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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I am a coach in the Israeli Football League as well as for Team Israel. In our leagues we play according to NCAA rules.

As I understand the rules regarding defensive pass interference, defenders can initiate contact with receivers anywhere on the field as long the ball is not yet in the air. That allows them to press and bump beyond the first five yards, which is not the case in the NFL. What about the receiver? Can he also initiate contact downfield if the ball has not yet been thrown?

Once the ball has left the QB’s hand, the receiver certainly is not allowed to push off or otherwise initiate contact with the defender, but what about before the ball has been thrown?

When the ball is in the air, offensive and defensive pass interference restrictions are the same for both teams.

Prior to the ball being in the air, the defense players can legally engage receivers because they have a right to play the run, and the offensive player is potentially a blocker.

Offensive players may not initiate a block one yard beyond the line of scrimmage and then have a pass thrown that crosses the line of scrimmage. If an offensive player blocks downfield before the ball is thrown and the pass crosses the line of scrimmage, it is offensive pass interference. The rationale is this: A defensive player who sees an ineligible receiver downfield or any eligible receiver blocking downfield can now play run defense knowing that a pass can’t be made, so the defensive player can leave the receiver and attack the run.

As for the offensive player being blocked before the pass, use a swim move to get away but don’t initiate contact and cause separation.

You can set a pick, just don’t initiate contact with the defense. Get to the spot first and stand still. This is totally legal as long as the offensive receiver doesn’t initiate contact with the defense.

Now, in terms of application, if a suspected offensive pass interference occurs on the left side of the field and the QB throws immediately to the right, there’s no advantage gained and no foul. Divide the field into thirds – sideline to hash, hash to hash, hash to sideline. If the offensive pass interference situation occurs in the same zone as the ball or one zone away, it’s a foul. If it occurs two zones away, no foul.

Again, this is not the rule but it is generally accepted officiating philosophy.

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If a running play gains seven yards and there is a defensive holding on the play. Do you tack the 10 yards onto the end of the run or mark it from where the foul occurred.

For running plays, tack the penalty yards onto the end of the run if the run ended beyond the line of scrimmage – with the exception of snap fouls such as defensive offside or illegal substitution.

If the run ends in the loss, mark the yards from the previous spot.