Vikings' Joe Berger goes from defunct in D-II to NFL

March 18, 2003, was the day that Joe Berger thought his football career was over.

"It was," the Vikings offensive lineman said, "a miserable day."

Berger was playing right tackle at Michigan Tech, a Division II school with 7,013 students in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He and his fellow Huskies were at the football building long before the sun arrived that day.

"We were there for our 5 a.m. run, but the coaches weren't there, which was really strange," Berger said. "We're thinking, 'This is crazy. Where are they?'"

Bad news came walking through the door a few moments later.

"You could tell by the look on their faces it wasn't good," Berger said. "Our coach, Bernie Anderson, said, 'Football's been canceled. You guys are free to go home.'"

Now there's something Christian Ponder probably never heard at Florida State.

"I lived in a house with five guys, and we all played football," Berger said. "We go home about two hours later, and there's probably 20 messages on the phone from other D-II coaches wanting to talk to one or the other of us."

Berger guesses about five to 10 players, some of them starters, transferred that week. Berger never even considered it, even though he had two years of eligibility left.

"I went to school to be an [mechanical] engineer, and that's what I was going to do," Berger said. "At that point, the NFL wasn't even on the radar. You just don't go from Michigan Tech to the NFL."

Ten long days later, Anderson, the Huskies coach, had twisted enough wealthy alumni arms into paying the tab to save the football team, which is still alive to this day.

But even then, Berger never thought his NFL future was being saved.

Wikipedia lists 43 notable Michigan Tech alums who have gone on to play in the NHL. As for the NFL, well, there's just one: Joe Berger, who wasn't even recruited, but rather walked on because his father said Joe might get bored being so far from his hometown of Newaygo, Mich.

"I think I'm it," Berger said of the NFL notables. "There may have been a couple of guys in the '80s who made it to a training camp. But I can't remember their names."

Berger was a sixth-round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers in 2005. But he never played for them. He went to Miami for the first of two stints with the Dolphins, playing three games in 2005 before signing with the Cowboys in 2006.

Berger played five games in two years with the Cowboys before going back to Miami in 2009. As a five-year veteran, he made his NFL starting debut with six starts for injured center Jake Grove that season.

A year later, Berger took Grove's job, forcing the Dolphins to cut Grove after paying him $14 million for playing what ended up being only 12 games for them.

"You get a guy on your team that you think is a depth player, and all of a sudden the guy develops over time into a starting center," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano told reporters at the time. "A lot happened [in 2009] when [Berger] played. The dividing line [between Grove and Berger] wasn't big, and then it started going the other way."

Berger was released by the Dolphins on Sept. 5. A week later, after the season-opening loss at San Diego, the Vikings signed Berger to add the experience and size (6-5, 315) they desperately lacked behind their starting interior linemen.

Today, Berger is one of the team's most valuable linemen. He got his 21st NFL start last week when a concussion kept center John Sullivan out of the Packers game. He obviously didn't hurt the team since the Vikings had a season-high 435 yards of total offense, including 218 yards rushing.

Sullivan is back this week, but right guard Anthony Herrera (knee) is likely out. So Berger is preparing for his first NFL start at guard.

"I never played guard until I got to the NFL," Berger said. "But when you get to this level, if you don't start, you had better learn how to play multiple positions or you won't be around long."

It's been eight years since Berger thought his football career was over. He'll be 30 in May and most likely still playing in the NFL.

"Will I ever become a mechanical engineer?" asked Berger, repeating a question. "Yeah. Eventually."