Fake injuries could cost teams timeout, penalty - ESPN

College football teams could soon be charged with a timeout or penalty for players faking injuries well after plays during games.

The NCAA football rules committee has proposed a timeout to be charged whenever medical personnel enter the field to evaluate players after the ball has been spotted for the ensuing play. Teams without timeouts would be assessed a five-yard delay-of-game penalty for each instance.

The proposal is among several that will go back to schools and then go before the NCAA's playing rules oversight panel for possible approval in April.

Faking injuries has become a significant topic in recent years, with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and others admonishing the practice. The SEC implemented guidelines that included fines and potential suspensions for coaches whose players repeatedly fake injuries. The American Football Coaches Association had proposed requiring any players who need medical attention to miss an entire possession, rather than only one play, but the rules committee instead proposed losing timeouts.

«If we have a player that's struggling and the official stops the clock to get that player out, we will not invoke the timeout,» said Steve Shaw, the secretary-rules editor for football and the SEC and Sun Belt's coordinator of football officials. «There's these plays where the ball's down, the defense is still trying to get to their side of the ball, and a player falls down. Those are the types of plays that we don't want, that we think is a bad look, and we think this rule will address it.»

Shaw reiterated that legitimately injured players should stay down and require a stoppage to receive medical attention. But many of the suspicious instances occurred after the ball was spotted for the next