IAN JOHNSON WANTS THE VIKINGS TO KEEP HIM AROUND

By CHIP SCOGGINS, Star Tribune

Ian Johnson rarely goes a day without someone asking him about the play and the proposal. In fact, he can't remember a day the past two years when it hasn't come up.

He had no idea he would become part of college football lore, but Johnson's overtime heroics and post game marriage proposal to his cheerleader girlfriend in Boise State's wildly entertaining upset of Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl brought him national celebrity that continues to this day.

"If I see anyone outside of my family, I get asked about it at least once a day," Johnson said.

The streak continued Monday, after Johnson signed a rookie free-agent contract with the Vikings. The running back went undrafted this past weekend and, after hearing from 18 NFL teams Sunday night, signed with the Vikings and will participate in the team's rookie mini camp starting Friday at Winter Park.

Johnson, who rushed for 4,183 yards and a Western Athletic Conference-record 58 touchdowns in his career, said the fact that the Vikings have Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor did not discourage him.

"The Vikings couldn't justify taking a running back [in the draft] with what they have already," he said. "But it's a place I can definitely fit in if I come through free agency. I'm going to be the hardest-working guy out there. I'm going to learn this offense as fast as I can so I will be an asset for this team. I will be the best pickup the Vikings made this year."

Johnson is the most notable of the Vikings' 14 rookie free agents, largely because of his role in one of the greatest college football games ever. After the teams combined for 22 points in the final 86 seconds of regulation, Johnson scored a winning two-point conversion on a Statue of Liberty play in overtime to give Boise State a 43-42 victory over the Sooners.

Then, during an interview on national television after the game, Johnson got down on one knee and proposed to girlfriend Chrissy Popadics, a Boise State cheerleader.

"It was a great game, the perfect finish to a game and the perfect way for me to propose to my wife," he said. "I didn't think about any of the repercussions that would come of it, and they're all good repercussions. But I did not think that moment would still be living on in other people's minds today."
The two got married on July 28, 2007.

"I will always cherish the fact that I can show my kids, 'Hey, this is how I proposed to your mother,' " Johnson said.

One Vikings player who probably won't ever forget is Peterson, who had given Oklahoma the lead in overtime on a 25-yard touchdown run in what turned out to be his final college play. Corner back Marcus Walker, a Vikings practice squad player last season, had a 33-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:02 left in regulation.

Johnson said he probably won't break the ice with Peterson by reliving that classic.

"I'm going to try and hold that in my back pocket until I have something better to say," he said.
Instead, Johnson said he wants to watch and learn from Peterson and Taylor.

"There's just so much that those guys do right, I'm going to sit back and be a student of them for a while," he said.
Johnson faces an uphill climb in his bid to make the team, but it's not impossible. Three undrafted rookies made the active roster last season -- Husain Abdullah, Erin Henderson and Darius Reynaud -- and a fourth, Drew Radovich, was in the mix before he got injured.

Johnson hopes to make an impression on special teams initially, but he plans on sticking around. He graduated in December with a degree in business management, but he isn't ready to join the corporate world just yet.

"It's nice to have my degree, but I won't need it for a while," he said. "I'm not done playing football. My job now is to make this football team and to do everything I can to help this organization. That is my No. 1 focus right now."