Texas A&M became the first SEC football program to receive a $50,000 fine at the conference Tuesday for violating its policy of players faking injuries during games.
Texas A&M was found to have violated NCAA game rules governing feigning injuries during play in the fourth quarter of the Aggies' game. victory with a score of 45-42 V Arkansas on Saturday, in which the defense Tyreek Chappell sat down on the field to stop play after the ball had already been spotted.
Steve Shaw, national coordinator of football officials, reviewed video provided by the SEC of the situation, which occurred with 12:36 left in the game and with Texas A&M leading 38-27. Before Chappell went down, a Texas A&M employee can be seen on video standing near the 25-yard line, signaling to Chappell and pointing to the ground.
Chappell had not made contact during the previous play and showed no signs of injury until he sat down and pointed to his right leg. Texas A&M was flagged and charged with a timeout as Chappell claimed he was injured after the ball was flagged.
The senior guard returned to the game on the second play of Arkansas' next drive.
“In the opinion of the National Coordinator, the player’s actions, especially those simultaneous with the coach’s actions in the team area, constitute a clear attempt to gain an unfair advantage by stopping the game and issuing an injury time-out,” the conference said in a statement. “The action violates the spirit of the injury timeout and fair play and was conducted in a manner that appeared to attempt to circumvent the NCAA injury timeout rule in order to avoid a team being charged with a timeout.”
The conference also publicly reprimanded Texas A&M coach Mike Elko for a simulated game violation. A second feigning injury will result in another reprimand and a $100,000 fine. Any further violations of the policy will result in Elko being suspended for one game.
The SEC said further violations will result in additional fines and possible suspensions for coaches, assistants or players.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey tried to deal with simulated injuries Last November, he sent a memo to his athletic directors and head coaches ordering them to “cease any activity involving feigning injuries to create timeouts” and calling the practice “disrespectful to the game of football.”
The conference's policy on injury simulation was first established in 2022.
Last month ACC published $25,000 fine and public reprimand To Syracuse for feigning injury during the victory over Clemson.
