B.J. Coleman was on the course at Council Fire Golf Club on Tuesday, blasting 300-yard drives with ease during the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's annual Porky's Open fundraising event.
The former McCallie School and UTC quarterback was drafted in the seventh round last Saturday by the Green Bay Packers -- pick No. 243 overall -- and his golf clubs likely will be put away for awhile starting next week. Coleman will head to Wisconsin on May 10 and begin rookie orientation camp the next day.
Other than working out and studying the West Coast offense a little, Coleman said there's not much more he can do to prepare for the start of his Packers career. He said he will get Green Bay's playbook when he joins the Packers.
"I have some West Coast film and that's a lot of the tendencies that Green Bay uses, so I've been watching that some," he said.
One thing Coleman has been studying is the long history of one of the most storied franchises in professional sports.
"I want to learn about Lambeau Field and how it came about, as well as learning about the Packer organization," Coleman said. "I've learned some interesting things, and what an unbelievable organization to go to."
Behind Packers starting quarterback Aaron Rodges, last season's NFL MVP, are Graham Harrell, Nick Hill and Coleman. Harrell, a former Texas Tech star who has spent the past two seasons in Green Bay, moved up to the backup spot after Matt Flynn signed with the Seattle Seahawks.
Coleman and Hill, a former Arena League player out of Southern Illinois whom the Packers signed in January, will compete for the No. 3 spot. Coleman said he's been in contact with Packers receiver Randall Cobb, who is from Alcoa and played against Coleman in high school.
"This is a great family I'm going to, and I'm going to go up there and learn as much as I can from those guys," he said. "I'm excited to get up there and be a part of it."
The rookie camp runs May 11-13 and will be followed by offseason conditioning, a few weeks of organized team activities and a mandatory minicamp that runs June 12-14. After that there are no team activities from June 14 to July 24; training camp starts July 25.