SEC to give player accessibility reports this season

• Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterAug 29, 2024, 03:50 PM ET

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  • Author of seven books on college football
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SEC schools will offer public reports on player availability for conference games in football, men’s and females’s basketball and baseball beginning this season, the league revealed Thursday.SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the brand-new policy is designed to curtail individuals who might try to seek information on injuries and suspensions from student-athletes for betting functions.”This accessibility reporting policy is intended

to lower pressure from outdoors entities looking for involvement details and represents a commitment of our 16 institutions to supply improved openness to support efforts to safeguard our student-athletes and the integrity of competition,”Sankey stated in a statement.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Under the new policy, SEC schools will be required to supply availability reports

three days before each conference football game and then day-to-day updates, including a last one 90 minutes prior to kickoff.In basketball and baseball, schedule reports will be filed with the SEC office the night before contests with an extra upgrade on game day.Under the regards to the policy, student-athletes will be deemed “available,” “likely, “”questionable,””skeptical” or “out”in reports prior to game days

. On the final report, players will be designated as” offered,” “game-time choice” or “out” to offer additional clarity.No specifics can be given regarding why student-athletes would be noted on the report, be it injury or otherwise.If schools fail to abide by the new rules, they

‘ll face prospective charges varying from$25,000 for a first offense to $100,000 for a third and more instances.

There are optimal penalties of $15,000 to$25,000 in the other sports that undergo the rules.The Big 10 and MAC are the just other conferences who have actually adopted leaguewide accessibility reports. Those reports have two classifications for players: questionable or out.Georgia coach Kirby Smart stated earlier this week that Ron Courson, the program’s executive associate athletics director for sports medicine, would handle the Bulldogs’accessibility reports.” I just want to state,’Can the guy play or not?'”Smart said.”And if it’s a game-time choice and he goes out there and [it] works out that he can’t, then he can’t. We have actually had many varieties of guys that have actually headed out before the game to exercise to discover if they can play or not. We’ll comply with the rules they provide us. It’s the very same as the NFL’s. They’ve done it for several years. “Smart said he supported the brand-new SEC policy.”If it keeps the pressure off of our kids from individuals connecting to them, trying to get info from wagering sites and attempting to acquire info, there is no gain if you’ve got precise information,” Smart stated.”So, it safeguards our

kids. I’m for it. “Football schedule reports will be released on the SECsports.com site.