One of the most peculiar issues that college football has had to deal with in recent years is the spike in sudden-onset injuries to defensive players.
We see it every week. Almost as if it were clockwork, an offense finding its rhythm comes to a screeching halt because of injuries that materialize out of thin air. At least, that's what the opposing sideline would have the offensive coordinator believe.
Unfortunately, these "injuries" aren't that at all. Rather, they are a popular form of gamesmanship that has given coaches a seemingly unlimited supply of timeouts.
Recently, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer addressed the phenomenon after a 27-3 loss to Ole Miss. And while he said that he hoped the Ole Miss players were okay, Beamer also addressed the elephant in the room.
"I got my own problems. We just got our butts kicked 27-3. But it's fascinating to me to see how many injuries occur for them after the opposing offense makes a first down or makes a big play...
"The timing on some of the injuries — it's a really bad look for college football."
Now, a few weeks after those comments, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has reportedly taken the matter into his own hands — and it appears he intends to squash the matter in one fell swoop.
According to a report from Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, the SEC Commissioner sent a memo to SEC coaches and athletic directors warning them to "stop any and all activity related to faking injuries to create time-outs."
In a copy of the memo obtained by Yahoo Sports, Sankey describes the use of fake injuries as "disrespectful," and that teams are expected to use their allocated timeouts to stop play.
"When defending against a 'hurry up' offense, you are to use the allocated team time-outs if you need to stop play, or you may allow the play to continue with the personnel and defensive play call in place," Sankey wrote. "When on offense, if the play clock is running out, you are to use a team time-out or accept the delay of game penalty. Creating injury time-outs in these circumstances is not acceptable and is disrespectful to the game of college football."
As is clearly stated in the Football Playing Rules, Sankey's memo reiterates that "an injured player will be given the benefit of the doubt," but that the questionable injuries will need to stop. To insure that it does, the SEC is prepared to enforce increasingly strict penalties.
"Moving forward, if a circumstance warrants the National Coordinator's review of a possible feigned injury, the play will be submitted from the SEC office to the National Coordinator for review," Sankey writes.
"If the National Coordinator determines that a feigned injury has occurred, that is is more likely than not that a feigned injury occurred, that a player attempted to feign an injury, or any other general statement from the National Coordinator establishing the probability of a feigned injury, I will apply the agreed upon penalties..."
The penalties are as follows:
• First Offense: Public reprimand of head coach, $50,000 fine.
• Second Offense: Public reprimand of head coach, $100,000 fine.
• Third and Subsequent Offense(s): Suspension of the head coach for the team's next contest.
Any other staff member found guilty of signaling, encouraging, or directing a feigned injury will be subject to the same accountability measures (public reprimand, fines, suspensions), and players found guilty of faking injuries will be subject to public reprimand.
In putting a bow on the memo, Sankey finishes his statement with a single bold, underlined sentence.
Play football and stop the feigned injury nonsense.
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