CORVALLIS -- Darlene Downey was not going to tell her son about her heart attack.
She worried so much about him, and how he would handle the news, that it has at times brought her to tears.
Downey's son is Christian Wallace, whose move from cornerback to running back marked the first major position change of the Jonathan Smith era and was among the splashiest news from the start of Oregon State's spring football practice earlier this month.
It was her protective sentiment last September that made Downey want to hide from her son that she was on an early morning 17-mile route to the emergency room from her home in San Felipe, Texas, dreading the impact on her youngest child more than her own condition.