Tracking Arizona transfers: Tony Fields big again in West Virginia’s win over Baylor

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Tony Fields II wasn’t the first Arizona Wildcats multi-year starter to leave the program during this seemingly endless offseason, but he does stand out from the crowd in terms of the impact he’s made with his new team.

The senior linebacker was once again key for the West Virginia Mountaineers in their 27-21 overtime win over Baylor on Saturday, leading the team in tackles for a third straight game. He finished with 10 tackles, two of which were for loss including his first sack with West Virginia, and also was credited with a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries.

In three games with the Mountaineers, where he was reunited with former Arizona assistant Jahmile Addae, Fields has a team-best 29 tackles.

Fields told Joe Brocato of WVMetroNews.com earlier in the week that his transition to West Virginia has been seamless, despite joining a defensive scheme that is “a lot more complex” than what he was in with the UA.

“The defensive line does a little bit more moving,” Fields said. “That’s really the big difference. Coming from Arizona, I played a 4-2-5 scheme before. I have played so many different schemes so it wasn’t really hard for me to come in and adjust. I play Mike linebacker here. At Arizona, I played Will linebacker. So that was a big difference. It is just a little more complex what the defense does. We do a lot more as far as movement. As far as the D-line, the back end and everywhere, you don’t really know what coverage is coming.”

Fields is one of two ex-Wildcat players on the roster, the other being senior safety Scottie Young Jr. Young is not eligible this season because he hadn’t graduated from the UA, as was the case with Fields.

Elsewhere among former UA players active in college football:

• Senior linebacker Colin Schooler had four tackles for Texas Tech in their 31-21 loss at Kansas State. He had seven the week before in a home loss to Texas, his debut with the Red Raiders in which he got to face off against older brother—and brief UA teammate—Brenden Schooler.
• Speaking of Brenden, the senior wide receiver had just one catch for zero yards in Texas’ 33-31 home loss to TCU. The ex-Oregon wideout had caught touchdown passes in the Longhorns’ previous two games.

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