This USC signee is working out with NFL players. Next up is his move to Columbia
The client list at ABX Elite Sports Training on the west side of New Orleans and just two blocks off the Mississippi River is as long as it is distinguished.
Miami Dolphins linebacker Duke Riley has been around. Panthers cornerback Donte Jackson and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer linebacker Kwon Alexander have appeared of late. Former LSU standout Ja’Marr Chase — the fifth pick in the 2021 NFL Draft — and 2023 five-star quarterback prospect Arch Manning are also among those who train at the facility.
Among the star-studded roster of former and future Southeastern Conference standouts and NFL stalwarts is also South Carolina signee Kolbe Fields.
“He makes me feel like I’m doing something right,” ABX CEO and head trainer Albert Brock told The State.
Rated the No. 791 overall player in the 2021 class and the No. 47 outside linebacker according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Fields has worked out with Brock for roughly four years.
This offseason the pair have worked on adding mass to Fields’ already projectable 6-foot-1 frame. Fields told The State he’s added 10 pounds so far, now heading to Columbia at a chiseled 215 pounds. He’s also maintained a level of shiftiness that allowed him to play in the box or off the line as a safety during his prep career at Archbishop Rummel.
But beyond the progressions, this offseason and his time spent with NFLers has given Fields a chance to mimic his game after those he’s around. He takes interest in how the pros go about their business, while looking to translate their work ethic into his own.
“Some people play around when they work out or take it as a joke,” Fields said Tuesday, just hours before his high school graduation. “It’s all work with (the NFL players). You know how to carry yourself as a man when you work out, too.”
Spending an offseason alongside NFL players and now secured in his commitment, the last few months have brought a layer of peace to Fields’ otherwise winding high school career.
Initially slated to start on the varsity team at Rummel as a freshman alongside current Mississippi State linebacker and then-senior Aaron Brule, Fields lost his initial season due to a chipped tibia bone.
With Brule off to Starkville the following year, Fields worked back from injury and slid into his spot with ease. He led the team in tackles and earned all-district honors. He then combined for over 200 stops and 23 tackles for a loss in his final two high school seasons.
“I see a controlled maniac who is all over the field,” Fields said of how he’d characterize his game, “flying, taking heads off.”
Ahead of his senior year at Rummel, he and Brock made a bet that if he recorded 110 tackles, two interceptions and two forced fumbles, then Brock would take him on a trip to Miami.
After securing the final numbers he needed to hit his marks, Fields shot Brock a photo. Brock responded with a picture of the tickets.
“We talked about just how life goes,” Brock said. “And that’s the best thing about this kid. He’s so in tune with the bigger picture.”
Offers from Tulane, South Alabama and Colorado eventually rolled in as Fields’ on-field production matched his hopes. He later earned a scholarship offer on an unofficial visit to Oklahoma State that led him to commit to the Cowboys. But after OSU head coach Mike Gundy saw his contract shortened from five years to four when a picture of him in a t-shirt branded with controversial news outlet One America News surfaced, Fields said he and his mother decided it was best he look for a new spot and a head coach with more job security.
Fields eventually committed to Memphis two weeks after re-opening his recruitment, but USC remained in the mix.
Driving around town in December, a South Carolina area code flashed across Fields’ iPhone. It was Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer.
“I didn’t really know he was going to call me,” Fields recounted through an excited breath. “I’d been played with so many times by big schools like that. So when he called me it was just a big blessing. This is what I always wanted to do — to play in the SEC.”
In six days, Fields will head to Columbia to begin his South Carolina career. The NFL players he’s trained with have given him a blueprint for what training success looks like. Recent Rummel graduates like Tennessee Titans corner Kristian Fulton, Chase and Brule have also offered a rubric of sorts.
Fields readily concedes he’s not quite at the level of the NFL players he’s shadowed in recent months. Brock stops just short of saying he’s there, but notes his understanding and maturity feel as though they’ll suit him well in Columbia and beyond.
“This kid’s mindset is on the bigger picture and that’s the NFL,” Brock said. “He’s (projecting) like a professional.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
