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July 30, 2008

Peterson remains motivated through stardom

By Shane Frederick

Adrian Peterson walked out of Highland Center and into the hot Mankato sun hanging almost straight above him late Saturday morning. The Vikings had just completed a two-hour training-camp workout and had another scheduled for that night.

Lunch was the next item on the running back’s agenda, and food was probably on his mind, too.

A few of his teammates hopped on their bikes and headed toward Gage Center to eat, and a whole mess of fans called out to Peterson from behind the barricades.

For a moment, Peterson appeared to mull over the dilemma: Fill the fans’ hunger for autographs or answer his own hunger pangs.

He easily could have big-timed the fans, called out, “Catch you tomorrow,” put on his headphones and pedaled away. He could have pointed to his wrist, said, “I gotta go,” and got away across Stadium Road. He could have done what many other players did and simply put his head down and ignored their begging and pleading.

But Peterson, who now a bona fide NFL superstar, wasn’t too big for the masses. He went over to the gaggle, and he signed.

For nearly 15 minutes, Peterson put his mark on jerseys, T-shirts, footballs and posters. He signed until a security guard finally escorted him away so he could eat and get to afternoon meetings.

It was one year ago today that Peterson underwent is first training camp practice in Mankato. He had missed the team’s first three days of practice while his contract was being finalized.

He arrived already crowned by Minnesota fans as the Great Purple Hope and more than lived up to the hype.

Peterson never downplayed those expectations, either.

“I set my bar high,” he said in his first training camp press conference a year ago. “I’m not, right, now, just going to throw out any numbers, but I can sit here and tell you I would like to get Rookie of the Year and MVP. That is just how I set my bar.”

Peterson, of course, did get rookie of the year, as he exploded onto the scene with 1,341 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. He did get an MVP — of the Pro Bowl — although his most memorable game was the one against the San Diego Chargers when he set the NFL’s single-game record with 296 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns.

He made it look simple, yet he said things are even simpler this year.

“It is a lot different,” he said. “You come in more comfortable, more relaxed, knowing the offense and things like that. It makes the game a little easier for me. I came in last year not knowing anything, so it is definitely a different year.”

Veteran safety Darren Sharper said he often wonders about how players coming off great seasons will respond their next time out.

Through just a handful of practices, Sharper said he has little doubt that Peterson will raise his bar higher.

“He looks better than he did last year; he does,” Sharper said. “The guy’s special. When it comes to players like that, we gotta come up with a better adjective than ‘special.’ I gotta get my thesaurus out.”



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Call him at 344-6373 or e-mail sfrederick@mankatofreepress.com.

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