Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic

Displaying a commitment to excellence in academics, athletics and character, Oklahoma junior safety Pat Fields embodies the characteristics inherent to the Dan S. Petty Scholarship Award. A two-time member of the Academic All-Big 12 First Team and a 2018 representative of the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team, Fields is simultaneously pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting and a master's degree in accounting and is projected to complete both in December 2021. The owner of a 3.78 cumulative GPA, Fields registered a perfect 4.0 GPA during the fall 2020 semester.
 
Faculty feedback on Fields' performance has been outstanding, with one academic instructor recently praising him for his excellent representation of OU's athletics program.
 
Also on campus, Fields serves on the leadership committee of Athletes United, a student-athlete group that strives for a safe space to educate, empower and promote outreach to members of the community. And for the last two years he has served as one of two student-athletes nationally on the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee. The 19-person group includes 11 athletics directors from around the country.
 
Fields, who is from Tulsa, Okla., was voted by teammates as one of just two team captains for the 2020 season. He began his collegiate career by playing in six games as a freshman in 2018 and went on to start all 14 contests in 2019, ranking third on the team with 64 tackles and adding 2.0 sacks, 6.0 tackles for loss, five pass breakups and a fumble recovery en route to honorable mention All-Big 12 honors. The Sooners won the Big 12 and qualified for the College Football Playoff both seasons.
 
This year, Fields has started all nine games in which he has played and ranks fourth on the squad with 37 tackles. He's added a tackle for loss and four pass breakups and registered a key interception in the Sooners' 27-21 Big 12 Championship win over No. 8 Iowa State on Dec. 19 in Arlington.