he secures it, it’s out of bounds.
The rules expert is saying one of two situations are in play:
1. Kentucky receiver secured the ball and then took steps in the end zone. Which means he has the ball long enough to have established possession, and so the contact with the ground and the movement of the ball doesn’t matter. Because going to the ground is now decoupled from the process of the catch. It’s only decoupled if you’re an upright receiver. Essentially you’ve become a “runner” with the ball.
2. He didn’t have the ball long enough while upright to become an “upright” receiver, or essentially a runner at that point. And if he doesn’t, then he has to secure the ball all the way through the process of the ground. And the pass would be incomplete according to the ESPN guy, because he doesn’t do that and doesn’t re-secure it until he’s out of bounds.
It’s the exact same situation as last night, except the first question wasn’t a possibility. It’s only question two.
So when he hits the ground, the he’s immediately trying to secure the ball. Within at least two seconds of the frame, the ball is clear as day moving. And that’s being generous to VT. And once the ball starts to move, and the Miami player touches it, the game is over. It can’t be secured at that point. The play is automatically dead.
