Three days after University of Texas coach Tom Herman said UTEP running backs coach Barrick Nealy "made my career," Nealy indicated that was always reciprocal.
Specifically, Nealy recalled a Herman pep talk that launched him on a path toward a reunion at Texas' Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Before Nealy came to UTEP in 2018 as director of player development, before he returned to Texas State to get his degree in 2017, he was adrift and in his own words depressed. That's when his wife Tiffany got on the phone and called Herman, who coached Nealy at Texas State in 2005.