DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference is taking steps to better identify concussions.
The league passed a regulation Tuesday that requires an independent medical observer for conference and non-conference games beginning next season.
Each trained observer — hired by the conference, not the schools — will be stationed in the television replay booth and monitor both sidelines as well as on-field action. At least two schools used the setup last season, and now "we've broadened that to make it consistent across the league," incoming SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said.
Sankey said the observer will have the power to halt games and have potentially concussed players pulled and evaluated.
Outgoing commissioner Mike Slive called the change a "safety net."
"Most of the time, the sideline picks up those kind of things," Slive said. "But in case they don't, this gives us a safety net. We're doing everything we can to protect the health and safety of our students."