USA Football Rules Editor Bill LeMonnier is a former college referee who currently serves as an ESPN NCAA rules analyst. Click here to ask Bill a question. Make sure to put “Ask the Official” in the subject line.

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Why are running backs and receivers allowed to stiff arm defenders with their hands to the facemask and it not be flagged as such, yet lineman get called for it all the time? It is what it is: hands to the face.

Any player possessing the football – a runner or receiver after a catch – may use an open hand to ward off a defender trying to make a tackle. The feeling is that a runner is limited in his ability to ward off defenders because his other hand is securing the football.

He may not grab or twist the face mask of the defender, but he may use the open hand against the helmet or face mask.

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If a quarterback is deemed to be outside of the pocket, how does that affect the pass interference and/or incidental contact with receiver rules?

At the high school and NCAA levels, there’s no rule against contact between receivers and defensive players with the exception of holding and contact to the head. Once the ball is in the air, pass interference rules apply.

Only the NFL has a 5-yard contact zone. On lower levels, defenders can bump, push or otherwise disrupt receivers all they want until the ball is thrown.

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On a wide receiver screen behind the line of scrimmage, can the other wideouts start blocking while the ball is still in the air? The pass is behind the line, but the blockers are a five yards in front of it.

When the pass never crosses the line of scrimmage, blocking downfield is permitted before, during and after the pass.