The SEC, despite its famously secretive football coaches, has adopted an NFL-style comprehensive system for player availability reports.
The system goes much further than the Big Ten, the only other power conference with an availability report system. But the Big Ten only requires teams to announce who is and is not available two hours before kickoff of every game.
The SEC plan, which has been in the works for awhile, was announced Thursday afternoon. It will only cover conference games, of which there are none this week, but beginning next week here are the rules:
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- Each team will be required to submit an availability report on each player three days before a conference game. If a team is playing on Saturday, it would need to submit the report on Wednesday.
- Daily updates are required afterwards, including two days before the game, the day before the game and then 90 minutes before kickoff.
- For the three days leading up to the game, each player on the roster will be categorized as available, probable, questionable, doubtful or out.
- For the game day report, players will be categorized as available, out or a game-time decision.
The availability reports will be posted on the SEC’s website, so the public and media can see them, a big change from years of secrecy over injuries….
