Kirby Smart weighs in on fake injuries: ‘We don’t condone that’

Fake injuries have become a major topic around college football, especially in the SEC in the wake of Commissioner Greg Sankey sending out a memo on the issue. However, Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart isn’t concerned about fake injuries within his program.

In the memo that Sankey sent out, he issued a warning to coaches in the SEC about faking injuries. He also shared that there will be potential penalties for coaches whose teams fake injuries.

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“I respect Commissioner Sankey and what he sends out,” Kirby Smart said. “We don’t condone that on our team or within our program, so we don’t have to address it. We just tell them that if they’re injured stay down and if not, you get up and go play. That’s just our philosophy.”

While fake injuries may not be a concern to Smart and Georgia, the repercussions could be very real for teams. For faking injuries, coaches may be fined $50,000 for a first offense, $100,000 for a second offense, and suspended for a third offense.

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There are a few reasons why a team might fake an injury. In particular, teams are likely to fake an injury on defense to get a chance to substitute or get the opposing offense out of rhythm. More often than not, defenses will do that against up-tempo offenses. However, it’s hard to legislate because, in most cases, it’s difficult to prove a player isn’t injured, cramping, or concerned about a potential injury.

For his part, Kirby Smart isn’t the only SEC coach to speak about fake injuries. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin also came out in support of the memo that Greg Sankey sent out to teams.

“I’m glad,” Lane Kiffin said. “I know some people say, okay, that sounds weird coming from me. We’re a tempo offense. I’ve been saying this for years, okay, that faking an injury hurts us more than anybody — us and Tennessee — probably more than anybody in America. Happens to us more than anybody. Happened last week. Over and over again,” Kiffin said. “So, it may not surprise you, I was very happy for that. We issued a statement weeks ago about this.”

Those comments came despite, earlier in 2024, broadcaster Sean McDonough pointing out that one of the Ole Miss players went to the ground in an SEC matchup against Kentucky, seemingly faking an injury. At the time, rules analyst Matt Austin said there was no rule specifically against such a move at the time. Now, however, the SEC could take action.

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