When Anthony Warrin first hands Mr. Rojeck the binoculars, he looks through them and sees seven boys lined up for a football play (with one other boy leaning against the back of a bench on which an adult is sitting). The quarterback, a tall boy in a white shirt and blue jeans, is to the right of the line of scrimmage. After a very brief discussion with Warrin, he again looks through the binoculars and sees six boys ready to start a play. The tall boy is now on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage, though that side has the ball, but the QB is a shorter blond boy in a gray shirt. There was not sufficient time for the boys to change sides and shuffle the line-up.
When Mr. Rojeck is looking through the binoculars at the boys playing football, he "lip reads" the quarterback calling signals, "... 7, 15, 32, hike, 8, 6, hut. There's a forward pass." The "hut" and the "hike" are transposed; the ball is snapped to the QB on "hike". Most kids would know this, but the quarterback, who also owns the ball, definitely would.