Handsome Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder is interviewed at training camp in 2014.  More photos of him in this gallery.  Christian Andrew Ponder (born 1988), is an American football quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. He was drafted by the Vikings with the twelfth overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, and signed with them on July 31, 2011, shortly after the 2011 NFL lockout ended. He played college football as the starting quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles at Florida State University.

Ponder was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Grapevine, Texas. His father, David Ponder, played college football for Florida State as a defensive lineman from 1980 to 1983, and thus Christian Ponder is one of several father-son duos who have both played for Bobby Bowden, who coached the Seminoles until the end of the 2009 season. He earned his BA in finance in only 2 1/2 years and went on to earn his MBA, playing his final season of football with two college degrees in hand.

Ponder married ESPN reporter Samantha Steele on December 17, 2012. Their first child, a daughter named Bowden Saint-Claire Ponder was born July 22, 2014. Bowden Ponder was named after Christian's college football coach at Florida State, Bobby Bowden.