Jitter Fields

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Alfred Gene “Jitter” Fields Jr. (born August 16, 1962) is a former American football player who spent parts of his career as a defensive back and return specialist in the NFL, the Canadian Football League, and the Arena Football League. He grew up in Dallas, Texas, and played high school football at H. Grady Spruce before walking on to the University of Texas.

College life and career
Fields walked on at Texas and earned four letters. He was a standout in pass defense and a punt returner, helping the Longhorns have strong teams in the early 1980s. A memorable moment came in a 1982 game against SMU when a badly thrown pass bounced off Fields’ shoulder pads into the opponent’s hands for a touchdown. In his senior year, Texas won the Southwest Conference and went undefeated in the regular season, finishing ranked No. 2. They reached the Cotton Bowl with a chance at the national title, but Georgia won 10–9 after a late muffed punt by a teammate affected the outcome.

Professional career
Fields was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round of the 1984 NFL Draft. He played in 13 games in 1984, handling punts and kickoffs; he also had a punt return of 61 yards, which was a club record at the time. He was cut by the Saints at the end of the 1985 training camp.

He then joined the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1985, appearing in five games and posting 423 receiving yards along with 104 return yards.

In 1987, Fields joined the NFL as a replacement player during the players’ strike. He played one game for the Indianapolis Colts before being cut and quickly signed by the Kansas City Chiefs. In his first game with the Chiefs, he had an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown and a total of 123 punt return yards in the game, a very strong performance. He played a few more games that season after the strike ended and was released at the end of training camp in 1988. The Chiefs re-signed him in December, and he returned six punts in the final three games of that season before being released again.

After his NFL stint, Fields spent two years playing semi-pro football in the Minor Football League and served as a defensive coordinator for the Oklahoma City Twisters. He then moved to the Arena Football League, playing in 1991 for the Detroit Drive, which reached ArenaBowl V, and in 1992 for the Dallas Texans, who won the Western Division Championship.

Later life
Fields moved into coaching and education after his pro football career. In 1991–92 he was the defensive coordinator for the Oklahoma City Twisters. From 1992 to 2012 he taught and coached track and field in Detroit. In 2012 he was the head coach of the Michigan Coyotes in the Stars Football League; the team went 0–2 and folded after the season. He worked as a defensive backs coach, special teams coordinator, and education professor at Kentucky Christian University in 2013–2014, before returning to Detroit as a youth football coach and educator. In 2016 he earned a master’s degree in coaching education from Ohio University. He later worked in real estate and coached track at the University Liggett School. He is currently a social studies teacher at the Michigan Islamic Institute.