Darrin Nelson

Darren Milo Nelson (born January 2, 1959 in Sacramento, California) is a former professional American football player in the National Football League who played for the majority of his career with the Minnesota Vikings. Nelson, who spent his early years in his birthplace of Sacremento, also grew up in nearby Downey, California.

High school and NCAA collegiate career
Nelson played his prep football at Pius X High School in Downey, California where he was a standout tailback, and was recruited by new Cardinal head coach and future San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh, whom he would play for two seasons, his freshman and junior seasons, in 1977. At Stanford, Nelson amassed a career total of 4,033 rushing yards, tushed for 1,000 yards three out his four seasons there, and scored 24 touchdowns, with a career 5.74 rush average. In 1978, his freshman year, Nelson ran for 177 yards on only 17 carries and caught four passes as Stanford won the 81st Big GameClassic, 30-10, over the Californa Golden Bears before a sellout crowd of 77,880 at Memorial Stadium. In his senior year, 1981, whils playing for new head coach Paul Wiggin, a former NFL player and assistant coach, Nelson went of to rush for 1,014 yards, in finishing sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting for that season (the trophy was awarded to Elway, his backfield mate that year).

After sitting out the 1979 season due to injury, Nelson rebounded to rush for 889 yards and four rushing TD's, and also caught 47 passes for 552 yards and five touchdowns.

NFL Career
Nelson was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the 1st round (7th overall) in 1982 NFL Draft after graduating from Stanford University. He spent eight seasons with the Vikings; 1982–1989, as well as one full season with the San Diego Chargers. Nelson would spend the final nine games of the 1989 season and the entire 1990 season with the Chargers. Following his year and a half away from the Vikings, Nelson eventually returned to the team in 1991 and stayed there for the final two years of his playing career, 1991–1992.

Nelson was actually traded from the Vikings to the Cowboys as part of the infamous Herschel Walker Trade in 1989. However, after refusing to report to Dallas, he was subsequently traded to the San Diego Chargers. As a running back with his particular athletic skills on the playing field, Nelson was a dual threat as both a runner and as receiver coming out of the backfield. For his career, Nelson rushed for a regular season total of 4,442 yards, caught 286 passes for 2,559 yards and scored 23 touchdowns (18 rushing and 5 receiving) in 152 games.

Post playing career
In 2007, Nelson was hired by his alma mater, Stanford University as a Senior Associate Athletic Director in External Relations/Development, where he served for four seasons, before moving on to his present job at UC Irvine to accept a similar position as its Senior Associate Athletic Director, serving under Athletic Director Mike Izzi.