CFB Coaches Discuss Rule Change to Prevent Faking Injuries; Could Feature HC Fines

Faking injuries has become one of the biggest talking points in college football in recent years, and coaches around the NCAA are now discussing rule changes to prevent fake injuries.

A handful of coaches met on Monday at the American Football Coaches Association convention and formed a plan to prevent fake injuries, per Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. The plan, according to Dellenger, would make players who went down with an injury sit out for the remainder of the drive unless a team used a timeout to bring the player back into the game.

Additionally, coaches discussed the idea of giving a fine to a head coach for fake injuries after a post-game review process.

While it’s difficult to pinpoint when feigned injuries became commonplace in college football, the last few seasons have seen them become especially prevalent. The fake injuries are most often executed by defensive players as teams look to slow down and disrupt opposing teams’ offenses.

Faux injuries are typically seen against up-tempo offenses.

According to Dellenger, the proposal to punish teams for faking injuries is still “in its very early stages.” The next stage for the proposal would be going to the NCAA Football Oversight Committee as a recommendation before being examined further at a later meeting.

The proposal might not get the support it needs, however, as Dellenger noted that several SEC coaches were not in favor of the plan to sideline a player for an entire drive. According to Dellenger, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze said the plan is “fine until it’s your quarterback” and Florida’s Billy Napier added, “I just don’t think we can do that.”

False injuries were especially prevalent in the SEC this season. It became such an issue that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey issued a memo to the league in November detailing punishments if it continued to happen.

“As plainly as it can be stated: Stop any and all activity related to faking injuries to create time-outs,” Sankey said in the memo (h/t ESPN’s Chris Low).

The memo from Sankey said that coaches of teams perceived to have faked an injury would receive a $50,000 fine for the first offense, a $100,000 fine for the second offense and a suspension for the team’s next game for a third offense. All offenses would also result in coaches receiving public reprimands.

While there’s no guarantee the proposal will get passed, even the prospect of something being done about fake injuries should be considered a win for college football fans.