Back in 2013 Shay Fields had made his decision, he was going to stay home and play for the USC Trojans, certainly a dream scenario for many kids playing football in Southern California.
Fields committed to Ed Orgeron, who was at that point doing a great job as the interim head coach in relief of Lane Kiffin and many thought that would be enough to secure him the job long term.
It wasn’t. USC decided to go with long-time Pete Carroll assistant and then-Washington head coach, Steve Sarkisian.
While Fields had a good relationship with Orgeron, it wasn’t a deal breaker to him that he wouldn’t be the head coach, he told Rivals.com: “I’m committed and I’m going to sign soon. I’ll work on getting to know [the new staff] before that happens.”
He never got that chance.
“USC wasn’t calling us back,” he told BSN Denver following Monday morning’s practice. “They weren’t showing us much love so my dad and I talked and we decided to split ways with them.”
Enter Mike MacIntyre, Charles Clark and the Buffaloes.
“They were always on me,” Fields said of Colorado’s recruiting efforts. “At first I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave [California], which is why I committed to USC, but they kept talking to me and once I de-committed from USC they tried even harder. I really felt the love once I came on my visit.”
“I’m happy with my decision,” he added. “My mom’s happy, my dad’s happy, they just want to see me do well and I feel like I’m doing great here.”
Field was really doing great, proving to be one of the Buffs biggest threat on offense in the first game of the season, but during a late surge against Arizona State, his best game of the syear (8 receptions, 168 yards, 2 TDs), Fields suffered a high ankle sprain. While the sprain healed faster than anybody thought, allowing him to get on the field against his other hometown team, UCLA, he re-injured the ankle in that game.
“I was going down and a guy came and put his helmet right in the soft spot of my ankle,” he explained. “But it feels better now.”
Good enough that Shay expects to be on the field this Friday when the Buffs take on the team that wouldnt answer his phone calls.
Despite all of that drama, the Colorado standout says he doesnt have any extra motivation this week.
“Not really, no,” he said with a smile when asked if the chip on his shoulder was super-sized this week. “It’s just another game to me.”
“Every game there is a chip on our shoulder, especially since we want to make a bowl game,” he added. “But in the sense of playing against guys I know it’s going to be the same as UCLA.”
Unlike the UCLA game, though, the Southern California product says the Buffs need to finish drives if they are going to pull off the upset.
“Just find a way to come out with points. Every drive matters, you always want to come out with at least, at least three at the very minimum,” he told. “We need to help our defense and put them in good field position if we don’t score but we really need to maximize on all our drives with touchdowns.”
As for what’s been haulting those drives in the red-zone lately, Fields says it’s simple.
“Execution, the little things,” he explained. “People just slipping up here and there and costing us a down or two, just not being focused when we needed to be.”
Execution, the little things, it seems we’ve heard those buzzwords all year form the Buffaloes players and as much as it seems like an easy way out, it’s also true. For Colorado to beat a team like USC they have to be sharp in every facet of the game. They’ll also need a healthy Shay Fields who, while he may not say it now, certainly wouldnt mind making that staff (despite head coach Steve Sarkisian not being there) wish they had picked up that phone.
