An Explanation of the SEC's New 'Availability Report' Rule

The SEC has instituted a new rule similar to the NFL's regarding injuries. How does that affect the Florida Gators?

Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz is recovering from a concussions suffered Week 1 vs. Miami / Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- With the Florida Gators set to release its weekly depth chart Wednesday evening, the team will also release an “availability report,” a new requirement by the Southeastern Conference. 

Gators Illustrated breaks down the SEC’s new rule and what that will look like for Florida. All rules and explanations as well as prior availability reports for all SEC teams can be found on the SEC’s website.

SEC’s New “Availability Report” Rule

Essentially, for each Saturday conference game, team’s must release an initial availability report on Wednesday by 8 p.m. EST followed by a daily report on Thursday and Friday, which must be released between the end of practice and 8 p.m. ET. 

For any non-Saturday game, the initial report must be released three days before kickoff. It should be noted that programs are not required to release any availability reports in non-conference games and programs are not required to list any information other than the player’s names and their designation (i.e., no specific injuries).

This new rule is similar to the NFL's injury report rules that are driven largely by the gambling industry.

"I think there's scenarios that come up there from an information standpoint that they're trying to standardize all of that relative to the prominence of gambling," head coach Billy Napier admitted in August.

Players on the report will be listed by the following designations: 

• Available: Able to play, 100% chance to play, only will be listed if the player was previously on an availability report

• Probable: Probable to play, 75% chance to play

• Questionable: Uncertain to play, 50% chance to play

• Doubtful: Unlikely to play, 25% chance to play

• Out: Will not play, 0% chance to play

An “out” designation covers all reasons why a player would miss a game including injury, illness, suspension or a personal matter. 

Both the Thursday and Friday updated reports will use the same designations as the initial Wednesday report. 

A final availability report on Saturday must be provided no later than 90 minutes until game time and includes slightly-different designations, which can be found below: 

• Available: Will dress for the game and be available to play.

• Game Time Decision: Coaches and/or medical personnel need to evaluate the student-athlete in pre-game warmups before deciding whether he can participate in the game.

• Out: Not dressing or available for the game.

There are exemptions for players to not be listed on these reports. Per SEC rules, athletes who are redshirting and don't regularly dress for games and/or those who infrequently participate, such as back-ups or walk-ons who only see garbage time minutes, are not required to be listed on any reports. 

Enforcement/Punishment/“Good Faith”

The SEC’s new policy also explains its steps for enforcement and lists the punishments for programs that do not follow the policy.

To start, if a program is found to have broken the rules, the institution is subject to financial penalties, public and private reprimands and other punishments. Financially, a first offense is a $25,000 penalty, a second offense is a $50,000 penalty and a third plus any subsequent offense is a $100,000 penalty. 

Additionally, a program’s head coach is subject to individual fines, but the league did not indicate specifics in that regard. 

In the investigation process, a program who feels they were negatively impacted by an opponent’s alleged violation, that program has until 2 p.m. EST the day after gameday to provide the league with information to support its claim. 

From there, the league has full access to interview any student-athlete and personnel and view practice film and other game plans. Institutions under investigation must cooperate. 

The league also lists guidelines for programs’ duties to “act in good faith” and “avoid surprises.” 

Essentially, programs must be accurate with its reports, especially when it comes to high-profile players. The use of the “gametime decision” designation must be kept to a minimum, and any excessive use is subject to investigation. 

Schools who repeatedly list athletes as one of the non-available designations while keeping the player’s in-game role the same without any suitable explanation is a violation of the rule. Additionally, any athlete listed as “out” on the Game Day Report that plays in the same game is an automatic violation of the league’s rules. 

Teams must also make an effort to avoid surprises on the availability report, especially when it comes to high-profile athletes, minus extenuating circumstances. This would include a player listed as “out” on the Friday report but “available” on the Game Day Report and vice-versa. 

Any program found in violation of any rules listed are subject to the punishments previously listed.

What That Looks Like for UF

In previous years, Napier released an injury report alongside the weekly depth chart, which is traditionally released on Wednesday before 7 p.m. ET. 

These prior injury reports included the player’s name, injury listed as “upper body” or “lower body,” and a designation such as “questionable” or “out.” Going forward, Napier will not have to list injuries as “upper body” or “lower body,” but in-game injuries would generally be easy to figure out between the two. 

“I think we've been pretty transparent when it comes to injuries,” Napier said following the season-opening loss to Miami. “The key is going to be that we standardize it, and ultimately it's all got to do with gambling, right. I think just protecting the players, protecting the people in the organization, having a system so that you don't have any issues when it comes to that.”

Napier is scheduled to speak to the media Wednesday evening beginning at approximately 6:30 p.m. Florida’s first availability report is expected to be released as Napier takes the podium. It’s unclear when the Thursday and Friday updates will be released. 

The Gators’ Game Day Report must be released by 2 p.m. EST with kickoff against Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. The Aggies are currently a 4.0-point favorite according to ESPN.