Playing Fast and Loose With Arby Fields
8/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 4, 2010
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By SKIP MYSLENSKI
NUsports.com Special Contributor
It is hardly a new thought and has been attributed to the late Ohio State football legend Woody Hayes and the late Marquette basketball legend Al McGuire and who knows how many other coaching legends. Still. As the fall and another season rush toward us, it is good to remember that "The best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores."
"I'd say mentally. I learned it's not just on the football field, but off the football field (as well)," the 'Cat running back Arby Fields is saying as his second season in Evanston fast approaches. He has been asked where he has grown most since he was last viewed and here he continues: "Taking care of your body. Getting your rest, recuperation. Your film study. A lot of stuff I did in high school you can't do at the Big Ten level, like trying to run around everyone. Everybody's fast, everybody's athletic in a major conference.
"The second thing I took out of last year is just play loose. At times I was afraid to make a mistake. I was young and I didn't want coach yelling at me. I just wanted to do everything right, to try and do everything right, to please coach instead of just relaxing and playing like I did in high school. I don't mean run the same plays, but just play relaxed and have fun playing football. You can't have fun playing football when you're tense."
It is hardly a new phenomena and is known now simply as the Freshman 15. The number, of course, refers to the amount of weight a student gains during his/her first year of college and attests readily to the temptations extant in his/her new environment. But, naturally enough, these were just the temptations that had to be ignored by Fields, who instead altered old habits and acquired new ones.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah," he says when asked if he has changed. "Getting in the ice bath after every practice, every game. Getting massages from the training staff. Your body's taking a lot of abuse. Plus myself, I was playing two sports. When I wasn't playing football, I was playing baseball. So I had to find time in between there to take care of my body, get my rest, eat correctly."
Did his diet change?
"If I was hungry earlier here or in high school, I'd go get some junk food. Burger King's open 24 hours here. I'd go get something from there and eat late at night. That's not good for you. Instead of eating real big meals two or three times a day, I'm eating healthier now. Fruit. Granola. Trail mix. Have a good dinner. Have a good breakfast. I'm doing those kinds of things. Put the right things in your body that are going to work for you so your body performs."
Did he have to give up something he truly loved?
"Yeah. Fast food. I wouldn't think twice about going to get a burger from somewhere in high school. I gave a lot of that stuff up. You don't want to put on that unnecessary weight. It's not really good for your body. So I gave that up and, in the end, I feel it's really helped me. Going into this second year, I've come back and I feel I'm stronger, I'm faster, I've got my body fat down and I'm in better shape."
Where is his body fat?
"It's dropped. When I came in, it think I was at 13 or something. Now it's down to eight or nine."
Does he feel different?
"Yeah. I feel my body. You're going to be sore, but I'm a lot less sore. I'm in better shape. My condition, at this time last year I couldn't do the kind of conditioning I'm doing now. Just from, the jump from high school training to college training is dramatic."
Was he surprised to learn so much was involved?
"Yeah, honestly. You hear about it. My dad had seven brothers, he played major college football, he and three of his brothers, and they'd tell me, 'Oh, you get to college, you're going to have to take care of your body, you're going to have to do this, you're going to have to do that.' And I'm thinking, 'Nah, not me. I'm going to be fine.' You figure it's not going to happen to you. Then you're like, 'Whoa.' You get here, it's like, 'They weren't kidding. You have to take care of your body.' If you don't take care of your body, that's how you get hurt. Fortunately I haven't gotten hurt and I think that comes from eating right, training hard and taking care of my body."
Coach Pat Fitzgerald once said he thought a lot of people didn't understand just how hard it is to be successful at this level. Does Fields get what he's saying there?
"When I hear him say that, it's all the extra time you have to put in. Time in the film room. Time in the weight room. Working to get yourelf better. He always says, 'Don't let the NCAA hold you back.' Meaning (the coaches) can have only so much to do with you, so many hours (under the rules). So it's what you do on your own time that lets you become a better football player. Your film study. Studying your opponent. I know guys who study just hours and hours of film. The one who really stood out to me was (former safety) Brad Phillips. Brad Phillips studied film, he knew everything. That's when I really started to get into watching film, going in there. Then the game becomes easier, it's like a test. You've done your film study, done all your homework, and come the game, come the test, you're ready and it's not as hard."
It is hardly a new observation and, certainly, has been made often since that day they started keeping score at football games. Still. It is also good to remember that "If you have to think of what to do, it is too late to do it."
"My uncle used to tell me that all the time," Arby Fields is saying. "My uncles and my dad, they're my biggest fans, my biggest mentors, I hang on every last word they say. They told me that when I was playing Pop Warner, all through high school, but I never knew what they were talking about until I got to college. I wasn't listening. But I got here and I understand what they're saying now. If you're thinking, it's too late. It's all read-and-react at this level and, if you make a mistake, so what?"
Did he think too much last year?
"Uh-huh, especially with our offense. Our offense is very complex, there's a lot to learn, we don't huddle, it's all signals. I learned it all pretty well, I picked up on it quickly. That wasn't the big thing. I knew what I was doing. They wouldn't have put me out there if I didn't know what I was doing. I knew how to get the job done, but it was a matter of going about it without being afraid to make a mistake. I know a linebacker's coming and if I tense up and miss the block, it's not because I didn't know what to do. It's because I was not going in there and just doing it."
Did his family call him last season and tell him they could see he was thinking?
"Yeah. My dad and uncles have watched me play my whole life and they know when I'm playing and loose and having fun. He said there was a three-game span there, I think it was three of the games that I started, I was like, 'OK. I'm starting. I don't want to make a mistake.' They'd say, 'Arby, we can see it.' I had a talk with them. I had a talk with Coach (Mick) McCall (the offensive coordinator). And after that, I was having fun again. I was loose and I made less mistakes when I was playing that way than when I was playing tense. That's my biggest thing going into this year. Playing loose and having fun. If you're not having fun, there's no reason to be out there."
Did that leave him with a feeling during spring practice that was different from what he was feeling last season?
"I talk about playing loose, I was beyond loose. I was talking during practice. I was having a blast. It was the fact, I knew. I don't read the papers, but I know everyone's wondering how our running game's going to be this year. We've got a healthy offensive line, but how are our running backs going to do? I knew that going into spring ball and I felt I didn't want to prove it to just myself because I knew I could do it. Not being cocky, but you've got to have confidence in yourself because if you don't have confidence in yourself, who's going to have confidence in you? But I wanted to take it upon myself to show Coach (Matt) Mac(Pherson), to show Coach Fitzgerald, that I was ready. I was ready to take over this job. And I want to keep this job. I don't want them to give me anything. What I've gotten to this point, I've earned. Coach Fitzgerald, he doesn't make promises. . . I wanted to prove to him that I'm ready, that I'm not this freshman anymore. With a year under my belt, I'm ready to take my game and the Northwestern running game to the next level. To get it back where it was or even better."
There is this final fact that should be known about the evolvement of Arby Fields for it, too, manifests the maturation process he has experienced. During the spring quarter, when he was busy with both football and baseball, he did his best work in the classroom.
"When I first got here, you're in college, you want to go out, you want to have fun, I was trying to do everything," he says when asked about this. "Have fun. Give everything I had in football. Give everything I had in baseball. Something had to give, you know, something had to give. I didn't want it to be my academics. My mom, she doesn't play that. Coach Fitz doesn't play that. So I kind of saw, especially with the quarter system, it moves fast here. It would be mid-quarter, dang, man, well, shoot, it's almost finals and I'm not giving everything I had to academics. I went, 'That other stuff's going to be there, you're always going to be able to go out, you're always going to be able to have fun, get your stuff done.' I'd never had grade problems and I want it to stay that way. I didn't want to get to college and all of a sudden have problems with my grades. I kind of took it, 'What's more important to me?' I'm here as a student-athlete, student first, and if I don't get my grades, obviously I won't be able to play football or baseball. That just helped me mature. That helped me say, 'What's more important to you right now?' In high school, you can kind of fling everything off and then hit it hard. You can't do that here. I've tried it. You can't do that here. I realized it before it was too late. I saw guys on the team, my close friends, on academic probation, having to come here during the winter, you have study hall in the winter, you have to be here at six, that means you're getting up at, what? I'm like, 'No. I don't want that for me, not me.' So I'd rather sacrifice stuff now and have fun later."
So has he experienced a parallel growth?
"Definitely."
And how does that leave him feeling about his second year in Evanston?
"I'm excited. I'm anxious. I'm excited for camp. I'm excited for the season we're going to have as a team. I'm excited for the season I want to have as an individual. I can't wait to get started. . . I can't put into words how excited I am for the next season. I feel like, and I'm not the only one who feels this way, we all feel it's going to be a big year for us and we're really going to get some things done that we know we can do. Whether people on the outside feel we can do it doesn't matter. We feel like it's going to be a big year for us."
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