Brian Kelly: LSU’s new injury report response to sports betting

LSU’s new injury report is to combat legalized sports betting, football coach Brian Kelly said Thursday.

A primary concern for the second-year coach is the idea of gamblers hounding football staffs for insider information.

“I’m not saying that happened. I’m not saying that would happen,” Kelly said, per The Associated Press. “I think it’s better to be proactive in those situations and take away even the temptation to even have that in this building and not be that next school that goes down that path.”

LSU’s policy comes as criminal charges against current and former Iowa and Iowa State athletes -- including Cyclones quarterback Hunter Dekkers -- have made national headlines, a result of gambling at those schools.

“I thought it was important given the nature of what’s going on today out there relative to reporting and gaming,” Kelly said after the Tigers’ opening practice of Fall camp. “We wanted to make sure that we were transparent with injuries, not putting any pressure on anybody here to guess who’s in, who’s out for a given game.”

LSU’s injury reports will be released twice during the game weeks and look similar to NFL injury reports.

“When we get to Saturday, if somebody is doubtful, we’ll give you ‘available,’ or ‘unavailable,’” Kelly said.