Darrin Milo Nelson (born January 2, 1959) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

and

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Early years

Nelson attended Pius X High School. He accepted a football scholarship from

to play under head coach Bill Walsh. In his first year, he was named the starter and became the first freshman

in conference history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. He registered 183 carries for 1,069 yards, 3 rushing touchdowns, 50 receptions for 524 yards and 3 receiving touchdowns. As a sophomore, he posted 167 carries for 1,061 yards, 6 rushing touchdowns, 50 receptions for 446 yards and 4 receiving touchdowns. In 1979, he was lost for the season with a hamstring injury. As a junior, he had 161 carries for 889 yards, 4 rushing touchdowns, 47 receptions for 552 yards and 4 receiving touchdowns. As a senior, he collected 192 carries for 1,014 yards, 11 rushing touchdowns, 67 receptions for 846 yards and 5 receiving touchdowns. Nelson was a dual threat as a rusher and receiver, becoming the first player in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and catch more than 50 passes in one season. He accomplished this feat three times. He finished his college career with the school records for rushing yards (4,033), receptions (214), touchdowns (40), scoring (242 points), while also setting the NCAA record with 6,885 career all-purpose yards. He was inducted into the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2014, he was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings (first stint)

Nelson was selected by the

in the first round (7th overall) of the

1982 NFL Draft The 1982 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 27–28, 1982, at the New York She ...

. As a rookie, he experienced a strike-shortened season that was reduced to 9 games, finishing second on the team to Ted Brown with 136 rushing yards. As a

, Nelson was a threat as both a runner and as receiver out of the backfield, though he is perhaps best known for dropping the game-tying touchdown on 4th down in the closing moments of the 1987 NFC Championship Game. In 1988, he missed three games with an injury. In 1989, he staged an acrimonious contract holdout and lost his starting position to

D.J. Dozier William Henry "D.J." Dozier, Jr. (born September 21, 1965) is an American former National Football League running back and Major League Baseball outfielder. He played five seasons with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions from 1987 to 1 ...

. On October 12, Nelson was traded to the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

as part of the

Herschel Walker Trade The Herschel Walker trade was the largest player trade in the history of the National Football League (NFL). This deal on October 12, 1989, centered on sending running back Herschel Walker from the Dallas Cowboys to the Minnesota Vikings. Including ...

. At the time he had appeared in 5 games as a backup, registering 67 carries for 321 yards and 38 receptions for 380 yards.

San Diego Chargers

On October 17, 1989, after refusing to report to Dallas, he was traded to the

in exchange for a fifth round draft choice (#116-Reggie Thornton) as part of the

Herschel Walker trade The Herschel Walker trade was the largest player trade in the history of the National Football League (NFL). This deal on October 12, 1989, centered on sending running back Herschel Walker from the Dallas Cowboys to the Minnesota Vikings. Including ...

. He was the third-string running back behind

Marion Butts Marion Stevenson Butts, Jr. (born August 1, 1966) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Diego Chargers, the New England Patriots and the H ...

and Tim Spencer. On September 3, 1990, he was released and later re-signed. He was the fourth-string running back during that season.

Minnesota Vikings (second stint)

In 1991, he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

. He was a backup

behind

Herschel Walker Herschel Junior Walker (born March 3, 1962) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He was also the Republican nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia. ...

and Terry Allen and was also the team's kickoff returner for two seasons. On August 30, 1992, he was released and later re-signed. He announced his retirement on June 30, 1993. For his career, Nelson rushed for 4,442 yards, caught 286 passes for 2,559 yards and scored 23 touchdowns (18 rushing and 5 receiving) in 152 games.

Career stats

Personal life

Nelson spent 15 years in the administration at

. In 2011, Nelson became the Senior Associate Athletic Director for the University of California Irvine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Darren 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Downey, California Players of American football from California American football running backs Stanford Cardinal football players Minnesota Vikings players San Diego Chargers players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Ed Block Courage Award recipients