The SEC plans to punish programs that fake injuries, commissioner Greg Sankey said in a memo distributed to coaches and administrators Friday.
The memo seeks to stop teams from “creating time outs” by faking injuries, which can slow teams that utilize uptempo offenses and allow defenses to substitute to get fresh players on the field.
“Play football and stop the feigned injury nonsense,” Sankey wrote.
Teams can submit plays to the league for review who will send them to Steve Shaw, the national coordinator of officials. Shaw will be asked to determine whether or not it is more likely a feigned injury occurred than a legitimate injury.
Coaches will be reprimanded and the program will be fined $50,000 on a first offense. A coach will be reprimanded again for a second offense and the fine will increase to $100,000.
For a third offense, the head coach will be suspended for the team’s next game, as well as an additional public reprimand. Any staff members found to be directing or encouraging players to fake injuries will be subject to the same punishments, Sankey wrote.
Multiple teams across the SEC have been suspected of using the practice in recent years, including using coaches on the sideline to direct players to go down and get attention from athletic trainers when the defense needs to slow down an offense.
Ole Miss sent out a statement on Oct. 11 after they were suspected of being one of the team’s feigning injuries.
“Feigned injuries has become a notable topic in college football, and we realize our program has been part of that discussion. We have been in communication with the National Coordinator for Football Officiating and provided relevant medical information for his review to answer questions about recent injuries. We have also updated the SEC office, and our head coach will communicate with our coaches and players to ensure we conduct ourselves properly and are compliant in this matter.”
“It’s fascinating to me how many injuries occur for them after the opposing offense makes a first down or has a big play,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said after a loss to Ole Miss earlier this season.
Sankey directed teams to either use one of the three allotted timeouts per half to slow down offenses or if an offense was taking too long, to accept a delay of game penalty rather than ask a player to feign an injury and create an officials’ timeout. He also suggested teams elect to run the play that is called with the personnel that is on the field if the defense finds itself unprepared for a play.
“A feigned injury will be found to have occurred unless the national coordinator accepts clear medical information establishing the player had to disrupt the game for an injury timeout and modifies the feigned injury finding in a timely manner,” Sankey wrote.
Because of the inherent uncertainty in determining whether an injury is legitimate or faked, other conferences have been slow to enact any rule changes preventing faked injuries, which have persisted for decades in other conferences. Some proposed legislation, like preventing injured players from returning to the field until the next series, have been criticized as creating player safety issues and encouraging players to play through injuries.
“Your team should be prepared to compete fairly under the rules of the game,” Sankey wrote.
(Photo: Wesley Hitt / Getty Images)
