Former TCU DE wants to come back to the FBS before trying to make the NFL

Former TCU defensive end Devonte Fields has no plans to turn pro after this football season. In fact, he has his sights set on returning to the FBS.

Fields is currently playing at Trinity Valley Community College and his coach Brad Smiley told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Fields plans to go through the recruiting process from junior college and get back to the FBS for 2015.

"Everything he has said to me and everything his family has said to me is the plan is for him to get his (Associate's Degree) and to play Division I again," Smiley told the paper Tuesday. "He is excited about going through that process and playing Division I again. He has not said anything about coming out to play in the NFL."

Fields and TCU divorced earlier this year after Fields was involved in several off-field issues, including a dispute with his girlfriend that reportedly included an assault. Fields is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Oct. 17.

Fields tried to transfer to Stephen F. Austin, but he didn’t want to have to sit out a year.

Despite Fields off-field issues, he was briefly a star on it. In 2012, he was the Big 12’s defensive player of the year. He missed all but three games in 2013 because of a foot injury, but his promise made him the preseason Big 12 defensive player of the year in 2014.

However, he never got the chance to live up to that billing.

Fields has made 17 tackles and 1.5 sacks in three games at Trinity Valley Community College.

"He could not say enough nice things about TCU, Stephen F. Austin and the way everybody tried to help him," Smiley told the Star-Telegram. "He's a great kid and he's been doing great. He came here with the right attitude and he just wanted to get things settled down."

For more TCU news, visit PurpleMenace.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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