By Keenan Cummings
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Just when you thought the West Virginia football team was done with the transfer portal this offseason, it pulled yet another talented prospect out of it.
Linebacker Tony Fields, a three-year starter at Arizona and one of the most prized transfers available, committed to the Mountaineers late Monday night, filling a major need in the process. The Las Vegas native started 37 games for the Wildcats and recorded almost 300 tackles.
Fields started every game upon arriving at Arizona and played over 2,300 defensive snaps during that time as he emerged as one of the premier defenders on the Wildcats defense. But he elected to enter the transfer portal this summer, leading to several high-level programs jumping into the mix for his services. Among those were WVU, Texas, Minnesota, USC, UCLA, Kansas State and more with the first three constituting his final group of schools. Texas was believed to be the favorite heading into the weekend, but WVU won the battle between the two Big 12 schools.
The Mountaineers had a built-in connection with Fields with current secondary coach Jahmile Addae being the assistant who recruited him to Tucson in the first place. Couple that with the fact another three-year starter for the Wildcats in safety Scottie Young is already enrolled at WVU,it made the choice that much easier for Fields when it came time to select.
That connection with Addae was especially important considering the two connected off the field during that initial recruitment and that led to the Mountaineers being immediately a contender.
Fields will have one year left at the college level and will be immediately eligible as a graduate transfer, meaning that if football is played this fall he can suit up for the Mountaineers. He steps into a role at linebacker where his experience should provide a major boost to the room.
Overall, Fields is the fifth true transfer to commit to the program this off-season and should close the books on the remaining scholarships in the 2020 recruiting class.
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