Devonte Fieldssaid all the right things Friday in his first meeting with reporters since he arrived at Louisville, but the former TCU star's hopes of parlaying a second chance with the Cardinals for an NFL career will be more about what he does than what he says.
Fields hasn't played a full season at the FBS level since 2012, when he was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year with 10 sacks for the Horned Frogs. Since then, an injury ended his 2013 season early and his dismissal from the TCU program for an alleged domestic violence incident resulted in him landing at Trinity Valley Community College last year.
NFL scouts will be scrutinizing not only his play at Louisville, but his behavior as well.
"I'm very appreciative, words can't even explain how appreciative I am for this second chance," Fields said, according to wave3.com. "I'm just going to make the best of my opportunity, try to get my degree as well, just be thankful that I'm here really."
That kind of humility, if genuine, could go a long way for Fields.
From a football standpoint, he couldn't have picked a better destination. Louisville just had six starters drafted from its starting defense, including the man Fields is expected to replace as the team's primary pass rusher: New York Jetsthird-round pickLorenzo Mauldin.
Here are six other things we learned from fall camps around college football Friday:
2. Bottom rung. Auburn coach Gus Malzahn says star WR D'haquille "Duke" Williams, newly reinstated from suspension, is at the bottom of the depth chart and will have to work his way up. Here's guessing that takes just long enough to start against Louisville when the Tigers open the season on Sept. 5.
3. The phantom fivesome.*Mike Riley* is sending a message, but nobody knows who is getting it. That's because the new Nebraska coach announced five players will be suspended for the team's opening game against BYU on Sept. 5, but he's refusing to name who did something naughty. It's an odd move by Riley, if for no other reason than that he's withholding information that ultimately can't be kept internal. He might be simply trying to keep media questions limited to players in good standing in the preseason, but the names will get out sooner or later.
4. Wait, what? A Big Ten school has already hosted NFL scouts from the New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons, Washington Redskins, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and others in the first week of camp. And it's not Ohio State. Or even Michigan State, Wisconsin or Nebraska. It's ... Illinois?
5. Making a name. Tennessee coach Butch Jones described RB Alvin Kamara, a transfer who hasn't yet played a game for the Volunteers, "the voice of the offense." Either Kamara is one heck of a leader or there isn't a heck of a leader anywhere else on that side of the ball.
6. Only RichRod. Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez has always had more than his share of personality, but the latest video starring the Wildcats' coach as a some sort of gridiron James Bond is, in a word, outlandish.
7. Ramsey ready. No sooner did Clemson CB Mackensie Alexander make an unsupportable claim as the best cornerback in college football than another ACC corner made a bold claim of his own. FSU's Jalen Ramsey, one of the nation's elite defensive backs, is moving to cornerback this fall from a hybrid position he played a year ago. And Ramsey indicated his side of the field will be a waste of time for opposing quarterbacks this fall.
"It makes the job easier on the safeties and the linebackers because when I'm out there I'm good so they won't have to worry one single bit about anything that's going on to whatever side I'm on," Ramsey said.
If Ramsey makes good on his claim, Alexander can forget about his own.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
