o'neal played collegiately at arkansas state university for six years. after joining arkansas state in 2001 as a walk-on, o'neal was diagnosed with chylothorax and subsequently had part of his lung removed. he returned to the football team in 2002 and worked on getting stronger. before the 2003 season, o'neal earned a scholarship and was later granted a sixth year of eligibility by the ncaa. his story was told in 2006 by cbs sportsline when he was chosen as "national walk-on of the year". in that article, he told of sleeping on friends' floors and doing anything else necessary to get by as a walk-on with very little money or resources.