I get asked on occasion who are some of the best Winston-Salem State football players I’ve seen in my 23 years of covering the school.

It’s hard for me to start naming off the best, but if I had to come up with a list linebacker Carlos Fields would definitely be up there.

It’s no shock that Fields, who helped the Rams get to the 2012 Division II national championship game, was named on the all-decade second team by d2football.com

The entire list of the all-decade team is here.

Fields, who went on to play in the NFL for various teams for three seasons, is now a linebackers coach at Thomasville High School where he is also a math teacher.

Fields, who was a D-II All-America during his four seasons as a starter, was a two-time CIAA defensive player of the year. Fields was also a three-time All-CIAA player and in that memorable 2012 season when the Rams went 14-1 it was Fields who led the defense with 117 tackles.

What I was constantly amazed by when it came to interviewing Fields during his time at WSSU and afterwards when he was playing in the NFL was how humble he was. He never liked to brag about anything, and was the consummate team player.

WSSU has had a lot of great defensive players through the years but in the last 23 seasons that I’ve seen the Rams play he’s one of the best.

“It definitely means a lot to me not only for Winston-Salem State but for also HBCU football,” Fields said. “I was looking at the list of the first and second teams and I think I was  the only one on it from an HBCU and that means a lot.”

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