Fiesta might be last-chance showcase for Sooners' Peterson

For the record, Adrian Peterson and family don't need the money. Not in a roof-over-our-head, where's-our-next-meal-coming-from sense.

"The family can hold on, that's what I tell him every day," said the father of Oklahoma's junior tailback.

Adrian Peterson's return could overshadow Boise State making only the second appearance by a mid-major in a BCS bowl. (Getty Images)

Nelson Peterson is less than three months out of federal prison, but he and his family are not destitute. His seven-year hitch in the joint for money laundering made national headlines when dad finally saw son play as a collegian on Oct. 14.

That also happened to be the day that the kid they call A.D. (All Day) was all done. He broke his collarbone in a flamboyant dive into the end zone at the end of a touchdown run. His regular season was finished.

The speculation was just beginning.

Logic screams loudly that Monday's Fiesta Bowl against Boise State will be Peterson's final college game. Get a good look. Having missed more than 2½ months, this is his college all-star game, NFL audition wrapped around a BCS bowl.

Injuries to his shoulders, ankle and clavicle make it a common sense decision to declare for the NFL Draft before the mid-January deadline.

Having been a Heisman runner-up and part of two Big 12 champions, there is little more to accomplish. For free.

But Nelson Peterson insists the family can wait another year. As part of his plea agreement, Nelson forfeited three of the four houses he owned in Palestine, Texas, keeping and maintaining one while he was in prison.

"Your daddy's all right, I tell him," said Nelson who now works as a car porter at an Oklahoma City BMW dealer. "A four-bedroom ... that's already paid for. There's no rush for him to come out."

A.D.'s return to play after missing the past seven games is at least Story I-A of this Fiesta. It might even overshadow Boise State making only the second appearance by a mid-major in a BCS bowl.

Either way, the Fiesta has become more than the exhibitions the four non-championship BCS bowls have veered toward in the new double-hosting format.

"I get hit with it all the time now," Adrian said. "People think definitely, 'He's going to the league,' but there are a lot of things I want to accomplish."