Dejonte O’Neal got the call first, just after the Fresno State Bulldogs had confronted a challenge of a conditioning run, a Fourth of July tradition they call “Own Your House,” which of course is Bulldog Stadium. They run up and down the aisles, all the way around. They get one hour to hit all of those steps, though really busting it some can and have gone north end zone to north end zone, one lap around, in less than 30 minutes.
That call, though, it was a different kind of tough.
It was Jeff Allison’s mother, Shynita Ponton, and O’Neal got the call because he and Allison are close, brother close, and back home Allison’s brother was dead; drowned.