Big 12 roundup: TCU blocks Devonte Fields’ transfer to Stephen F Austin

TCU decided to change their minds on letting Devonte Fields go to Stephen F. Austin, not granting him a transfer waiver to immediately play at the school this season.

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• College basketball schedule: Big 12 game times, TV listings, live stream for January 19-25
• College basketball schedule: Big 12 game times, TV listings, live stream for January 12-18

From the statement released by SFA on Friday:

"After originally agreeing to grant a release to Devonte Fields, which would allow him to enroll and play football at Stephen F. Austin, Texas Christian University has since convened a committee and declared that Fields does not meet the requirements to attain the one-time transfer waiver.The decision by TCU renders Fields ineligible, prohibiting him from participating in football related activities at SFA for at least one year. In light of these developments, Fields has decided not to enroll at SFA and will not be a member of the Lumberjack football team."

The preseason defensive player of the year won’t be playing this season at TCU, so he will either have to sit out this season and transfer to a different school, or he could prepare for the NFL. However, a move to the draft could be football career suicide.

Fields may have been the freshman DPOY, but he barely played last season and he needs to create a bigger football profile for himself and show that he’s learned from his mistakes. It would be much wiser decision to sit this season out and finish up at a different school.

Other Big 12 news

 — The volleyball preseason awards were released, and two Iowa State players were on the All-Big 12 team: Mackenzi Bigbee (RS) and Victoria Hurtt (OH). Haley Eckerman of Texas (from Waterloo, Iowa) won the player of the year and Ainise Havili of Kansas won the freshmen of the year.

 — Bob Bowlsby “was unapologetic” about the NCAA allowing the 65 schools from the top five conferences (and Notre Dame) to write their own rules. This will create a bigger imbalance between the larger and smaller conferences (and probably a need to separate them in different divisions among football and men’s basketball), but it will benefit athletes overall.

 — Our friends at Stormin’ in Norman released their Big 12 football preseason poll. Surprisingly, they had Oklahoma as the clear favorites. The list is about on par with how other people are ranking them, except I have some beef with the comments (especially Iowa State). Here’s our preseason poll in comparison.

 — Here’s even more links from the Big 12’s official athletic website if you really want to procrastinate at work today. It’s a Monday — I understand.