There’s been much apprehension across the sporting world since Friday last when Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields took a vicious helmet-spear to the ribs in the College Football Playoff semi-final and played the remainder of the game in obvious pain. 

Fields is a superstar signal caller and the hope and pride of the Buckeyes’ 2020 offense, a unit set to face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the national title game in a little less than five days. When reports filed over the ensuing hours revealed he had taken a needle at half-time to manage the pain, but had spent the second half wincing in clear discomfort, anyway, his six touchdown pass, six incompletion performance started to look more like a miracle than a repeatable performance. 

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But according to a tweet posted today by Shannon B. Terry, the founder of both Rivals and 247 Sports recruiting sites, he has it from two reliable sources that Fields ribs aren’t bothering him at all this week and will be irrelevant when the national championship game kicks off Monday night. 

With hurt ribs, Fields played a superb game against the excellent Clemson Tiger’s defense, scorching them for six scores. Alabama’s defense on paper is far inferior to Clemson’s, but the Crimson Tide cannot be underrated anywhere, there’s just too much talent across the roster and a defensive-specialist head coach for the ages. It appears Fields will be free to face that defense at full strength without his ribs fighting him from within.

The title tilt kicks off 8 pm ET Jan. 11 from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida and will be broadcast across the full slate of ESPN imprints.