Fields’ Shot Turned into a TD, Giving Other Backups a Similar Chance Could Spark OSU’s Defense

STILLWATER — Last week was a breath of fresh air for Oklahoma State cornerback LaDainian Fields.

Not because his defensive coordinator changed or because some of the other defensive backs chose to opt out for the rest of the season. It was different because for the first time in his collegiate career, coaches told that he would play a meaningful role on defense in the upcoming game.

“(It felt) so great man when (assistant) coach Jules (Montinar) called my number,” Fields said. “I was nothing but excited, you know. So being young, it’s just, it was just great. I wanted to go out there and show what I could do. Prove to all my teammates that I had their back.”

Fields certainly did all of that and more when he returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown, making him the only Cowboy on Saturday to find the end zone in OSU’s 41-13 loss at Arizona.

“I slammed it (the ball), I ain’t gonna lie, I blacked out,” Fields said. “It was like I scored, I didn’t know what to do, so I just slammed it.”

That kind of honest reaction is even more humorous considering Fields scored at least 44 touchdowns in high school, where he played both ways for Del City. So it’s not like he’d never had a chance to celebrate in the end zone before.

Fields’ excitement probably betrays his rather realistic expectations that he’d likely never score again when he joined the Cowboys in 2024. As he said on Monday, full-time defenders don’t get a lot of chances with the football in college.

Of course, it’s much harder to score when you aren’t even on the field. On Saturday, Fields played 22 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Up to that point, he had only one lone snap against UT-Martin in addition to special teams duties in each of the previous games.

Meacham was extremely vocal once he took over that it was important to him that the players had fun this season. On offense, that has resulted in letting multiple guys throw the football around on trick plays, and once involved lining offensive linemen up out wide.

On the defensive side of the football, it can be as simple as increasing the rotations to allow more guys to see the field.

“There’s a lot of guys who stepped up that hadn’t done much and played,” interim coach Doug Meacham said. “Good for them. There’s strength in numbers, so you get your moment, the big eye in the sky never lies. You get your opportunity to get in there, make it happen. And some of those guys did that.”

Fields was one of six defensive players who either played a sizable defensive role for the first time this season or played a handful of defensive snaps for the first time at all this fall.

“It is fun because you know that people will try to say ‘oh they need to play’ and that stuff, but we just stayed down,” Fields said, referring to how some of the backups kept their focus despite not playing. “We got a little thing we say, ‘we stay down, stay committed.’ But it was good, seeing all the young guys out there and stuff. It was very good, we all loved it.”

Based on comments from Meacham on Monday and interim defensive coordinator Clint Bowen on Saturday, it sounds like Fields and those others will have a chance to continue earning playing time this season as the Cowboys look to utilize more guys on defense than they played under former defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.

Following his performance Fields is now listed as a co-backup cornerback alongside Eric Fletcher, who also saw a surprising jump in defensive snaps Saturday. Both members of that duo graded out as top four defenders for the Cowboys on Saturday, according to PFF.

Fields said his performance at Arizona, and the simple fact that coaches let him play, boosted his confidence this week.

Now he just hopes he can earn the same chance in front of the home crowd for the first time in his career, but he won’t have to wait until 11 a.m. against Houston to feel appreciated. Fields said plenty of family texted him after his touchdown, and lots of Cowboy fans reached out through social media to congratulate him as well.

“It is very wholesome,” Fields said of that response. “Like I said, you’re going out there confident knowing that you have people behind you that is standing there 10 toes down and supporting you, it feels very good.”