WVU Forward Jackson Fields Expected to Miss the Start of the 2025-26 Season

West Virginia forward Jackson Fields is expected to miss the start of the 2025-26 season, a source told West Virginia On SI.

Fields had surgery on his non-shooting hand back in late July and is still working his way back. A few weeks ago, WVU head coach Ross Hodge briefly discussed what he can and can't do.

“He can run. He was obviously never impacted from that area. He can shoot. He still is a couple weeks away from getting the pins out of his wrist. It’s his non-shooting hand, which is a blessing. He tries to mimic as many drills as he can offensively and defensively without a ball because you don’t want a random ricochet to hit his thumb. He’s progressing well and things are trending positively.”

There is no firm timeline as to when Fields will appear in a game, but the belief is that he will play at some point during the non-conference portion of the schedule.

What does West Virginia do in the frontcourt?

Last week, Hodge basically confirmed that Brenen Lorient will transition into a starting role after being the Sixth Man of the Year last season at North Texas. Jackson Fields, when healthy, will be the primary backup at the power forward position and could even see some minutes at the five behind Harlan Obioha.

Abraham Oyeadier, the only returning player from last year's team, could now assume the role of Fields, splitting some time at the five and four spots in a reserve role. True freshman DJ Thomas should also see an increased role in Fields' absence and is someone Coach Hodge has spoken glowingly about in his first couple of preseason press conferences with the media.

"DJ Thomas, what is going to ultimately give him a chance to be a very, very good player for a long time is his ability to listen, comprehend, and then do. It sounds simple, but it’s hard to do,” Hodge said a couple of weeks ago.

What does West Virginia do in the frontcourt?

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