SEC lays out discipline for fake injury ‘nonsense’

• Chris Low, ESPN Elder WriterNov 1, 2024, 06:47 PM ET

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  • College football reporter
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of the University of Tennessee

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sent a memo Friday to league athletic directors and head football coaches detailing penalty if players continue to fake injuries in games.

“As plainly as it can be specified: Stop any and all activity related to fabricating injuries to create time-outs,” Sankey wrote in the memo, a copy of which was acquired by ESPN.He ended the memo by writing: “Play football and stop the feigned injury nonsense.”

SEC Penalty For Faking Injuries

First Offense: Head coach receives a public reprimand and a $50,000 fine
2nd Offense: Head coach gets another reprimand and a $100,000 fine
Third Offense: Head coach gets another reprimand and will be suspended for his program’s next game
— Per memo obtained by ESPN

Progressively over the previous couple of years, coaches have consistently implicated opposing teams and coaches of fabricating injuries to interfere with the rhythm and flow of offenses, particularly those that are up-tempo and seldom huddle. Broadcasters have explained several apparent cases this season when players flopped to the ground near the sideline claiming to be hurt simply as the opposing offense was about to snap the ball.Each play where

a fake injury may have happened must be submitted to the SEC for evaluation. Steve Shaw, the national planner of football officiating, will identify what constitutes a fake injury. According to Sankey’s memo, those guidelines will vary from Shaw determining that a feigned injury has occurred, that it is more likely than not that a feigned injury has actually happened, that a player attempted to feign an injury or any other basic statement from Shaw developing the possibility of a feigned injury.Sankey composed that developing injury timeouts, on offense or defense, is”not acceptable

and is disrespectful to the game of football.”Editor’s Picks 2 Related Punishments set out in Sankey’s memo include the following: for the first offense, a head coach

receives a

public reprimand and a$50,000 fine; for the second offense, another reprimand and a $100,000 fine; for a 3rd offense, another reprimand and the coach will be suspended for his program’s next game.Any employee discovered to be associated with signaling or directing a player to feign an injury will face the same measures, consisting of punitive damages and a suspension. A player pointed out for feigning an injury likewise may undergo a public reprimand.Sankey informed reporters a few weeks earlier at the Oklahoma-Texas game that he was concerned about the growing accusations of fabricating injuries. “If someone’s hurt, we require to take that seriously,”Sankey stated.”But creating the questions– and I indicate this all throughout the country– needs to stop.”