When Devonte Fields was a four-star high school recruit at Arlington Martin where he tallied 73 tackles and 13 sacks in his senior year, he seemed poised and ready to be an instant impact for his future team in the TCU Horned Frogs.
When his time at TCU arrived, Fields would end up making the instant impact expected of him as a freshman in 2012. Fields would go on to have an outstanding freshman campaign where he made 53 tackles, 18 for loss and 10 sacks which still remains the highest sack total by a freshman in TCU history. Fields would also be named the AP Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year.
Fields’ journey and rising status in college football would soon take an unexpected turn only three games into his sophomore season.
Fields would endure an injury and find himself on the wrong side of the law after being charged with a domestic violence case. With the pending case on his hands, Fields would end up being dismissed from the TCU program and appeared to be facing the real possibility of not playing football again.
His case would eventually be dismissed after the completion of anger management courses and he would have a brief stint at Trinity Valley College before enrolling at Louisville in August of 2015.
Now facing a clean slate, Fields is attempting to make the most of the all too rare second chance in front of him.
Fields would show that he was still a dominant defensive force by staring 13 games and producing 63 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss which was good for second in the nation and 10.5 sacks in 2015.
Now in 2016 as a member of the No.7 team in the nation, Fields will look to help his team reach the College Football Playoff even with the Cardinals on the outside looking in with the current makeup of the Top 25.
Devonte Fields’ resurgence has also put NFL scouts on notice with his draft stock steadily rising and him being deemed a possible late 2nd round pick, despite the moral issues that surfaced early in his career.
As the season unravels it will be interesting to see how Fields’ journey will unfolds. Though his off-the-field issues have been scrutinized and look to be a thing of the past, the future of Fields remains as captivating as ever.
