SEC to begin college football injury reports

The SEC has approved a player availability injury report system for football, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball, a source tells On3.

SEC school personnel must submit availability reports three days before each football game, with daily updates leading to a final report 90 minutes before game time. For basketball and baseball, reports are filed the night before, with an update on game day.

According to the SEC, penalties for inaccurate or late reports will range from $25,000 to $100,000 for football and anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000 for basketball and baseball.

When schools submit injury reports, players will be designated as available, probable, doubtful and questionable before game day. On game day, designations will be available, game-time decision or out. The model follows injury reports similar to the NFL.

SEC latest conference to install injury reports

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey discussed the possibility of mandatory injury reports in July at SEC media days. Now the changes are effective immediately.

“I did acknowledge it’s a cultural change for us but things are changing around us,” Sankey said in July. “This is intended to be the beginning of a discussion and not a decision. That’s how I framed it.

“When you start to see the number of dollars being bet on legalized sports gambling around college sports, not just football, but men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and baseball and softball, all those catch your attention. We have to be thoughtful about how information is managed.”

The Big Ten instituted injury reports last season, requiring teams to provide availability reports to the league office no more than two hours before kickoff. The Mid-American Conference announced earlier this week that teams must provide availability reports to the league at least three hours before kickoff.

“If it helps with gambling then I’m all for it,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said in May. “If it’s geared to getting knowledge out there that people are trying to get from our student-athletes and it protects them, I’m certainly for that.”