Charging Down Similar Paths

By Eddie Hughes

The veteran and the youngster—they’re both from the same college, both on the same NFL team and they both have a humble appreciation for their careers.

The veteran is fullback Lorenzo Neal. He just finished his 11th NFL season after wrapping up his Fresno State career in 1992.

The youngster is safety Vernon Fox, who just completed his second NFL season after graduating from Fresno State as an academic All-American in 2001.

Both former Bulldogs are with the San Diego Chargers now and both speak of their professional football careers with the same gratitude that would be expected from someone who only dreamed of making the big show.

“ It’s been a long, tough road,” Fox said. “I mean, going from being undrafted to having an opportunity. I’m just grateful to God for the opportunity to be here—to be anywhere. After going undrafted, you just don’t know if you’ll have the opportunity.”

Neal was drafted. He went to the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round, the 89th overall pick of the 1993 NFL Draft. He has taken his advanced blocking services to six different teams in his career, also including the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans and Cincinnati Bengals.

But Neal speaks of the same blessings as Fox.

“ I think I’m totally blessed, without a doubt, to play this game 11 years and still play at a high level and be considered the best,” Neal said.

Neal left Fresno State as one of the top rushers in school history after his three-year collegiate career. He is currently fourth on the school’s list with 2,405 yards and fifth with 27 touchdowns on 487 attempts.

In the NFL, Neal focused his 5-foot-11, 245-pound rock-solid frame on blocking. He was a Pro Bowl selection in 2002 with the Bengals, while rushing for just 31 yards and catching 21 passes for 133 yards.

The highest rushing output of Neal’s NFL career was his 175 yards on 21 carries in his rookie campaign with the Saints. But he doesn’t miss having the ball in his hands.

“ I think if I carried the ball that much here, I wouldn’t be playing 11 years,” Neal said. “I’m definitely happy in the position that I’m in, being able to go to the Pro Bowl last year at the fullback position and just your peers recognizing you as the best. That’s all I could ask for.”

Neal was recognized as just that—the best—with his 2003 Pro Bowl selection.

“ At this point in time in my career, it’s an honor to be considered one of the best if not the best blocking fullback in the league,” Neal said. “There’s always room for improvement, and I strive to be better, I strive to be dominant. I attribute a lot to the offseason hard work.”

Fox isn’t considered the best at his position. He fights everyday just to get on the field. But that’s the way it goes for players who go undrafted out of college.

Fox recorded 78 tackles, three interceptions and two sacks in his senior season at Fresno State, but it wasn’t good enough to hear his name announced on draft day 2001—a day when college teammate David Carr was chosen No. 1 overall by the Houston Texans.

Still, Fox worked his way into a roster spot with the Chargers in 2002. And—get this—he even earned a starting spot.

“ I think that was, to date, the greatest point of my NFL career,” Fox said. “Especially last year, definitely not expecting to have an opportunity to get in there and start.”

With the injury to Pro Bowl safety Rodney Harrison, Fox got the nod to start. His opponent? Carr and the Texans in San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. His first and only career interception? Also against Carr.

“ It was almost inevitable that we were going to meet somehow,” Carr said last season after that interception.

Fox wasn’t starting late in 2003, but he says he got decent playing time considering the circumstances.

“ Coming from where I came from and the situation that I was in, I didn’t expect to see the field,” Fox said. “I thought that I’d just be primarily a special teams player. Every minute that I have out there, I’m grateful.

“ But I’m starting to feel like I’m developing as a player and turning into a player that’s going to be out on the field a lot more whether it’s here or wherever.”

Playing in 12 of the Chargers’ 16 games this season, Fox had 23 tackles.

At the end of a 38-21 home loss to the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 14, Fox and Neal walked off the field together, shoulder-to-shoulder.

The two players’ college days were separated by nearly a decade and two different head coaches in Jim Sweeney and Pat Hill, but they have bonded in San Diego—if only for one year. Neal just wrapped up the first year of his three-year contract. Fox wrapped up the final year of his two-year contract and doesn’t know if he’ll be back with the Chargers.

“ I’ve built a pretty good friendship with Lorenzo,” Fox said. “From the first day he got here, he came up looking for me. He called me ‘Fres.’ That’s what he’s called me from then on.”

Neal, from Lemoore, Calif., about 40 miles southwest of Fresno, has never lost that Bulldog spirit that former Fresno State coach Sweeney used to boast of.

“ Yeah, I always say, ‘Fresno, what’s up Fresno, Fres,’” Neal said. “Gotta do that. Home team baby, home team.”

Fox’s hometown, Las Vegas, isn’t quite as close to Fresno. But he doesn’t hesitate when talking about the preparation Fresno State gave him for the next level.

“ I think Fresno State is a well-coached team, and I think they taught us a lot about not only being college football players, but it was real similar to a lot of the schemes and a lot of the way things are ran,” Fox said. “Pat Hill did things the same way. When I got here, I kind of had an upper hand.

“ Being a free agent and having an opportunity to make the team, I think that a lot of the things they look for, I was able to possess those qualities. And I think a lot of that is due to Fresno State.”

Neal didn’t have to worry about making the team his rookie season. But he, too, points to the coaching he received with the Bulldogs and to Sweeney’s motivational attitude and demanding perfection.

“ Just having guys from a good coaching staff, they prepare you for this next level at Fresno State,” Neal said. “It’s definitely a good school to go to.”

Talking about former Bulldogs in the NFL, Neal manages a smile despite the busted lower lip he suffered from the just-finished game against the Packers.

He names off other ex-Bulldogs around the League—running back Michael Pittman of the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers, safety Cory Hall of the Atlanta Falcons, quarterback Billy Volek of the Titans, just to name a few of the 11 active NFL players from Fresno State.

Just across the Chargers’ locker room is Fox—the youngster. Neal’s locker is in the front, Fox’s is almost all the way at the end of the line.

Two former Bulldogs, the veteran and the youngster, the Pro Bowler and the undrafted free agent, shoulder-to-shoulder, fighting through a 4-12 season together and always feeling blessed to be where they are.