As 70 or so kids at a "Day of Champions" football camp at Hilldale High School were getting their feet wet Saturday, literally due to the soggy surface and figuratively in building character and developing skills, you'd imagine Paul Thompson could well relate.

The former Oklahoma quarterback was among several former Sooners — two of which were his own teammates, wide receiver Malcolm Kelly and linebacker Rufus Alexander -- who can understand the process better than anyone.

Between working at camps organized by Muskogee resident Ken Heupel, father of former OU quarterback Josh Heupel, all three are in the hunt for an NFL career. But no one knows more about battling the obstacles like Thompson.

When Jason White decided to stay for a sixth season of eligibility in 2004, it not only delayed the expected starting role for Thompson, it pushed him into a battle the following year with newcomer Rhett Bomar. It was one he eventually lost, but regained as a senior in 2006 after Bomar was dismissed from the team for accepting payments from an employer beyond the work he actually performed. Thompson took over and led OU to a Big 12 championship.

But it wasn't worth NFL draft consideration and Thompson wound up signing a free agent contract with the Green Bay Packers. He was cut after Green Bay decided to keep only two quarterbacks -- Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.

Still, he's not done. He signed with the Tennessee Titans in January.

The Packers experience was strikingly similar to his OU experience, when White, the 2003 Heisman Trophy winner, wanted one more shot at a national championship in 2004. Flirting with calling it a career for several seasons, Favre took one more shot at a Super Bowl, and the Packers almost got there, losing in the NFC championship game in January.

Had Favre's retirement come a year earlier than March, one would figure the

Packers would have kept three quarterbacks on the 2007 roster. Thompson had outlasted Ingle Martin, who was waived last August. That left him, Rodgers and Favre.

"Sometimes a lot of stuff doesn't seem like it adds up, and that was one of those times," Thompson said. "I felt comfortable there, I had learned the system and had gotten some positive feedback and it was down to three of us. “But there's a part of the game at this level that people playing the game don't like, you know, things that don't have anything to do with football and being out on the field -- contracts, money, that kind of thing. It's a business. Being a free agent is like a college walk-on. You can't assume anything because it's probably not going to happen. What you do know is that first-and second-round guys are going to play no matter whether they're worth a kick or not. They're drafted, there's investment there just like a guy on scholarship."

Now he's in Nashville, where Vince Young is the established No. 1 - yeah, that Vince Young, who won that national championship playing 26 miles south of where Thompson drew up in Leander, Texas.

"That was the first team I worked out with after Green Bay," he said. "That bodes well with how people perceive me. All along it's probably been the best situation I could be in. Since I signed in January I've had more time to work and learn and get comfortable."

Behind Young is 14-year veteran Kerry Collins and Martin, the second-year player from Furman who Thompson outlasted at Green Bay.

"Knowing what I do, I have confidence in it and what I'm doing myself, I think, I'm reflecting that on the field," he said. "That and the kind of dedication I have toward my teammates gives me a shot and that's all you can expect."

As if Thompson didn't already have enough on his plate, Young is joined on the team by fellow ex-Longhorns Ahmard Hall (fullback), defensive back Michael Griffin and tight end Bo Scaife, all of whom passed through UT while Thompson was at Norman. Wide receiver Brandon Jones is the lone ex-Sooner to keep him company.

"We're outnumbered," Thompson said grinning. "But me and B.J., we're holding our own with those guys."

As far as holding onto a roster spot, Thompson said he'd even consider a move to receiver - a move he offered OU coach Bob Stoops and staff after Bomar was named as the starter in 2005.

"Everywhere I've been and talked about playing, it's always been at quarterback," he said. "No one has asked me to run routes. If a team asked me, I wouldn't have any problem with it."

Alexander has his own hill to climb. The sixth-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in 2007 tore an ACL in the first preseason game and was lost for the year.

"I'm back 100 percent," he said. "I haven't missed any minicamp time since I was injured so early, I feel like I'm in a better position now. I'm comfortable with things - they've got the same defense here that I played in at OU, but then most NFL defenses are like what we had at OU.

"Right now, for me, it's just a matter of getting myself in and keeping myself in the right position to show what I can do in order to make the team. I feel good about where I'm at with that."

And then there's Kelly. Projected as a late-first, early-second round pick, he fell to the Washington Redskins, a team the Longview, Texas native grew up learning to hate while cheering for the Dallas Cowboys, in the third round. Complicating things was that Washington selected another receiver, Michigan State's Devin Thomas, in the early part of the second round.

"No problem there," he said. "This is all business. I grew up a UT fan and look what happened."

That settles the Cowboys-Redskins issue. Now what about the crowd at receiver, which includes starters Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle-El?

"I'm battling," he said. "I've been rotating with the 1s and 2s in mini-camp. I'm getting a lot of work, I've made some plays in practice but a lot of balls I've left out on the field for not doing things correctly. In the NFL, they don't ask you to do things right more than once. It's 100 percent every day. This is your living. So much is on the line, you don't want to embarrass yourself or the Redskins."

He's happy that former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Jim Zorn has brought the west coast offense in as he replaces Joe Gibbs as the team's head coach.

"But really I think I ended up in the most perfect situation. Aside from the fact that the DC area is a great place to play for, the fans and all, it's an offense I'm used to, it's a coach who is a laid-back sort of guy, I'm a laid-back sort of guy, and really I think I ended up in the most perfect situation," Kelly said.

So were the kids who were there to soak up what Kelly and the others had for them.

"This has been a big thing for Hilldale Youth Football," league director Ben Pybas said. "Getting in a camp with guys like this runs several hundred dollars and thanks to Ken, it gives a lot of kids an opportunity they wouldn't have."