On Wednesday night, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers was listed as "questionable" for the Longhorns' game this weekend against Mississippi State.

That in itself isn't breaking news. Ewers missed last week's game against Louisiana-Monroe with a strained oblique, and UT head coach Steve Sarkisian used that word to describe his quarterback's status during this Monday's press conference.

How Wednesday's injury update was issued, though, was news. Ahead of the first four nonconference games of the season, Sarkisian was solely responsible for disseminating the official information about his team's injuries. On Wednesday, the status of Ewers was listed on the Southeastern Conference's availability report.

Receiver DeAndre Moore Jr., running back Quintrevion Wisner, defensive back Jelani McDonald were also listed as questionable by Texas. Running back Colin Page and defensive back Derek Williams Jr. received a "doubtful" designation. Running backs CJ Baxter and Christian Clark, who suffered season-ending injuries during fall camp, were announced as "out," and running back Velton Gardner also won't play.

In late August, the SEC announced that it will require its football, men's basketball, women's basketball and baseball teams to issue injury updates before conference contests. This was a new policy that was then used for the first time in the lead-up to the South Carolina-Kentucky football game on Sept. 7.

In football, schools must produce availability reports three days prior to a conference contest. Those reports must be updated daily. A final report is due 90 minutes before kickoff.

In basketball and baseball, availability reports will be submitted the night before games.

On the availability reports, athletes will be labeled as "available," "probable," "questionable," "doubtful" or "out" for the upcoming game. On game day, an athlete can be described as "available," a "game time decision" or "out."

For football, a failure to provide an accurate report can lead to a fine of between $25,000 to $100,000. Those fines will range from between $15,000 and $25,000 for basketball and baseball.

"This availability reporting policy is intended to reduce pressure from outside entities seeking participation information and represents a commitment of our 16 institutions to provide enhanced transparency to support efforts to protect our student-athletes and the integrity of competition," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a press release.

On Monday, Sarkisian reflected on the implementation of the SEC's availability reports. Sarkisian described the availability reports as "a good thing," but the coach explained that this was about more than just updating the media.

"So that everyone's clear of why we do this report, it's so that we can minimize the leaks in all of our buildings from a gambling perspective if everybody wants to know the truth. For everybody that's trying to figure out who's playing and who's not, and then everybody wants to call student trainers and student managers (about) who practiced, who didn't, all these things," Sarkisian said. "At the end of the day, if that minimizes them having to talk to people, I'd just give the report and it is what it is. That's why the NFL has done it."

While answering if he'd pay attention to the injury report released by UT's upcoming opponent, Sarkisian added that "sure you'll monitor it. I'd love to say that everybody's just got this moral code and they're gonna exactly put down what's supposed to happen in the game. I'm not sure if everybody operates that way, right? It is football, so everybody's trying to look for an advantage somewhere in all this. I think we'll monitor it, but I don't think we're just going to put all of our stock into what their injury report says."

Mississippi State named 12 players on its availability for this upcoming weekend's game at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Starting quarterback Blake Shapen, whose season was ended last week by a shoulder injury, joined receivers Creed Whittemore and Trent Hudson, running back Keyvone Lee, defensive lineman Kalvin Dinkins and safety Tyler Woodard among the Bulldogs listed as "out." Cornerbacks DeAgo Brumfield and Traveon Wright, defensive lineman Kedrick Bingley-Jones and safety Chris Keys Jr. are all "questionable" while safety Isaac Smith and Marlon Hauck received "probable" tags.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Quinn Ewers injury update: