SAN DIEGO _ It was a simple, kind act by San Diego State safety Trey Lomax.
Last week, the senior captain posted a letter from a fan on his Twitter account. Neatly handwritten in pencil on lined paper, San Diego's Mira Mesa High School senior and special education student Alonzo Anquillano spelled out what he thought the Aztecs needed to do to beat Boise State.
Alonzo had passed on the letter to Trey's dad, Phil Lomax, who is a special education teacher and PE coach at the school.
In the letter, Alonzo's knowledge of the team was clear, and his passion for the Aztecs unmistakable.
"Mr. Lomax," it read, "can you let your son know to bring a lot of confidence and toughness and pressure and aggressiveness and stay focused early against the Broncos."
Alonzo went on, and concluded with, "Can you tell Trey to remind Rashaad Penny to take care of the football."
The letter drew smiles and kudos and a big response on Twitter. Numerous players and fans re-tweeted and Alonzo became an instant social media star.
"Oh man, I'm smiling from ear to ear," Alonzo's dad, Al, said this week. "It's very heartwarming. It's a blessing. It's so nice that somebody noticed it.
"This is his passion, and when Trey opened up that channel, it's a whole new world for Alonzo."
Of course, Alonzo, 17, was devastated when the Aztecs didn't win on Saturday. They didn't stay focused early against Boise State, as he had admonished, giving up a punt return and fumble return for touchdowns in the first quarter in a 31-14 loss.
"He wears his heart on his sleeve," Al Anquillano said, "and he was pretty depressed for a couple of days, pouting around the house. I told him it's one day at a time, one game at a time. It's not the end of the season."
At the family's Scripps Ranch home on Tuesday night, Alonzo sat waiting for dinner as his mom, Arlette, busied herself in the kitchen. He was out of his funk and optimistic about Saturday's critical West Division matchup at home against Fresno State.
He had not yet written his letter to the team _ as he has done every week since the season started _ but was planning to.
Alonzo speaks deliberately, earnestly and intensely about the Aztecs.
"Last weekend, we were not ready and prepared," he said. "This weekend, they should be excited and fired up, and bring the heat against the Bulldogs.
"We should just bring our confidence. Block well; (quarterback Christian) Chapman has to make good decisions with the football. Do not lose it again. Penny, he needs to score touchdowns this time."
Alonzo and his family, which includes 14-year-old brother Apollo, aren't Aztecs bandwagoners. They are diehards who stuck with the team through some terrible years before Rocky Long arrived as defensive coordinator and then became the head coach.
"I'm a defensive guy, so God bless Rocky," Al said with a smile.
Al and Arlette, who are Filipino-Americans raised in military families, were high school sweethearts at Mira Mesa. Though numerous family members of Al's went to SDSU, he attended Long Beach State because it had the major he wanted. He is a graphics designer.
Arlette, a school teacher, received all of her education as an Aztec, and she now mentors prospective teaching students from SDSU. She was her mentor program's Teacher of the Year in 2016.
The couple has regularly attended Aztecs games since the mid-1980s, and Al has an impressive memory for results, statistics, coaches and players. He passed that down to Alonzo, who was diagnosed as a young child as being developmentally disabled. He has been in special education classes since kindergarten.
Alonzo loves to play basketball and has been a star on Special Olympics teams, but there's nothing quite like watching football for him.
"He's like a human VCR," Al said of his son.
"When he wants to say something, he lets it out. He'll talk your ears off. It's a 'Rain Man' type of thing the way he can drop stats and other stuff. He'll hang out watching videos from the 1990s, bowl games.
"There are three important things in his life: San Diego State, video games and food."
Al chuckled when he said that even in the Madden video games, Alonzo insists on having his teams run in an Aztecs-like I-formation on offense because he detests the spread.
Alonzo's new connection to the team began with a chance conversation. The boy was talking to a teacher at Mira Mesa about SDSU in the presence of Phil Lomax, a teacher and coach. Phil was then introduced as Trey's dad, and Alonzo was thrilled.
That's when the letters started arriving, and Phil Lomax began passing them on to Trey.
Alonzo's face lit up when asked about Trey sharing his letter.
"I appreciate them knowing who I am," he said. "I've given Rocky Long some good advice for his game plans. He knows who I am and likes my advice. He loves it!"
The Aztecs players are loving it.
"It's so great, because you can tell how much he cares about the program," Trey Lomax said. "He's a great kid."
Added cornerback Kameron Kelly, "You never really think about kids knowing your name or kids looking up to you. ... It probably means just as much to him as it does to us.
"We want to win for him. Really disappointed we couldn't get the win for him last week. We'll try and do it this week."
Kelly said he'd like to meet Alonzo, and that may happen this week when the family attends the game.
Poignantly, the Anquillanos were at SDCCU Stadium for the Boise State game, and as they exited an elevator they came upon Aztecs super fan Tom Ables, who they waved to as he passed in a wheel chair. On Monday, Ables, who attended 788 SDSU football games, died.
It struck an emotional chord in Alonzo's mom when she heard the news.
"To see our own child, even though he has a disability, have this much passion ... " Arlette said. "Maybe, in some sense, it's a passing of the torch."
The Anquillanos understand that Alonzo will probably never attend SDSU as a student, but hope that he'll be a part of the program long into the future.
"He's an Aztec fan for life," Arlette said.
