The NCAA has approved a rule change in an attempt to limit teams faking injuries in order to obtain an advantage.

The new rule states that if medical personnel enters the field to check on an injured player after the ball has been spotted for the next play, the team will be charged with a timeout. If that team does not have any timeouts remaining, it will be assessed a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty.

The change will go into effect this upcoming season.

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This rule may help Tennessee's high-tempo offense.

Opponents of the Vols have been accused of faking injuries to slow down Tennessee's offense. After big gains or a high number of plays ran within a short period of time, people have noted opponents going down to stop the momentum and gain a free timeout to catch their breath and reevaluate.

There have even been times when it appears coaches on the sideline have indicated to a player to take a fall to enact the break in the game and to pause the Vols' drive.

With the new rule change, teams will have a very quick turnaround before a timeout will be enforced. If a player is on the ground shortly after a play ends and medical personnel makes it onto the field before the ball is spotted, no timeout will be enforced and it'll be a break in the action.

However, in a situation where a player goes down late, it'll cost the opponent a timeout or penalty.

Tennessee has also been accused of faking injuries throughout Josh Heupel's tenure.

The most common spot where the Vols are accused wouldn't be impacted by the rule change, though. That's because the tactic is allegedly employed after point-after attempts following Tennessee touchdown drives.

When the Vols are quick to score, not letting their defense get rested after getting off the field, people have noted linemen going down with injuries following the extra-point kick. After a delay, Heupel typically walks onto the field to check on the player before action resumes.

With the way the rule is written, the ball won't be placed for the ensuing play at this point, though. That means, any injury on an extra-point within a reasonable time following the conclusion of the play won't cost a timeout or penalty.

The attempt to stop teams faking injuries to gain an advantage isn't the only rule change that will go into effect for the 2025 football season.

Here are the other changes:

- You'll no longer hear officials say the terms 'stands' or 'confirmed' after replay review. It has been changed to simply 'upheld' or 'overturned.'

- Offensive players cannot be in the direct line of the snap to a potential kicker or within the frame of the snapper on punts for the formation to qualify as a scrimmage kick formation.

- If a snapper is on the end of the line by formation, they will lose scrimmage kick protection and defenders can line up over the snapper.

- If any player on a kickoff return team that makes a "T" signal with their arms during the kick, the returning team will be ineligible to return the kick.

- Defenders cannot call defensive signals that mimic the sound or cadence of the offense's signal. Contrarily, the terms 'move' and 'stem' may not be used by the offense and only by the defense.

- Following the two-minute timeout in both halves, any 12 or more players on the field penalty with all players participating in the play will be a 5-yard penalty. The offensive team will also have the option of resetting the game clock back to when the play started if the foul is on the defense and the illegal participants take part in the play.

- FCS teams will now be allowed the same coach-to-player communication technology that the FBS did in 2024.

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