Meet the 2019 Vikings: Fun facts about your favorite players

Football is back -- or at least preseason games. With that comes the inundation of statistics — who ran for how many yards, in what round was player drafted, what were a player’s stats in college and so on.

Since you’ll be getting enough football stats about the Minnesota Vikings to fill any void you might have, we thought we’d take a look at the lighter side of things.

We scoured through the Vikings media guide and came up with some different and interesting facts about a number of players. While your friends are dishing out Adam Thielen’s receiving yards, you can enlighten them on which player bakes his own bread, who has his high school number retired, who wants to become a mayor and much more.

(And if you're saying, hey, you've done this before. Well, yeah, we them in 2016, 2017 and 2018. But not one fact from those editions appear in this year's.)

Read on, enjoy and be prepared to dazzle your buddies with your inside knowledge of Vikings players.



 

Ameer Abdullah: Graduated from Nebraska with a degree in history, which he completed in 3 1/2 years.

Micah Abernathy: Grandfather, Ralph Sr., was an associate of Martin Luther King Jr. and a leader in the civil rights movement.

Ade Aruna: Bakes his own bread.

Jeff Badet: Very proud of his Haitian roots, has a tattoo of the Haitian flag on his stomach.

Anthony Barr: College roommate of Vikings LB Eric Kendricks.

Kirk Cousins: Minnesota’s first 4,000-yard passer since Brett Favre in 2009.

Austin Cutting: The eighth Air Force player to be drafted in the NFL and first since 1999.

Brandon Dillon: Went to tiny Class 1A Caroll High in Flora, Ind. Had 70 students in his class, the smallest class in Indiana.

Ben Gedeon: Graduated Michigan a semester early with a degree in economics.

Everson Griffen: Enjoys fishing and being on the water in his free time, with boating, wave runners and water skiing among his favorite activities.

Jaylen Holmes: High school teammates with current Packers CB Mike Tyson.

Mike Hughes: Came to the Vikings on a 24-game college win streak and played on undefeated teams in high school and a pair of college stops – Garden City Community College and Central Florida.

Danielle Hunter: Enjoys motor sports and is a car and motor parts enthusiast.

Jaleel Johnson: First player in Montini Catholic HS of Chicago history to play in the NFL.

Brett Jones: A teammate of Chicago DL Akeem Hicks at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Linval Joseph: Santa Fe HS retired his No. 76.

Jayron Kearse: Played on youth football teams in South Florida with future Clemson and Vikings teammate Mackensie Alexander.

Eric Kendricks: One of two Vikings to intercept Tom Brady (Darren Sharper is the other).

Sean Mannion: His 13,600 career passing yards at Oregon State is the second-highest total in Pac-12 history, trailing only Luke Falk of Washington State.

Alexander Mattison: Bilingual and fluent in Spanish.

Dillon Mitchell: Aspires to be the Mayor of Memphis following his football career.

Storm Norton: His first name is ... Storm.

Brian O’Neill: High school teammates with former Villanova star and 2018 Final Four MVP Donte DiVincenzo.

Xavier Rhodes: Attended the same high school (Miami Nortland) as Raiders WR Antonio Brown, where they overlapped in 2005.

Karter Schult: Got a job working at FedEx in the fall of 2018 to pay the bills while training.

Harrison Smith: Flew a 1944 North American B-25 Mitchell Bomber during a visit to the Fagan Fighters World War II Museum in Granite Falls, Minn., during the 2019 offseason.

Jordan Taylor: Hails from the same hometown as Dwight Eisenhower and heroic airline pilot “Sully” Sullenberger.

Duke Thomas: First name is Orlando.

Olisaemeka Udoh: Name translates to “God is good.”

Trae Waynes: Big supporter of the Humane Society, as he has rescued three dogs, including picking up one dog that was dodging traffic in the middle of the street while Waynes was in college.

Stephen Weatherly: Has developed an interest and passion for day trading and cryptocurrencies.

Brandon Zylstra: From age 8-15 he competed on the Little Crow Water Ski Team, traveling the Midwest for events.