UT Vols: Four-star cornerback Tyus Fields commits to Tennessee

Grant Ramey | govols247.com

Tyus Fields committed to Tennessee Saturday because he knew it just felt right. It just felt right because of coach Jeremy Pruitt.

“Really, it was Coach Pruitt,” Fields, a four-star 2019 cornerback from Cornelius, N.C., told GoVols247 of the first-year coach, “and how he brought everybody together.

“He’s forming something really special up here at Tennessee.”

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Fields, the 17th commitment in Tennessee’s 2019 class being assembled by Pruitt and his coaching staff in Knoxville, is ranked as the No. 23 cornerback in his class according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite. He’s the No. 217 overall prospect nationally and the No. 6 player in North Carolina.

The 247Sports ratings also have Fields at No. 217 overall, but as the No. 22 cornerback nationally and the No. 8 player in North Carolina.

Fields, listed at 5-foot-10, 182-pounds, picked Tennessee over Clemson, North Carolina State and Penn State among his 12 total scholarship offers, which included Florida State, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Another selling point for Pruitt, Fields said, is his background.

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He’s proven an elite defensive coordinator in his previous stops at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State, specifically coaching defensive backs.

A cornerback himself, Fields said that’s the perfect situation.

“One thing about Pruitt, he’s a defensive coach, a defensive guy,” Fields said. “He works with all the cornerbacks and safeties. He’s going to be getting us right.”

And when Pruitt breaks down the film of Fields playing corner?

“He told me when he watched my film,” Fields said, “that I was a guy they need in the defensive backfield.”

Fields, who said he’s been leaning toward the Vols the last two months, was primarily recruited by Tennessee cornerbacks coach Terry Fair. Tight ends coach Brian Niedermeyer was a secondary recruiter along with Fair.

From here, Fields said he’s “pretty much done” with the recruitment phase of his football career.

“I just listen to the people in my family,” he said. “That’s really all. I don’t listen to people from the outside. I’m pretty much done now.”