diff --git a/solr/modules/ltr/src/java/org/apache/solr/ltr/feature/FieldValueFeature.java b/solr/modules/ltr/src/java/org/apache/solr/ltr/feature/FieldValueFeature.java
index 87c47be73b8..65980018067 100644
--- a/solr/modules/ltr/src/java/org/apache/solr/ltr/feature/FieldValueFeature.java
+++ b/solr/modules/ltr/src/java/org/apache/solr/ltr/feature/FieldValueFeature.java
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ public FeatureScorer scorer(LeafReaderContext context) throws IOException {
     /** A FeatureScorer that reads the stored value for a field */
     public class FieldValueFeatureScorer extends FeatureScorer {
 
-      LeafReaderContext context = null;
+      private final LeafReaderContext context;
 
       public FieldValueFeatureScorer(
           FeatureWeight weight, LeafReaderContext context, DocIdSetIterator itr) {