neal attended the university of florida in gainesville, florida, where he played for coach charley pell and coach galen hall's florida gators football teams from 1983 to 1985. memorably, neal was part of one of the ten greatest pass plays in gators football history when he caught a pass from quarterback kerwin bell to go eighty-two yards from scrimmage for a touchdown against the florida state seminoles in 1985. he finished the 1985 season with twenty receptions for 487 yards, which is still the gators' single-season record for most yards per catch (24.4 yards).