TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama claims it won’t be affected by the SEC’s recent mandate for teams to stop faking injuries. Last week, it was revealed that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey issued a letter to league coaches, telling them to “play football & stop the feigned injury nonsense.”

In the memo, Sankey also provided a new penalty structure for if it is determined that teams “more likely than not” faked an injury to gain an advantage. The first offense will be a $50,000 fine for the head coach, while a second offense will result in a $100,000 fine. A third offense will see the head coach receive a public reprimand as well as a one-game suspension. Assistant coaches and other staff members involved in the practice would be subject to the same penalty, while players who fake injuries will receive a public reprimand.

When asked about the new policy Monday, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said it will not affect how his team operates moving forward.

“From our end, I’ve already talked to our players and our staff,” DeBoer said. “It doesn’t change what we do. Because we go about it, if you are hurt, you need to stay down, especially if it’s substitutions that need to be made, you need to be looked at. But you can put yourself in some tough positions if you really truly are hurt. I really feel like with what our team does, how we operate, that’s how it’s going to continue to be.

“I’ve been on the other end where there are situations at the end of the game or whenever it might be, and they get a little frustrating. That can happen at any time. But the rules have been the rules, so we’ll just keep going about business as we always have in our program.”

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack was also asked about the new mandate. He also said his team will carry on as normal, claiming the team’s policy has always been for injured players to remain down on the field instead of attempting to come to the sideline.

“When you are in a situation where you are hurt in a game, you have to go down,” Wommack said. “You can’t come off the field when these offenses are going too fast. They’re watching your sideline, they’re aware of if all of a sudden you try to make a personnel change and you don’t have the iron cross by the officials. The rule is still the rule, but you have some of these instances that they’re trying to crack down on, and ultimately it doesn’t really change what we’re telling our guys. Our guys understand if they’re hurt in a game, never come off the field. You always have to go down in that situation so we can make the proper substitution for that player.”

Alabama faced criticism for faking an injury during its loss at Tennessee last month when defensive back King Mack ran off the field before coming back on only to immediately fall down to draw an injury timeout. The following Monday, Wommack sidestepped a question regarding whether Mack was actually injured on the play.

“We tell guys, if you’re injured, if you’re hurt, if you’re pulling up with a cramp, you have to go down in that situation,” Wommack said. “We’re not able to substitute someone when a team is going fast, so if you’re injured, the protocol there is for the guy to go down. Our training room does a tremendous job. They got a guy back after however long it was.”