Jim Souhan: Dream of Vikings rookie took an unexpected detour

Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield has taken a career risk by expressing his displeasure over the direction of the franchise, but none of the possible outcomes are catastrophic.

Whether he plays in Minnesota or elsewhere, feuds with the organization or reconciles, he's set for life.

While Winfield skipped the Vikings' voluntary offseason practice Tuesday, Chad Johnson was working to attain a modicum of Winfield's security, a fraction of his income, and a few repetitions at his position. Johnson made a diving catch Tuesday, stretching to catch a ball near the sideline, but then excelling in practice has become his specialty. Johnson, 21, is a rookie free agent cornerback who hasn't played in a real football game since 2004, back when his world was a simpler place.

In 2003, he played as a true freshman at Texas Tech. In 2004, he started, and for the second consecutive season missed time because of an ankle sprain. He hasn't played in a game since that season ended.

"That's because my mom got diagnosed," Johnson said. "And I knew I had to move back home."

Johnson grew up near Shreveport, La. After his sophomore season at Tech, his mother, Matilda, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Johnson, an only child, decided she needed help, so he transferred to Northwestern (La.) State, moving him closer to home and farther from his goal.

"It was worth it," he said. "She's doing good. The cancer is in remission right now, so we're blessed. Transferring meant I was 45 minutes away, so I got a chance to go home all the time."

Transferring also meant sitting out the 2005 season as per NCAA rules. He then missed the 2006 season because of his academic issues.

He said transferring in the middle of a semester "threw off" the hours he was required to take toward his major. His coach at Northwestern State, Scott Stoker, put it this way: "He came back with some academic issues that weren't really his fault. You have to meet certain percentages to be eligible, and when all that happened with his mother, he didn't do very well in school."

Football requires hours of study, conditioning and practice. The reward is the explosion of emotion and atmosphere on game day. But for Johnson, there were no game days, not as a player.

"I've been through all of the two-a-days, the summer workouts, I've been doing everything except playing on Saturdays," he said. "I was waiting to get cleared by the NCAA, so I could get back a year of eligibility. Just trying to stay focused on the opportunity.

"I couldn't travel to any of the away games with the team. I went to a few games, drove myself. I had the opportunity to be on the sidelines at a lot of games. The coach, and myself, we looked at me as a team leader, on and off the field, so a lot of the guys fed off what I did, and used it for motivation."

Stoker compared Johnson favorably to Bills cornerback and return specialist Terrence McGee, another Northwestern State product.

"Chad is a great athlete," Stoker said. "He would have made a big difference for us. And you can't fool players. They know who's good, and for Chad to be out there at practice every day, working, talking to them, they certainly listened to him."

Johnson (5-11, 200 pounds) looks stocky and quick. In interviews, he is soft-spoken and so polite he uses the word "sir" as punctuation.

He said that at his pro workouts at Northwestern, he registered a 42-inch vertical leap, an 11-foot broad jump and a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash. In Vikings camp, he looks promising but remains, by definition, a long shot, one with four children (one of his own and three step-kids), a fiancee and mother whose cancer is in remission.

"I'm the first one in my family to get this break," he said. "For me to make it would be a blessing, to know that I was able to endure on this journey.

"Not playing ball, that was the hardest part, because I knew I had ability. Now I've got to keep pushing. There are people counting on me."

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1500 KSTP. jsouhan@startribune.com