By james art 
MARK LONG Associated Press
The Southeastern Conference is cracking down on its players falling and faking injuries.
In a letter to the league’s coaches and athletic directors that was shared with The Associated Press on Friday, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told teams to “cease any activity related to faking injuries to create timeouts.” Yahoo Sports first reported the letter.
The league also changed an existing rule to give it more leeway in punishing coaches and programs for violations. Now, if the National Football Refereeing Coordinator says that it is more likely that a simulated injury has occurred, then it will be considered a simulated injury and will be subject to a penalty.
“Your team must be willing to compete fairly according to the rules of the game,” Sankey wrote.
Before Friday’s rule tweak, teams had to submit video to the national coordinator for review. The SEC office can now request a video review if warranted.
“When defending against a ‘rushing’ offense, you must use allotted team timeouts if you need to stop the play, or you can let the play continue with personnel and the defensive play in place,” Sankey wrote. “When you’re on offense, if the game clock is running out, you have to use a team timeout or accept the delay of game penalty.
“Creating injury timeouts under these circumstances is not acceptable and is disrespectful to the game of college football.”
A simulated injury finding can be cleared if medical information is presented that establishes that a player should have missed the game due to an injury.
If not, the SEC will apply the following fine structure that has already been put in place:
- For the first finding of a simulated injury to a team, the head coach will receive a public censure and a financial penalty of $50,000.
- For a second finding of simulated injury to a team, the head coach will receive a public censure and a financial penalty of $100,000.
- For a team’s third simulated injury finding and all subsequent findings, the head coach will receive a public reprimand and suspension for the team’s next contest.
- If any other staff member is found to have participated in reporting, encouraging, or directing an alleged injury, that person will be subject to the same liability measures outlined in this memorandum, including public censure, financial penalties, and suspension.
- If a student-athlete is cited for a simulated injury, the student-athlete may also be subject to public censure.
“Play football and stop the fake injury bullshit,” Sankey wrote.