Texas Football: Longhorns targeting Arizona transfer LB Tony Fields II

To address a positional need in the linebacker corps, the Texas football program former Arizona rising senior LB Tony Fields II.

A position of need looming for the Texas football program for a while now in the midst of the 2020 offseason, at linebacker, might be finally getting addressed by way of the NCAA Transfer Portal. Texas was looking for help at the linebacker position for a while now, and heading into the summer months, it appears to still be a big priority for this coaching staff.

It seems like it could be easy for the likes of head coach Tom Herman and recently hired defensive coordinator/safeties coach (and ex-Rutgers head coach) Chris Ash given all that is going on. The novel coronavirus pandemic and the potential significant alterations it could have for the 2020 college football season and all of the social activism occurring around the globe make it challenging to keep focused on what might lie ahead this year.

Although, Texas still has to find a way to stay prepared for the 2020 season. As it stands now, they are still set to play a full schedule this fall. The Big 12 is now one of the Power Five conferences that elected thus far to not play an out-of-conference schedule this year.

Back to the point of addressing linebacker help through the transfer route, Texas looks to have a target in mind that recently put his name into the portal. The Arizona Wildcats rising senior 6-foot-1 and 220 pound linebacker Tony Fields II put his name into the transfer portal on July 17, via an announcement on his Twitter timeline.

Former Texas A&M Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin (now with Arizona) had a rash of transfers over the last 18 months. Fields II just adds another name to that list of former Wildcats that could be departing the program.

The Texas coaching staff did not waste any time in getting onto offering Fields II a chance to play on the Forty Acres. Texas is now one of more than five programs that have apparently offered Fields II after he put his name into the portal. The others include programs like the Minnesota Golden Gophers, USC Trojans, and West Virginia Mountaineers.

What Fields II would bring to the table out of the portal for the Longhorns is an experienced and productive linebacker with three years of proven numbers from the Arizona program. He registered 287 total tackles, 17.0 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, two interceptions, four pass deflections, and one forced fumble, during his three years playing with Arizona.

The most productive season for Fields II actually came during his freshman campaign in 2017. He registered more than 100 of his 287 career total tackles as a freshman, to go along with 7.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, one interception, and one pass deflection.

Fields II was a former three-star recruit that signed with Arizona during the 2017 cycle. He hails from Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas, NV. And he ranked as the nation’s No. 614 2017 high school prospect, No. 44 athlete, and No. 8 prospect out of Nevada (247Sports Composite).

He held offers from 15 schools including the likes of the Boise State Broncos, BYU Cougars, Mizzou Tigers, Oregon State Beavers, and Washington State Cougars, among other FBS and FCS programs.

Fields II played mostly at the WILL linebacker position for the Wildcats. But he did see his production severely decline compared to what was expected from him once Sumlin arrived in Tucson prior to the start of the 2018 season.

What Fields II could also really help the Longhorns with is replacing the depth that was recently lost by former JUCO inside linebacker recruit Juwan Mitchell putting his name into the portal. Texas is pretty thin at linebacker right now and Fields II would be able to compete for reps along with DeMarvion Overshown, Ayodele Adeoye, Byron Vaughns, and David Gbenda.