Ivant Fields Helped His Son Chase a Dream He Once Had

Ivant Fields had a plan for his son, and it ended in Chicago. Justin could go to Northwestern, play a little football, stay long enough to earn a master’s degree and find a good job at a bank. Being the backup quarterback would suit that plan just fine, his father figured.

“He had different plans,” Ivant said.

Justin did make it to Chicago. In April 2021, the Bears traded up to take him with the 11th pick in the NFL Draft. Ivant was home in Georgia with his son that night. The former college linebacker who had once wanted a shot at professional football got to see someone in his family take it.

Before Football, There Was a Ball on the Stairs

Ivant, who also goes by Pablo, played linebacker at Eastern Kentucky. When he talked about why his football career hadn’t gone the way he hoped, he remembered sitting for the SAT. By his own account, he finished in about five minutes, filling in C after C. He believed his grades had narrowed his college options before a coach ever got to judge him on the field.

Years later, when Justin was in school, Ivant went to the other extreme. He told WGN he checked his son’s grades as often as three times a day. Justin graduated from Harrison High School in Georgia with a 3.9 GPA, according to his father.

Ivant went on to serve in the military and work as an Atlanta police officer. Asked as an NFL rookie what he had taken from his father, Justin talked about how he was expected to behave when Ivant wasn’t there. Respecting his elders and doing his work properly mattered at school just as much as they did at practice.

Before Football, There Was a Ball on the Stairs

Ivant Fields’ son Justin during Ohio State’s game against Michigan on November 30, 2019. Photo: Maize & Blue Nation / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

One of Ivant’s earliest memories of Justin as an athlete is also a story about trying to watch television in peace. At about a year old, Justin liked to toss a ball up the stairs, let it bounce back and catch it. Then he’d do it again. At the time, Ivant was more inclined to ask him to stop than to marvel at his coordination.

It took coaching tee-ball a few years later for Ivant to appreciate what his son could do compared with other children his age. Justin’s mother, Gina Tobey, remembered him hitting balls out to the fence on his first baseball team. He was still only three and a half.

Baseball stayed in the picture even as football began to take up more of the family calendar. Ivant drove Justin to baseball camps as well as quarterback lessons. In fact, when Duke football coach David Cutcliffe came to Harrison to offer Justin a scholarship, he found the quarterback at baseball practice.

His Father Got the Film in Front of College Coaches

By the time Justin became a top recruit, college coaches knew their way to Harrison High. It hadn’t always been that easy to get someone to look at him. Ivant sent out his son’s game footage, and the two spent part of spring break in 2016 visiting recruiting camps.

North Carolina’s offer reached Justin while Ivant was driving the family to a funeral. Listening in, his father celebrated by pounding the steering wheel.

Attention came with a less enjoyable side, too. During Justin’s senior season, a reporter saw him sitting alone on the bench after a 45–42 loss to North Cobb. Justin had fumbled twice. One fumble had turned into a touchdown for the other team. He took responsibility in front of his teammates.

Ivant had watched from the sideline. What he noticed was his son adjusting too much after an early rain had made the ball slippery. It was a small, specific observation from someone who had seen Justin throw enough passes to know when something was off.

When Justin Wanted to Come Home, He Called His Dad

Justin chose Georgia for college and later transferred to Ohio State. From the outside, the move looked like a football decision. In his first weeks in Columbus, though, what Justin missed were the people. At Georgia, he had teammates he’d known for years. At Ohio State, he was starting over.

He called Ivant and told him he was thinking about going back. His father encouraged him to give it time. Although Columbus was much farther from the family’s home in Kennesaw, Ivant spent more time with Justin that spring than he had the year before, when his son was playing about 70 miles away.

Justin later put the hardest stretch at about three weeks. Spending time with his new teammates helped. He stayed, and by January 2021 he had led Ohio State to the national championship game.

Conclusion

On draft night, Justin sat at home in Kennesaw with Ivant, Gina, his stepmother Jo Ann and his sisters, Jaiden and Jessica. The call came from the city Ivant had once pictured for him, though the job offer was rather different.

A few months earlier, asked about his part in Justin’s journey, Ivant had described himself as “the guy who drove him to quarterback lessons, baseball camps, and all of that.” It was a modest answer from a former linebacker. It was also the part of the story his son had known longest: when it was time to go, his dad was there to drive.