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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Two questions:

Are teams required to have four players on each side of the kicker on an onside kick?

Why was North Carolina flagged for offsides on the onside kick versus Clemson? Was it because they only had two players on one side of the ball?

In the NFL, NCAA and high school, four players are required on each side of the kicker on all free kicks, whether deep or onside.

In the North Carolina onside kick, the requirement of four players on each side was met. The call was for North Carolina being offside. On a deep kick, officials will give some leeway to a player whose body is leaning across the line on the kickoff. There is very little advantage, if any, gained on a deep kick, so it’s a game interrupter to call offside technically on deep kicks.

That said, on an onside kick, the kicker’s line is treated like a plane of glass, and any part of the player’s body that breaks the plane is to be considered offside as there is an advantage that could impact which team recovers the onside kick.