New Jersey may become first state to use video replay for high school football

New Jersey is looking to become the first state in the country to allow game officials to utilize video technology to review play calls in high school football.

Carmine Picardo, coordinator of football officials for the NJSIAA, said the statewide athletic association is exploring the possibility of implementing a pilot program in which select schools would voluntarily participate.

Only schools who use HUDL Sideline, a wireless program that allows game action from press box and end zone angles to be instantly replayed on a tablet, would be eligible.

Picardo said NJSIAA Assistant Director Jack DuBois will be reaching out “in the next couple of days” to the National Federation of High School Associations, whose approval for replay review at the scholastic level is required.

“He’s going to try to feel them out to see if they have any interest at all in allowing New Jersey to experiment with replay review,” Picardo said. “If they have an interest, we are going to sit down and write up a formal proposal to see if we can get them to give us permission next season to experiment with replay review.”

The NJSIAA on Tuesday issued the following statement: "Individual representatives of the football officials community have requested that NJSIAA inquire to NFHS regarding the potential for video replay, which currently is prohibited. NJSIAA agreed to advance the question.  But, at this stage, no policies or programs are in place and NJSIAA has no current plan to take any action.

"The implementation of even a limited pilot program would require approval from the NFHS, as well as from multiple groups within NJSIAA."

The Alabama High School Athletic Association is in the process of formulating a proposal to the national federation, according to AHSAA Director of Officials Mark Jones.

“We hope to be experimenting next year,” Jones said. “We are still determining to what extent the NFHS may give approval. I just think this will be great for high school sports. If we can get the call right, why not get the call right?”

The NHFS currently allows coaches to utilize video review on the sidelines during games as a teaching tool for players who come off the field following a specific down or series of downs. Texas and Massachusetts are the only states whose athletic associations currently prohibit coaches from reviewing video with players on the sidelines.

Picardo said he believed any NJSIAA proposal submitted to the NFHS would be for permission to review only plays involving fumbles, catches, touchdowns and out-of-bounds calls. Picardo said he believed the NJSIAA would ask the NFHS for permission to review play calls in select scrimmages and regular-season games for the first year of a proposed pilot program, with the hope of expanding the program in future seasons.

Picardo said he believed the proposal would allow each coach to challenge one play per half and to possibly allow officials to review any plays in the final two minutes of a game. Picardo said a replay official would not be required and that game officials could review the play using one of the team's tablets on the sidelines.

“If we had a play – say a fumble that was questionable, whether it was a knee on the ground or not – we have now the technology to go back to that play and watch it potentially from two angles and maybe be able to see if it was a fumble or not,” Picardo said.

“The potential to have replay in high school football is there. The technology is there. I think without a doubt we would have many schools want to participate in a game with video replay. If they can get an egregious mistake fixed that may or may not cost them a game, they would go for it.”

The ability to use video review likely would have been able to reverse what appeared to be an egregious mistake in the closing seconds of Don Bosco Prep’s 14-13 victory over Seton Hall Prep in last year’s Non-Public Group IV playoffs. On the play in question, the referee signaled for the clock to continue running after a Seton Hall Prep receiver appeared to step out of bounds after catching a pass on the opponent’s 25-yard line (below is an embedded video of the controversial call from the HUDL account of Seton Hall Prep, which titled the clip "Worst Call Ever!).

Ron Mazzola, who has filmed game action for Old Bridge High School over the past 28 years, said the two-angle HUDL Sideline program, which costs $900 to $1,200, according to HUDL’s website, provides pictures that are obviously not as crisp as those generated from a professional TV crew but would enable an official in some instances to obtain the indisputable evidence needed to reverse a call.

Picardo said officials statewide have been utilizing HUDL technology after games to review play calls for educational purposes.