Heart and SKOL: Adrian Peterson’s Run to Vikings Ring of Honor

Jasper Brinkley first met Adrian Peterson as a college senior.

Sidney Rice, whom Brinkley teamed and roomed with at the University of South Carolina, returned to his alma mater after his 2007 debut season with the Vikings and brought fellow rookie Peterson along.

Brinkley recalled being introduced to Peterson and thinking, "This dude's chiseled like a Greek god."

"But he was nice," Brinkley added with a smile. "And that was amazing because it was like, 'This guy's the leading rusher in the National Football League, but he has a heart of gold."

Peterson continued to demonstrate the down-to-earth nature that starkly contrasted his superhero abilities.

When the Vikings drafted Brinkley 150^th overall in 2009, it was Peterson and Rice who picked up the youngster at the airport for Minnesota's rookie minicamp weekend. The elder players consistently chauffeured the rookie linebacker between practice and the hotel — and when Peterson hired a barber to work out of his house every Friday night, he invited Brinkley to come by for weekly haircuts.

"I just kept going, hanging out there, because it was always so welcoming," Brinkley said. "Adrian is like family to me, and I'm thankful to be his friend, thankful to know him.

"He's always been amazing. He would give you the shirt off his back," added Brinkley, who is now Vikings Director of Player Engagement.

Many of Peterson's former teammates express similar sentiments about the running back whose epic football journey included 10 phenomenal seasons in Purple and Gold.

Peterson spoke with Vikings Entertainment Network in advance of his upcoming Vikings Ring of Honor induction and was asked about being the genuine friend and teammate he's lauded as.

"It was important to me," said Peterson before pausing, rethinking, then adding, "I can't even say it was important. It was just me being me. To treat people how I like to be treated, no matter your status or what caliber of player you are.

"I treat everybody like family," he said, smiling easily. "That's just kind of how I am naturally. So, it was just me being me."

From Day 1

Rice still remembers the first day he met Peterson, as the pair worked out during the pre-draft process at the same gym in Arizona.

"I'll never forget walking into the facility," Rice said. "Nobody else is in the weight room, and I look down to the left and I just see muscles popping up everywhere. It was the most ridiculous thing. He was on, probably, his sixth set of pull-ups and every single muscle was bulging out. It was like, 'Wow. So this is Adrian Peterson.'

"We became really good friends there, did the Rookie Premier together," Rice added. "He ended up being the first-round draft pick, and I was the second. We became really good friends and then best friends shortly after that."

Peterson and Rice roomed together during rookie minicamp and then for road games over the next four seasons before Rice joined Seattle.

What was it like having Peterson as a roommate?

"He wasn't annoying for me, but I think it was more annoying for the hotel staff," Rice laughed. "Adrian used to always keep this big dip in his mouth and, I tell this story to people all the time, he must have ruined 100,000 pillowcases drooling drip out of his mouth."

The Vikings drafted Peterson 7^th overall in 2007. Ninety-five selections later, they tabbed fellow Texas native Brian Robison.

Though Peterson and Robison didn't know each other well, the former Oklahoma and Texas standouts, respectively, held a mutual respect. The two started their careers at Minnesota together, and Robison noticed the exact qualities Brinkley would later appreciate.

Robison teamed with Peterson for the duration of the RB's Vikings career — and those traits never faded, regardless of how high Peterson climbed in the record books.

"It didn't matter if you were a practice squad guy or you were a five-time Pro Bowler," Robison said. "He shook your hand, he looked you in the eye, you had conversations. It didn't matter who you were — you could talk to him. Nobody was off-limits.

"That was one thing I always respected about him," Robison added. "You could tell he was very humble, very real, understood and appreciated where he came from."

Where he came from, of course, is the small town of Palestine in East Texas.

Palestine is part of Peterson's makeup. It's where, at just 7 years old, he witnessed his brother Brian riding his bicycle and being fatally struck by a drunk driver. It's where he navigated his teenage years without the physical presence of his father, Nelson, who served prison time.

Peterson played for Palestine High School, where as a senior in 2003 he rushed for a whopping 2,960 yards and 32 touchdowns on 252 carries. As legend has it, high school opponents — and once even a referee — asked for “All Day’s” autograph.

Palestine represents both heartache and heroism for Peterson, who has never forgotten the lessons he learned there and the way his parents raised him to be polite, respectful and kind. He also credits his Christian faith for providing him perspective.

"Of course, I'm human, and I hurt and I feel pain," Peterson said. "But it's all about how you respond to different things that happen throughout your life that makes you and shapes you into the person you are."

Phil Loadholt saw that person firsthand while playing seven years with Peterson in Minnesota.

Loadholt shares an alma mater with A.D., but the two didn't overlap at Oklahoma since Loadholt played two seasons of community college ball prior to joining the Sooners.

"He was very down to earth and humble," Loadholt recalled of Peterson, who regularly visited Oklahoma after being drafted by the Vikings. "He was a quiet dude. He was great.

"You'd never be able to tell who he was unless — I mean, obviously everybody knew who Adrian was, but he never acted that way at all," Loadholt continued. "He was just a humble dude who was fun to be around."

He noted the way Peterson opened up from his "really quiet" nature after getting to know someone.

And while he may have been on the introverted side, Peterson never shied away from the opportunity to prank teammates.

"He'd have your shoes filled with water or something like that," Loadholt said, an exasperated headshaking practically visible through the phone.

And don't even get Peterson's former teammates started on how much he enjoyed competition.

With anyone. In anything.

Former Vikings quarterback Joe Webb called Peterson "a real laid-back, real chill guy" in the locker room until some sort of game got started.

"We used to have a basketball hoop in the locker room where we kind of had our downtime, and me and him definitely played a lot because our lockers were close by," Webb recalled. "We would play P.I.G., shoot around because we'd have tape [stuck down]. He'd make a 3-point line tape, free-throw line.

"We used to play games like 'Bones,' what you might call Dominoes," Webb added. "He was one of the first guys on the table. When we'd get out of practice, 'Hey, anybody want to play?' He definitely was a team-bonding type of guy, as far as getting everybody together to do some type of activity."

When did Peterson's competitive nature show up?

"Ha! I think the question is, when didn't it show up?" Robison quipped. "Even if it was something he knew nothing about, Adrian would come in and be like, 'I think I can do better.' And he would figure it out.

"It really didn't matter what it was," Robison added. "It could be video games; it could be Rock, Paper, Scissors; it really did not matter. For him, it was always a competition."

Loadholt fondly remembers playing pool at Peterson's home or shooting baskets in the locker room's mini hoop.

"If you walked by, you'd have to play. Anybody walking in there wanting to shoot, he'll shoot with you," Loadholt laughed. "We'd go over to his house, and he's got all types of little card games, Dominoes, whatever it is he's going to play you in that day. … And he's good at everything, too, which made it even harder. Pool, ping pong, whatever it is, he'd sit there for hours, 'Next, next, next,' just cycling through guys."

The intensity of Peterson's competitive streak even threatened to take the fun out of some situations, Ring of Honor defensive tackle Kevin Williams noted.

"Things would turn into him being super-competitive," he said with a chuckle. "I mean, he wanted to compete in everything.

"But that aspect of him also made him the football player he is," Williams added. "I mean, that's why he's going into the [Vikings] Ring of Honor and, soon, the [Pro Football] Hall of Fame — because of that competitiveness he had."

Beating the odds

Peterson carried the same dedicated approach to practice sessions, game day or in shooting pool with a teammate.

And he did the same when attacking rehab.

Christmas Eve 2011 marked the day Peterson tore his left ACL and MCL during a matchup at Washington. Devastation reverberated throughout the Vikings fanbase that watched the team ultimately finish the season 3-13. To see Peterson sidelined for up to a year because of an injury suffered in an inconsequential game felt hard to swallow.

Peterson simply refused to accept the projected timeline, though, this time competing against doctors' opinions and previous athletes' timetables for return.

"When they told him, 'Hey, it's gonna be three, four weeks before you can do this, he always took it as, 'Well, I'm gonna see if I can do it in two weeks.' And I think that was something that helped him along the way," Robison said. "There's obviously times that you worry about setbacks in recovery, but Adrian was just a different type of person. He was physically built different, and he had a different mindset.

"You never saw him waver from who he was," Robison added. "I mean, I'm sure there were some tough days, but he never let it be seen."

Williams recalled thinking, along with the rest of the team, they wouldn't have Peterson back in the fold until late during the 2012 season.

"And then we look up at summer workouts and he's there working out with us, running, doing everything like normal," Williams said. "From the time he opened his eyes after surgery, he was grinding, trying to get back."

At Winter Park, the former Vikings training facility in Eden Prairie, a hill covered in purple carpet was constructed so players could run at different inclines. Loadholt remembers arriving at Winter Park for spring workouts and spying Peterson at work on the hill.

"I come back and see him running like literally nothing happened to him. And that wasn't too long after surgery. I was like, 'Oh, he might play now,' " Loadholt said. "He was running full-speed on this hill with a knee brace on, and I was like, 'This dude is a machine.' "

Loadholt internally predicted a "crazy season" for Peterson after seeing his comeback in action … and turned out to be entirely accurate.

Come Week 1 of the 2012 season, Peterson was ready to go. He started all 16 regular-season games for Minnesota that year, racking up 2,097 yards, missing the single-season record by 9 yards, and 12 touchdowns on 348 attempts. He helped the Vikings go 10-6 and play in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, where they unfortunately fell to Green Bay.

Peterson received NFL MVP honors following the season, as well as NFL Offensive Player of the Year. No other non-quarterback has been named MVP since.

"He was a guy who took on challenges, and that was another challenge for him to take on," Webb said of Peterson's knee injury. "People were saying with a messed-up ACL, the way he runs, he's not going to be able to recover that fast or he's not going to be the same guy coming back and everything of that nature. So he took all that and basically used it as extra motivation to bounce back.

"That just speaks to his character," Webb added. "When adversity hits, he thrives on it. He accepts the challenge."

'Never that guy'

The Vikings experienced their fair share of adversity during Peterson's tenure.

Take, for instance, the 2010 season — during which Randy Moss was brought back to the team for a short stint; Head Coach Brad Childress was relieved of his duties midseason; the Metrodome roof collapsed, leading to the Vikings home game being moved to Tuesday and played in Detroit; and Brett Favre's "iron man" streak snapped when he suffered an injury at the University of Minnesota's outdoor field.

Even amid such an unpredictable season, Peterson kept his composure and kept things united in the locker room.

"It was a crazy season, but Adrian stayed even-keeled the entire time. He continued to be himself," Loadholt recalled. "Regardless of whether we were — we went 12-4 the year before, [then] we ended up [6-10] in 2010, but he still made it fun to go into work every single day.

"As a younger player, being my second year, I really learned a lot from him," Loadholt continued. "I'll never forget at the end of the 2009 season, Pat Williams and a couple guys were talking about, 'You better enjoy this; it doesn't happen every year.' […] I got to see how Adrian went about things. He's competitive as all get-out. We're facing 8-man boxes every game, and he's still busting his a** and working hard every single day, whether it was practice or whatever. "I really learned how to be a pro that year, for sure, because of all the adversity we went through," he added. "We still had some good core guys, and Adrian obviously being at the front of that, just staying even-keeled, staying the course and trying to do what he could to right the season a little bit. He remained himself through all of that. Never changed one bit."

Webb distinctly remembers the turbulence of 2010 and, in particular, making his first NFL start in Minnesota's second-to-last game.

Webb had stepped in the previous week for Favre and now faced a raucous crowd of Eagles fans on the road in Philadelphia. Peterson reassured his teammate, reminding him to trust his instinct and his view of the field.

"He definitely was a helping hand as far as keeping me calm," Webb said. "I'd come back to the sidelines, 'Joe, you're doing a good job. Just keep leading us.' … And at the same time, Adrian's being a leader and having a very good game."

Peterson carried the ball 22 times for 118 yards and a touchdown that night, helping Minnesota defeat Philly 24-14. Webb finished the game a respectable 17-of-26 passing with a rushing score and no interceptions, and Percy Harvin logged 100 receiving yards.

"We all played good collectively, but Adrian gave me encouraging words before, during and obviously after the game," Webb said. "Adrian's always been a great teammate. He always had some positive, strong words to say, and that was to everybody. He was never a guy to speak negatively, or — you know how they say a bad apple spoils the whole bunch? Adrian was never that guy."

Robison noted you "always knew who you were getting" with Peterson, and former Vikings center John Sullivan echoed thoughts on the running back's dependably positive demeanor.

"The whole locker room liked him – and appreciated him," Sullivan said. "He made our whole team better. We had good team culture, and he was a big part of that culture."

Consistent with his character, Peterson respectfully shrugs off compliments related to things that simply come naturally to him.

"Just being a leader, man, you've just gotta continue to motivate guys and try to speak life into your teammates," he said. "Football seasons can be like a roller coaster. You can have ups and downs, you're going to have a stretch where things — you might have a loss or two in a row, but then again, it's all about how you respond to it. So [I just played] that role as a leader — motivating guys and then leading by example, going out there and grinding and working throughout the games."

Always a helper

On and off the field, Peterson has always been quick to offer help where needed.

Rice pointed to a frigid December early in their career when Vikings teammates planned to meet for dinner but got a phone call that quarterback Tarvaris Jackson's car had broken down. The group doubled back to meet Jackson where his vehicle had gotten a flat tire.

"We pull off to the side of the road, everybody's freezing, and we're trying to get the tire off," Rice remembered.

After multiple unsuccessful attempts, Jackson conceded to call a tow truck. The solution didn't sit well with Peterson, though, who refused to give up and leave Jackson's luxury sedan in the snow.

"So Adrian walks around to the back of the car on the driver's side and he's like, 'All right, I'm gonna pick it up. I'm gonna pick it up and you guys try to get the tire,' " Rice recounted. "I'm like, 'What?' He gets down and proceeds to pick up the back of this Lexus that weighs 3,000 pounds, and everybody just looks at each other, like, 'What in the world?'

"We still couldn't get it off," Rice added with a laugh. "But that was just always Adrian's mentality. Always a great friend, always driven, didn't want to leave anything or anyone behind."

That included teammates who may only have spent a short stint with Peterson.

Throughout his Vikings career, Rice noted, Peterson would gift his training camp checks to rookie running backs, some of them unlikely to survive final roster cuts.

"We'd have guys who pretty much knew they weren't going to make the team … and his running backs, Adrian took care of them every single time," Rice said. "He never signed one of those checks for himself — he gave them all to this rookie running backs. It said a lot about his character and who he was, his willingness to help out people around him."

During his decade in Minnesota, Peterson was active on Community Tuesdays, from helping with the team's annual playground build and golfing in the team's charity tournament, to making visits to local children's hospitals. He and his wife Ashley hosted "Christmas with the Petersons" multiple times; in 2016, they provided gifts for 36 families — including 101 children — from the Upper Midwest American Indian Center in North Minneapolis.

"We try to [serve] underprivileged communities and areas, because we know there are a lot of families that go without during Christmas," Peterson said at the time. "We did our research, and this [organization] came to our hearts, so we decided to come here."

Adrian and Ashley in 2019 established the A&A Peterson Family Foundation, with a mission to "encourage and empower individuals and families to work together to make a difference in our communities."

Rice last year launched his own nonprofit, Doers of the Good, and reached out to Peterson about getting involved.

"It wasn't even a question," Rice said. "He's the same exact person. It's great to spend time with him, and he's still doing the same things he was doing then. He's a very inspirational human being."

When Robison's 12-year-old son Parker recently suffered a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus while playing football back in Texas, Robison contacted his former Vikings teammate.

Per usual, Peterson didn't hesitate to offer support.

"I've seen him go through it and I've seen the way he came out on the other side of it. Adrian's going to FaceTime Parker and talk to him about the trials and things he's got coming up," Robison said. "It just goes to show you what type of person he is. He's always trying to help people and have a positive impact on people.

"I think Adrian did a ton of stuff for people that will never be read, never be published, never be talked about," continued Robison, whose own family has operated similarly. "When you truly are giving back to people and trying to make an impact, you're not doing it for headlines, you're not doing it for clout.

"He did numerous things for people in the locker room, people outside of the locker room, for young fans outside the stadiums," Robison added. "Adrian was a superstar on the field. But off the field, he was just one of those guys that was always very approachable and treated every human being the same."

Peterson now prepares to enter the Vikings Ring of Honor, where he'll be esteemed among other organizational greats who have left a legacy on the field as well as off. He's deeply grateful to have left such an indelible impression on those he's teamed with, learned from, given back to and played for.

Minnesota carries tremendous meaning, Peterson said, because of the people. It's always been about the people.

"It's so diverse, right? And the love that the fans and the people in Minnesota showed me from the moment I stepped into this city is something that'll last a lifetime," Peterson said. "All the support, the love, the stories. I've heard so many stories … oh man, from grown women and grown men talking about their childhood and watching me play, bringing their jerseys up to get them signed, taking pictures and telling me stories about how they were able to overcome X, Y or Z in their life.

"Like they say, there's no place like home," Peterson added with a smile. "It's special, man. It's a special place, and I'll always bleed Purple."