The Moment Rodney Fields Surprised Himself Last Season and His Case to Start in 2025

STILLWATER — When Rodney Fields Jr. finally made his college football debut last season at then-No. 13 BYU, the running back from Del City didn’t just shock fans with his performance. He even managed to surprise himself.

“I think it was a 20-something yard run once I hit that burst,” Fields said. “And then I heard the crowd go crazy, and that gave me a little amp to myself to feel good.”

The play turned out to be a 22-yard run on 2nd-and-10 and set up Oklahoma State’s offense to find the end zone five plays later. As impressive as it was, it was arguably only Fields’ second-best play of the game behind a pivotal first-down conversion on 4th-and-1.

The stakes for a first game don’t get much higher than that.

“Very different from high school,” Fields said. “College you have to be better every play, play fast and the atmosphere is just way different.”

Fields finished the season with 21 carries for 99 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 4.7 yards per carry, putting him just ahead of starting back Ollie Gordon and behind only Trent Howland in the running back room. Fields also caught two passes for 23 yards.

Of course, his role could have been even bigger, but the Oklahoma State coaches planned to redshirt him to preserve his eligibility.

Fields sat out two of the final five games to retain his redshirt, though it sounds like former OSU running backs coach John Wozniak viewed the freshman as his break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option.

“Me and coach Woz talked about like we’re not going to rush anything,” Fields said. “Then if anything happened to Ollie, I would have probably been there to help out for the season.”

Unless another young player bursts onto the scene in similar fashion, Fields should be one of five running backs competing for real playing time this season following Gordon’s departure for the NFL.

“You get different styles of each running back out of us,” Fields said.

How would he describe those styles?

Kalib Hicks — “He’s a very like freaky guy.”
Trent Howland — “Bulldozer.”
Sesi Vailahi — “He’s shifty, joystick, I call him joystick.”
DJ Dugar Jr. — “A freshman, he’s getting used to things, but once he hits that hole he’s got speed.”
Freddie Brock IV — “A little guy, but he can hide away behind the linemen and then once you don’t see him, next minute he’s gone.”

When asked to describe himself, Fields said he’s confident he can be a complete back, but he said his defining trait is his speed, you know, the kind he showed off when he left BYU’s would-be tacklers in the dust last season.

Hardly a surprise considering when asked to name the fastest Cowboy on the roster, Fields said he would put himself up in a race against anyone else on the offense.

Although he had limited opportunities, he also proved he could earn the tough yards when needed. According to Pro Football Focus, Fields averaged a team-best 3.67 yards after contact in 2024. For context, Gordon’s 2023 average yards after contact was only 3.71.

Still, earning a first or even second-string position with this offense won’t be easy. Multiple players at other positions praised the running back room for its depth this fall, and for good reason.

Brock and Howland both have huge leads in overall playing time. Vailahi was easily the second most used back last year in total snaps with 154, and Hicks seems to have big-play potential.

“It is competitive all around … but we try to keep everyone working harder every day,” Fields said. “And just (be) uplifting, doing the right things.”