Taylor brings ref to discuss rules with Rattlers

The cerebral adventure continued Friday evening for the Florida A&M football team. After three days of walk through intended to enhance the Rattlers' mental approach, coach Joe Taylor invited one of the men who wear black and white stripes on game day to issue a reminder to his players about a few important things that they won't find in their playbooks — the rules of the game. Taylor has good reason to sit his team down. Last season FAMU committed 66 penalties for 608 yards, an improvement over the previous season by almost 200 yards. Still, the Rattlers were the third-most penalized team in the nine-team league.

MEAC referee Ryan Sbrissa used a PowerPoint presentation to emphasize how closely each play will be watched this season. He stressed that in addition to a handful of new rules, referees will be throwing a flag on any player caught making a helmet-first tackle or block. The league is being more strict about the rule as a result of the number of concussions in the game, Sbrissa warned. Violations will result in a 15-yard penalty or even ejection, Taylor said.

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