By MALCOLM BUTLER, Lincoln Parish Journal
RUSTON — In today’s college football landscape, Kolbe Fields and Eli Finley had options.
Both Louisiana Tech veterans could have entered the transfer portal following the 2025 season and potentially finished their college careers somewhere else.
But, neither did.
For Fields and Finley, the relationships built during their years in Ruston outweighed the opportunity to start over somewhere else for their final season.
“You always have opportunities to leave in today’s world of college football,” Fields said Monday during the weekly press conference. “But like I said, I always come back just to the people that’s in these walls. I mean, I can’t find any other relationships like I have here anywhere else in the country.”
Louisiana Tech wasn’t Fields’ first, or even second, choice of school, but it has definitely been his most impactful. The New Orleans native began his career at South Carolina in 2021 before spending the 2022 season at LSU. He transferred to Tech prior to the 2023 season and has since developed into one of the Bulldogs’ defensive leaders.
Fields earned second-team All-Conference USA honors in 2024 after recording 71 tackles and nine tackles for loss. But each of the past two seasons has also brought frustration.
Fields suffered season-ending injuries in both 2024 and 2025 that prevented him from playing in either of Louisiana Tech’s bowl appearances. Last year was particularly difficult after Fields entered the season as the CUSA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. He recorded 39 tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks and two interceptions in five starts before his season was cut short.
Now healthy again, Fields has one more opportunity to finish a season on the field with the Bulldogs.
And despite having another opportunity to explore the portal following last season, Fields said he had no desire to leave Ruston.
“I like to stay with the people that I trust and I know, because you can’t trust just anybody in this world,” Fields said. “Everybody doesn’t know you for who you are in this world, and a lot of these times it’s a lot of one-year deals.
“I’m not really too interested in the one-year deals because I could go somewhere for one year and they can get a different idea of who I am as a human than I have been here. I’ve been here for the rest of my college career. I’ve never thought about leaving.”
Finley’s reasoning sounds remarkably similar.
Unlike Fields, the 6-foot-6, 246-pound tight end has spent his entire college career at Louisiana Tech, developing into one of the Bulldogs’ most accomplished offensive players.
Finley earned second-team All-CUSA honors last season after leading Tech with 38 receptions and 444 receiving yards. He enters his senior season with 65 career catches for 768 yards and two touchdowns and was named second-team preseason All-Sun Belt this summer.
When opportunities arose to potentially play elsewhere, Finley decided those relationships were more important.
“For me, it’s the people in the building,” Finley said. “I come here every day and it’s like coming to work. I love coming here. I love coming to the facility, being around these people.”
Finley pointed out he and Fields weren’t the only veteran Bulldogs who could have explored other opportunities but chose to remain in Ruston.
“It’s a great group of guys who stayed, and not just me and Kolbe Fields,” Finley said. “Hayden Christman — there’s plenty of people who had opportunities to leave or opportunities to go places.
“But now in college football, loyalty is scarce. It’s rare. And just having that connection with guys — I’ve been here four years — it’s something that I value, and I’m excited to stay.”
Fields described the Bulldogs’ linebacker room as a family, saying many of the players have been together since he arrived in Ruston. The group competes and pushes each other during practices and gets together for dinner each Thursday before games.
“I feel like I got 12 brothers,” Fields said. “I didn’t have any brothers growing up. I had a whole bunch of cousins and I got an older sister. Those guys are like my brothers. We do everything together.”
That bond carries onto the field.
“When you’re out there and you’ve got guys on the side of you that you really love, you play different for them,” Fields said.
Cumbie appears equally appreciative that Fields and Finley decided to finish their careers in Ruston, praising them.
“Kolbe’s back to life like last year from the standpoint of flying around,” Cumbie said. “If anything, the older he gets — which he’s getting up there in years — the wiser he gets.”
Cumbie then expanded his answer to include Finley, saying the Tech coaching staff have shared a common thought while watching the two veterans throughout preseason camp.
“Man, I’m sure glad they’re on our team, and we don’t have to go against them,” Cumbie said.
Fields and Finley will get another season to play alongside each other beginning Saturday night when Louisiana Tech opens its season against Northwestern State at Joe Aillet Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.
For Fields, his final season provides another opportunity to leave a legacy in Ruston that goes well beyond tackles, wins or anything else recorded in a box score.
“I just want people to know that Kolbe Fields was a great guy, a great human being first,” Fields said. “He believes in God and he loves his teammates.
“People forget about what you do on Saturdays and all that. But I just want the people that sit in the seats and use the TV rooms to know that I love the community.”
Contact Malcolm at lpjnewsla@gmail.com