FORT WORTH, Texas —TCU Athletics restored the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s media credentials Friday. The ban had run 12 days, and it grew out of the newspaper’s coverage of an assault inside the Horned Frogs football locker room.
The announcement carried a Fort Worth dateline and went up on GoFrogs.com. “In a series of productive discussions, we made clear our position and resolved to move forward,” the statement said. “We respect their role as an independent news source and voice in our community, and we look forward to the season ahead.” The statement did not name individual reporters and did not describe the terms of the resolution.
A TCU athletics spokesman told the newspaper by phone Aug. 23 that the credentials were being pulled. Sports editor Jim Barnes published the paper’s account Aug. 26 and wrote that university officials “have not defined what criteria would need to be met to restore the credentials.”
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Credentials Pulled Over Jacob Fields Coverage
TCU announced Aug. 18 that safety Jacob Fields had been removed from the program for a violation of team rules. The Star-Telegram reported that evening that the dismissal followed an Aug. 13 altercation in the team locker room. The paper cited a source it described as having direct knowledge of what happened. Fields believed teammates had targeted him with insults and threats, that source said. The coaching staff did not step in, according to the same account.
The paper published a second account Aug. 21. A person authorized to speak for Fields and his family disputed the bullying description. That source attributed the tension to competitive football and questionable plays in practice. Wide receiver Dozie Ezukanma identified himself as the other player involved in a since-deleted Instagram video the same day.
TCU athletic director Mike Buddie issued a statement on the credential decision Aug. 25. The initial reporting relied on an unnamed source without firsthand knowledge of the incident, Buddie said. He said the coverage “endangered a student-athlete and resulted in threats to him and his family.”
Athletics spokesman Kyle Neaves later told Texas Monthly the credentials were pulled over the way the newspaper characterized the cause of the altercation. Neaves told Defector the source “lacked direct firsthand knowledge of the locker-room incident and has since been discredited.”
Football Writers Association of America president Shehan Jeyarajah called Aug. 26 for Steven Johnson’s credential to be “reinstated immediately.” The Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists condemned the decision the same day in a statement from its president, Clarence Hill Jr.
Johnson, the paper’s TCU beat writer, traveled to Dublin anyway. TCU opened its season Aug. 29 against North Carolina at Aviva Stadium and lost 15-10. Ezukanma did not make the trip.
Jacob Fields Charged With Aggravated Assault
Fields turned himself in to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 30 and was charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. His bond was set at $50,000, and he was released later that day. ESPN‘s Mark Schlabach reported the charge, and On3’s Brett McMurphy reported the surrender.
An arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Star-Telegram states that Ezukanma spent three days in the hospital with a brain bleed and a concussion.
Fields arrived at TCU from Louisiana Tech, where he was the 2025 Conference USA co-defensive player of the year. He started all 12 games at safety, led the Bulldogs with 92 tackles, and added three interceptions for 123 yards, two of them returned for touchdowns. He also recorded 2.5 tackles for loss and five pass breakups.
Ezukanma caught 2 passes for 28 yards in two games last season before an undisclosed injury ended his year. He signed with TCU out of Keller Timber Creek in the 2024 class.
TCU coach Sonny Dykes discussed the altercation publicly for the first time in his media session before the team left for Dublin. Dykes called it “out of character for the team and the young man that was involved.”
TCU returns to the field Sept. 12 against Grambling State. The game is the Horned Frogs’ first at Amon G. Carter Stadium this season. Amon G. Carter cofounded the Star-Telegram and published it for decades. TCU renamed the stadium for him in 1951.
