Illegal procedure

American football referee hand signal

In the National Football League, an illegal procedure is used to refer to a number of different penalties.

## Types of illegal procedure

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Some penalties are signalled with a generic "illegal procedure" signal.[1] Examples are:

* False start
* Illegal formation
* Kickoff or safety kick out of bounds
* Player voluntarily going out of bounds and returning to the field of play on a punt

Some examples of similar penalties have their own signals. Examples include:

* Illegal shift
* Illegal motion
* Illegal forward pass
* Illegal touching of a forward pass
* Ineligible receiver downfield
* Illegal substitution

## Usage at different levels

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It is used similarly to the professional level at both the high school level,[2] and at the college level.

## References

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1. ^ "NFL Official Signals". NFL.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-13. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
2. ^ "Official Football Signals: High School and College" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Federation of State High School Associations.