There were so many directions Namane Modise could have traveled.
His father Molise died when he was 5 years old.
His mother Vivienne, an elementary school teacher, was now challenged by having to single-handedly raise her baby boy, his twin sister Naledi and two older siblings.
Throw into the mix having to navigate the often rough-and-tumble streets of Oakland, well, young Namane Modise matured quickly.
"It really hit me when I was about seven that I had to grow up kinda on my own," says Modise, proud of that fact that 15 years later a degree in mechanical engineering from UC Davis is not far off.
But Modise is still navigating crowds.
You see, Namane Modise is a running back and kick returner for the Aggies — and he expects the 2018 football season to not only be special for his teammates, but incredibly fulfilling for him personally.
"There was a lot of adversity in my life," Modise remembers, but quickly adds: "We all got through it. For me? What we went through motivates, drives me still to this day."
Namane, now 21 years old, was a just little kid when he discovered his father, stricken at home by what would be a fatal aneurysm.
The loss of his father is a forever hurt.
"I miss him dearly. Growing up without a father can take a toll on you," explains Modise. "Back to my Pop Warner days, youth basketball and later at track meets, I would see everybody's fathers guiding them, pep-talking them, just being with them…
"I didn't have that, I was making things up as I went. I was doing everything on my own."
Well, almost.
Modise and Naledi were fortunate to have brother Ne-o and sister Nkateko, each about 10 years the twins' elders.
And then there was Mom…
"She was the rock. She did everything. Not only for me, but all my siblings," remembers Modise. "She held it all down. For her to do all she did for me and my brother and sisters, I can never repay her. I'm just grateful for a mother who sacrificed so much. And they way she taught us: hey, look, we're all successful."
(Ne-o is a recruiter for Facebook, Nkateko works for a San Francisco tech firm and Naledi attends Santa Monica City College with an eye on transferring to a Chicago art school.)
Regardless, the youthful Namane was living on a slippery slope after his father's death.
"I can't lie, it was hard," he says.
Money was tight. The neighborhood often unsavory.
At the ripe old age of seven, Modise and his buddy DeShawn began to cut lawns, clear clutter, paint and do whatever odds jobs needed doing. The money was enough to help pay for sports-league registrations and every so often a new ball or shoes.
Vivienne says he and DeShawn got so good at what they were doing, there was "even some occasional money to go to the household."
But when it was time to play, even that wasn't easy. Some of Namane's circle of friends were considered "mischievous." Some were hanging out with older, "bad" crowds.
One evening, says Modise, he and DeShawn were playing basketball. Occasional sirens split the night. The basketball rim was uneven. Passerbys were offering little kids, like these two, a push down that slippery slope.
"That very night I sat on a street corner wondering 'Why me? I was thinking at that time how much I missed my dad," Modise explained. "It would have been easy to envy other kids or be jealous of them because they had dads. It was at that point it hit me: I had to grow up quick."
DeShawn and Namane picked up the pace on their careers as handymen, er, kids.
Modise says he started paying a little more attention in school (although not enough yet, he adds).
"I had to do this not only for me, but my mom," the UC Davis student-athlete recalls.
"I wanted to stay on the right track. Play sports, make her proud in school … and do any little thing I could to make things easier on her. Anything I could do."
Eventually the family moved to San Lorenzo. His older siblings went on to college and Modise began commuting by BART to Castro Valley High, where his talent for football and track blossomed.
By the time he was a senior, word was out. This little guy could fly.
Namane's Uncle Ronny would take the budding standout to Cal football games. He'd get to root for Bears' running back Marshawn Lynch and grew to become a big fan of all things Blue-and-Gold.
(The irony wouldn't be lost on Modise when a few years later, Lynch's former coach Ron Gould became the UC Davis coach and would convince Modise that Aggie Stadium was the place to be.)
But that trip had to wait.
As good as Modise became — he gained more than a 1,000 yards during his final prep year — that grade-point average lingered around 2.5.
"I couldn't fall into the wrong crowd. I needed to focus. I wanted to come to Davis," Namane explained. "I was having another reality check."
He knew he had to do something about those grades, but he also knew to get through junior college he needed some cash.
That work ethic Vivienne talked of kicked into high gear. Namane's desire for a higher education intensified. He was a football player, but now was becoming a serious scholar now that UC Davis was on the horizon.
"I got a job at Oakland Airport," Modise reports. "I worked 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. I'd come home, get a couple hours sleep, then take BART — 45 minutes each way — to school for classes, practice and weights."
He did that for a couple years.
The results?
Another 1,000-yard season — this time at City College of San Francisco. He also earned Bay 6 League Offensive Player of the Year honors.
More importantly, Modise left CCSF with a 3.8 GPA.
Next stop, Davis.
So what separates Namane from the crowd?
"It's dedication and a passion," says Mom, a native of Jamaica. "He's the kind of kid who, if he sets his mind to something, he will do everything he can until he reaches that goal."
The diminutive Modise (5-8, 180) is geared up for his senior season as an Aggie.
In 2017, despite a broken finger, he rushed for 329 yards on 79 carries, caught 15 passes (141 yards) and returned punts and kickoffs (including a 100-yard kickoff touchdown versus Northern Arizona). His 1,004 all-purpose trailed only All-American Keelan Doss among UC Davis non-quarterbacks.
"I always feel like junior college guys' second year is going to be better than their first year," says Aggie offensive coordinator Tim Plough. "It's a tough transition, to come from a junior college and all of a sudden you're in a top-10 school in the nation with the academics, sports … it's a lot.
"He has the ability to be one of the best return guys in the nation. We saw flashes of that last year."
Now that it's crunch time, Modise expressed "nothing but love and appreciation" for coaches Dan Hawkins, Mark Speckman, Plough and Paul Creighton.
"Thank God they really, really believed in me," a humbled Modise points out. "When you have somebody who believes in you, trusts you, respects you and loves you — not only for football — that gets to you and made me really appreciate them."
Hawkins says the love is a two-way street:
"He has a heart as big as a lion's. Coming to Davis for that guy is just a transformative move for him … and it's been really fulfilling for me, the coaches and his teammates. To see him come from what he's come from and what he's doing and what his future looks like….
"It's a credit to him. I think he kinda looked around at his environment and said 'I gotta fix this' and he did."
Modise says his goal right now is to be the best teammate possible en route to helping UC Davis break a skein of seven straight losing seasons.
"We'll surprise a lot of people this year," he promises.
In the meantime, he's already won.
Just ask Mom.
Every home game, when sees her son run onto Jim Sochor Field, it's made the long, hard haul worth every sacrifice.
"Oh, wow. Such joy. Pure joy. Such pride," says Vivienne, thinking about No. 13 flash into Aggie Stadium. "Just seeing him do something he loves to do, and that he's doing it with a purpose. He always says 'This is for you, Papa.'"
