Fields of Bold

By Johnny Moore, GoDuke the Magazine

DURHAM, N.C. – Bryon Fields has had a very interesting career as a Duke football player. He has gone from being one of the youngsters in a very good defensive secondary, to now being the old dog teaching the tricks he has learned in the game to the youngsters.

His freshman season Fields quickly became an integral part of one of the best Duke football teams in years as he and his teammates ran up a the school's first 10-win season with a 10-4 record, captured the Coastal Division title of the ACC, played Florida State in the conference championship game and faced Texas A&M in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

In 2013 he was the rookie in the secondary learning everything he could learn from guys such as Ross Cockrell, who is now starting in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers, along with Deondre Singleton and DeVon Edwards.

“When I first came in as a freshman we had some great upperclassman leadership. Ross Cockrell was our leader in the secondary,” explained Fields. “I learned a lot from him both on and off the field.”

That first year Fields played in all 14 games — starting in the N.C. State game in place of the injured Cockrell — made 42 total tackles, broke up six passes and his first collegiate sack was a 9-yard loss of eventual Heisman Trophy recipient Jameis Winston of Florida State in the Dr Pepper ACC championship game.

Winning football games was not something new to Fields.

The Charlotte native came to Duke with a winning pedigree. He helped Providence Day to a 29-18 record with three state playoff berths including the 2011 NCISAA Division I state championship. A two-time all-state selection, Fields was named the MVP of the Oasis Shrine Bowl after helping the North Carolina All-Stars to a 27-6 over South Carolina with a 71-yard punt return for a touchdown.

As a college sophomore Fields was thrown into the battle as a full-fledge starter. In his 13 starts he recorded 70 tackles, fourth best on the team and returned an interception 22 yards for a touchdown against Tulane.

Prior to the 2015 season in late August, Fields tore his right anterior cruciate ligament and missed the entire 2015 campaign.

He came back last year to start every game, make 30 tackles, pick off two interceptions and break up six pass attempts.

He has now become the elder statesman of the Duke secondary and is using all the aforementioned experience to help the younger players.

“I try to be there for them on the field to answer any questions, to help them with how to watch film and learn all they can about the opposing receivers and quarterbacks and off the field to help them handle football and school work,” explained the English major. “One of the things I work with them on is to explain to them that it can look one way in practice and look totally different in the game. The speed and intensity is really turned up when it becomes game time.”

Fields works with his secondary teammates to understand the mental as well as the physical part of the game.

“As a young guy, when you first come in, you want to do everything right,” he said. “You have a million things going through your head and you are trying to prove to yourself that you know what to do, so when you make a mistake it tends to linger with you. My job is to talk with them when they come off the field in practice or in the game, to get in their head, let them know what they did wrong, then tell them to let it go – move on to the next play. They have to have a next play mentality. They have to learn to build up their confidence and move on to the next play. You never want a receiver to catch the ball, but in certain circumstances giving up a short out is better than giving up a touchdown. We just can't give up the big explosive plays that can hurt you.”

At 5-11, Fields can find it quite a challenge to cover a taller receiver at 6-4 or 6-5, but the wily veteran has learned how to handle those lanky receivers.

“It's all about feet, leverage and positioning,” Fields explained. “You watch a lot of film and you learn where and how you can play a guy. I know if I need to jam him at the line, play over-the-top on him, or stay a step off of him because I can make up that step with the way he catches the ball. I can play through his hands or squeeze him to the sideline or out of bounds where they have less room to make the catch. On taller receivers you can learn they can catch the ball over you but you can position yourself to be able to strip the ball out as he brings it down.”

Speed and quickness are always a major part of being a solid defensive back, but being strong can be just as important.

“You also have to spend a lot of time in the weight room to be able to play receivers physical at the line of scrimmage and when battling for the ball,” Fields continued. “I've worked on press coverage a great deal in my career and it's something that we work on every day in practice. It makes it tough on the bigger guys, because they usually aren't as quick off the line and I can get in front of them and get my hands on them and mess up their route and timing.”

Fields says that in his career the battles between the receivers and the defensive backs have gotten a great deal more physical, so it is the technique and little things that make a big difference in coverage — and that as a DB you always need to look back at the ball in order to not get that interference call.

In studying receivers in the film room, Fields feels he gets to know quite a bit about his opponent. In fact, in one game against Virginia Tech, he knew one player he covered better than anyone else.

“When we played Virginia Tech I was lined up against No. 5 Cameron Phillips, who I had grown up with in Charlotte playing Pop Warner football,” said Fields. “I was the quarterback and he was the running back, receiver. My dad was the coach of the team, so we ran a lot of plays to Cameron. In the game against Virginia Tech they tried to throw a fade pass to Cameron early in the game, which I knocked down and we both grinned at each other.”

As he heads into his final season, he is now back with a much younger team than he has been with in the past. A lot of sophomores, a lot of talent.

“This has been a really good spring, with a lot of our rising sophomores gaining a lot of experience in practice,” he explained. “They are getting a lot of looks from the coaches, a lot of competition in drills, where the coaches can work with them. There is a lot of enthusiasm each day at practice. They are extremely young and they are still molding together as a team. This group has no idea what 2013 was like, the big wins and the work ethic. It is my job as one of the older guys to instill that into this team, let them know what it really takes to win games, both on and off the field.”

Players Mentioned

DeVon Edwards

Bryon Fields Jr.

Deondre Singleton

Duke information