Fields seeks redemption for 2024’s 3-8 struggle

It wasn’t hard to spot Mason Fields – Dixie Heights’ senior quarterback was the only one wearing a yellow bib at a July 24 morning practice.

The Colonels believe Fields will be equally noticeable when the 2025 season begins Aug. 22 at Simon Kenton. 

The 6 foot 4, 225-pound Fields threw for 1,757 yards with 13 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He averaged 159.2 yards a game, completed just over 54% of his passes and ran for another 145 and three scores last year – one of the main highlights in Dixie’s 3-8 season, in which the Colonels were 1-5 over their last six games.

“He’s a really, really smart quarterback, and he’s got a lot of arm talent,” Dixie offensive coordinator Jacob Morris said. “And in the past, I think he sort of relied on the talent a little bit instead of letting some things develop for him and taking advantage of stuff. We’ve added some things, and he’s starting to develop through his progressions a whole lot more.”

Fields has been playing football for nearly eight years. He was a tight end with the Fort Mitchell Spartans, but he wanted to be a quarterback.

“I was always the biggest kid, so I just ended up going in when they needed me to throw the ball,” Fields said. “I just always loved being the leader of the team.

“Just being able to have that weight on your shoulders, where you cannot control other people, but you lead other people to where they’re supposed to be, and just the leadership of knowing everyone’s role at the same time.”

Fields gets unanimous kudos from his receivers.

“I know if I’m going downfield he’s going to get it to me no matter how far I go,” senior receiver Duncan Linville, who has known Fields since sixth grade, said.

Senior receiver Nishawn Golsby was a freshman at Lloyd Memorial when he met Fields about three years ago at a 7-on-7 camp at Boone County.

“He’s real involved with people, he loves hanging out with us,” Golsby said. “ … He likes his game to do the talking.”

Fields, the oldest of Scott and Jennifer Fields’ two children (sister Presley is 13), tore the labrum his freshman year in 2022. He said he had to relearn his throwing motion, but he doesn’t worry about his game, and he credits his improvement largely to his work at Nevels Fitness in Newport.

“It’s a lot of explosive work,” Fields said. “It’s really just tempo-ing everything up, it’s teaching you the mechanics, it’s teaching you when to run … And it’s not just speed – it’s strength, it’s explosiveness, it’s agility.”

From overthinking to overcoming

Fields started the last regular season game of his sophomore season in 2023, a 53-21 loss to Ryle. He was 10-for-20 for 61 yards and an interception, and he admits to overthinking everything.

“The first start, I was definitely timid,” Fields said. “It’s like I didn’t trust myself or I didn’t trust the offense, and I was just frigid.”

Fields threw for 90 yards with a touchdown and an interception in a 50-35 loss to Simon Kenton in last season’s opener. He followed that with a 189-yard, three-touchdown night in a 66-19 win over Hughes and a 234-yard game in a 41-20 loss to Beechwood. 

“I don’t really look for someone or a specific route,” Fields said. “I really just trust however I’m taught to read it. That’s how I go about my process of throwing the football.”

Dixie head coach Pat Burke said Fields is much more comfortable in the offense – he doesn’t have to hurry through his progressions and realizes he doesn’t always have to throw 40-plus yards.

“(He’s) understanding the concept of defenses and being able to throw to spacing based on alignment and reading his pre-snap keys,” Burke said. “And then his judgment; he can make every throw in the field.”

A numbers game

Fields wore No. 16 his sophomore season. He wanted to wear No. 11 last year because his dad and grandfather wore it, but he switched to No. 8 because then-senior Tyler Morehead had it.

And no, Fields is not going to move three numerals higher.

“I just like sticking with my number for my senior year, being my own person as well,” he said.

Fields has received college offers from Mount St. Joseph University and Hillsdale (Michigan) College, and he’s talking to Morehead State, Samford and Eastern Kentucky University.

One other thing Fields notices: teammates are more accountable to each other.

“We didn’t necessarily live up to what we expected for ourselves last year,” Fields said. “I’m hoping this year is different.”