Virginia's Fields and Stevens Make The Athletic's College Football Freaks List

Matt Newton | Aug 9, 2024

Malachi Fields and Brian Stevens were both included on Bruce Feldman's list of top 101 college football players based on their athletic feats for The Athletic. / Virginia Athletics

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic released his annual college football Freaks List, which ranks the top 101 college football players solely based on their athletic feats, drawing on submissions from "schools, coaches, teammates, parents, NFL scouts, combine trainers and agents" and two Virginia football players were included in the list. Senior wide receiver Malachi Fields was ranked No. 66 on the list and the 15th-ranked wide receiver and graduate center Brian Stevens was ranked No. 76 overall, one of just two centers to be included in Feldman's top 101 athletes in college football.

Here's what Feldman had to say about Malachi Fields, who was named to the preseason watch list for the Biletnikoff Award after earning an All-ACC honorable mention in 2023:

"A former high school quarterback and cornerback, Fields is coming off a breakout junior season in which he had 58 catches for 811 yards and five touchdowns after missing almost all of 2022 with a broken foot. He has elite strength and power for a wideout: He has close-grip bench pressed 365 pounds and did 21 reps of 225 with a close grip this offseason. He front squatted 355 pounds to go with a 38-inch vertical and a 10-7 1/2 broad jump. His shuttle times are impressive, too, going 4.18 in the pro agility and 6.81 in the 3-cone, and he passed 22 mph on the GPS."

And here's what Feldman wrote on Brian Stevens, a former Dayton transfer who was also an All-ACC honorable mention in his first season as a Cavalier and was just put on the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, presented to the top center in college football:

"You don’t see too many former high school punters (39.5 yard average) who become first-team all-conference O-linemen. He began his college career at Dayton, blossomed and then transferred to UVA last year, where he produced the fourth-highest PFF grade (77.3) for centers in the country and was the ACC’s top-graded run-blocking center. Stevens only allowed one sack last season. The 6-2 1/2, 300-pounder power cleaned 385 pounds this offseason and ran a laser-timed 1.56 10-yard sprint. He had a max speed velocity of 18.7 mph."

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