Virginia WR Malachi Fields Dazzles in Return From Injury
The Cavaliers weren't sure quite how much they would miss Malachi Fields when he went down with a serious foot injury over the summer. The broken foot required surgery that would keep the rising sophomore off the field for the next few months.
Fields had caught 11 passes for 172 yards in 2021 as a true freshman, but Virginia was returning a star-studded group of wide receivers. However, as the season began, it became clear that UVA was lacking in depth behind the starters. And when even those stars underperformed as just one aspect of Virginia's larger offensive struggles this season, the lack of depth became a bigger issue.
That problem worsened last week when Keytaon Thompson, Dontayvion Wicks, and Lavel Davis Jr. each went down with various injuries that held them out of each of UVA's last two games against North Carolina and Pittsburgh.
Against the Tar Heels, some new faces like tight end Sackett Wood Jr. and freshman wideout Sean Wilson showed out in one of Virginia's strongest offensive performances of the season. And on Saturday, it was the return of Malachi Fields after missing the first nine games of the season that delivered what was essentially the sole bright spot for UVA's offensive unit in the 37-7 loss to Pittsburgh.
In his season debut, Fields hauled in five receptions on seven targets for 58 yards and caught his first-career touchdown, making a fantastic catch in the back corner of the end zone for Virginia's first and only touchdown of the game.
Coming into the week, Tony Elliott said that Fields could be available this week for the first time all season, but would likely be on a limited snap count. It was a late development that Fields' condition was good enough to play a fuller load of snaps, and it was certainly no one's expectation that Fields would end up being UVA's leading receiver in the game.
“He exceeded my expectation from the standpoint of I was thinking that maybe [he would play] 15 to 20 plays. Then late in the week, our medical folks did a great job of having him prepared and said we could push it to 30 maybe 40 plays," said Tony Elliott after the game. "Malachi has worked extremely hard. He's a guy that loves the grind of football and I’m just so happy for him to have some success."
Fields tried to downplay the catch he made for the first touchdown of his career, but it was clear that the moment he shared with his teammates afterwards was special to him.
“It was a routine play we do all the time in practice, so we just go out there and execute," Fields said. "It was really exciting. My boys were right there. They were happy for me and happy to see me out there. I could not do it without them pushing me every day. I was happy to see them happy for me.”
And although the outlook for this season is bleak, Fields is confident that the future of UVA football under Tony Elliott is bright.
“There is definitely a lot of progress," said Fields. "You can see what the team has made. You see that we can push forward. A lot of good things have come out of this. That’s how we’ll grow.”
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