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Green Bay Packers center Scott Wells considers himself blessed.

During the major flooding that hit the Nashville area last week, Wells' home just outside of Nashville in Brentwood, Tenn., is high enough on a hill that it escaped significant flood damage.

But when Wells - who splits his residence between Green Bay and Brentwood - went back home last weekend, he got a first-hand look at the devastation others are dealing with. He took some time last Friday to lend a hand cleaning up in Bellevue, one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in west Nashville where some family friends live.

"It was an entire neighborhood, and all the houses were totaled," Wells said. "The water had receded, but you could see on the drywall where it had been. Up to my shoulder was the waterline."

Wells and a friend lent some muscle in the neighborhood to help haul out larger pieces of furniture - entertainment centers, sofas, recliners, etc. - that others couldn't move themselv..

By now, all Packers fans have heard about the chip on rookie defensive end C.J. Wilson's shoulder. How he's out to prove that he shouldn't have lasted until the seventh round of the draft, and as grateful as he is that Green Bay selected him, he's extremely motivated to show that he belongs.

Where Wilson's attitude falls on the scale between youthful exuberance and unsubstantiated bravado is up for debate. Some may lean toward the latter with a product like Wilson from East Carolina and Conference USA, questioning the caliber of competition he faced in college and how that will translate to NFL success.

But if ultimately Wilson succeeds in making a lasting mark as a pro - the Packers' recent seventh-round history runs the gamut, with starters like center Scott Wells ('04) and linebacker Brad Jones ('09) on one side and an early washout like tight end Clark Harris ('07) on the other - it's worth noting it could be precisely because of the competition he faced ..

Considering Russ Ball's knowledge and expertise in the areas of the salary cap and contracts, it might be assumed the Packers' vice president of football administration and player finance has spent his entire career in football sitting behind a desk, crunching numbers, and negotiating deals.

But that would be far from the truth.

In fact, dating back to the early portion of his career at the University of Missouri and with the Kansas City Chiefs, Ball has dabbled in more areas of football operations than probably any member of Green Bay's front office.

He has served roles as an equipment assistant and team video cameraman. He has signaled in defensive calls from the sideline and been on the offensive headsets helping to get proper personnel on the field. He has also worked with players as a strength and conditioning coach, and even served a brief stint as a quality control coach.

It wasn't until a little over 10 years ago that the 51-year-old Ball f..

Fans of the CBS drama Criminal Minds and the Green Bay Packers will see a familiar face on this week's show.

Packers receiver Greg Jennings makes his network acting debut with a cameo appearance as a lab technician during Wednesday night's episode (May 5, 8 p.m. CT). He has a few speaking lines in a short conversation with cast member Shemar Moore (Agent Derek Morgan) in his one scene.

"When you think about a lab technician, you think about the long white coat and glasses and everything, and that's what I was thinking," Jennings said. "But it's more along the lines of me in the (forensics team) jumpsuit, taking the (dead) bodies out.

"When the police discover a body, they call in the lab techs, and they come out, zip the bodies up and take them away. That was me."

Jennings flew out to Hollywood in late March for the filming of the episode at CBS Studios. He said the shooting for his scene took only a couple of hours, and he wasn't expecting ..

Because young players often fill out the lower portions of an NFL roster, often their best chance to make an early impact in the NFL is on special teams. With that in mind, the Packers paid particular attention to special teams as they conducted their rookie orientation this past weekend.

Drills: There was an emphasis on special teams drill work. That was done not only to give the coaches ample film with which to evaluate the rookies' special teams skills, but also to introduce some new drills that special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum and assistant Chad Morton are planning to run with the full squad during organized team activities (OTAs), which begin in two weeks.

"Special teams is an emphasis for us," Head Coach Mike McCarthy said. "We need to improve in that area, so we actually looked at a couple drills with the rookies that we're going to do with our whole football team. So it was an opportunity for the coaches to get out there and go through the drill..

Rookie offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga knows the speed and intensity in practice will be turned up a notch later this month when the entire team begins OTAs, but for now, his focus is on learning as much about Green Bay's offensive system as he can.
By early Saturday afternoon, Green Bay's first-round pick and the rest of the participants in the team's rookie orientation camp had completed two of the three practices they will have this weekend.

"It was good to actually get out there and start playing a little football," Bulaga said. "Obviously there is a lot of work that needs to get done, but it was good to get out there and start playing and running around a little bit.

"I think anytime you go to a new system, especially the NFL, you're going to get a whole different brand of player. Everything is going to be a lot faster, a lot quicker. The new terminology for the scheme is all different, so there is a lot you need to adjust to."

Bulaga said picking up..

While neither one of the punters on Green Bay's roster has any regular-season NFL experience, Head Coach Mike McCarthy likes the talent level of both Tim Masthay and Chris Bryan.

Friday's rookie orientation practice was the first team workout for the tandem this offseason, and both punters got their fair share of kicks off inside The Don Hutson Center.

"They've been working, they've been here working really since Chris was signed on," McCarthy said. "As far as the quantity, I would say that would fall, that was probably a normal workout. Obviously they were hitting the roof the whole time, so we were able to shoot some jugs to the returners to make sure they were getting the work.

"I think that's going to be a very good competition that we'll have to keep a close eye on all the way through training camp."

Masthay was an All-SEC punter at Kentucky and spent time with Indianapolis last year during the preseason, but didn't get any game experience be..

Getting ready to hit the practice field for the first time as Green Bay Packers on Friday afternoon, the 2010 draft class was admittedly nervous, and understandably so.

After all, they had received introductions to their gargantuan NFL playbooks in meetings earlier in the day, they were determined to make a strong first impression, and they were taking the field with teammates and coaches who were total strangers.

That's a lot to manage in a day's time, for sure. But the mindset that gets them through it is that, hey, it's still the same game.

"There's natural nerves because it's a new place, but when it comes down to it, it's football," said offensive lineman Marshall Newhouse, a fifth-round draft choice from TCU. "So that's kind of the calming effect. It's just, 'All right, I've been doing this for a while. I can do this.'"

They certainly can or they wouldn't have been among the Packers' seven draft choices last weekend.

Head Coach Mike ..

He won't get to put on full pads, or even hit anybody with any authority this weekend during the Green Bay Packers' rookie orientation. But first-round draft pick Bryan Bulaga is pretty excited just to be getting back out onto the field.

Throughout the entire NFL Scouting Combine and pre-draft process, Bulaga had to answer all sorts of questions about the thyroiditis that forced him to miss three games last season at Iowa. He had to listen to critics question whether his arms were long enough or his hands large enough to be a successful left tackle in the NFL.

But after all the extensive scrutiny - which he survived another round of in his first formal meeting with the local media in the Lambeau Field auditorium on Thursday afternoon - Bulaga is more than ready to stick his nose in a playbook and his facemask in somebody else's, beginning Friday with the first of three rookie workouts in the Don Hutson Center.

"I'm excited about that, getting back on the fo..

Head Coach Mike McCarthy has termed the punting here over the last couple of seasons "unacceptable." General Manager Ted Thompson has called the position a "vexing" problem.

At this point there are two candidates to fix it, and the downside is that neither has any NFL game experience. The upside is that there's no telling how good either might be. And the intriguing thing is that one is right-footed, the other left-footed, and they've taken vastly different paths to get this chance.

Tim Masthay, the righty, has followed a rather conventional road, coming from a major college program and latching on as a free agent. Lefty Chris Bryan's journey has been an international one, coming from Australia and learning the American game.

There's always the possibility that before, during or even after training camp, another punter could be brought in to compete or take the job. But for now, it's between these two, and they're both striving for the same thing - consiste..

How does Tiger Woods' involvement in a scandal lead to a television ratings spike for The Masters? Why does the lack of an NCAA Division I playoff stir up such emotion in college football fans? When did NFL fans' appetite for year-round information become so insatiable?

That's just a sampling of the topics that may be discussed, among countless others, at a conference coming up May 26-28 entitled "A Mirror of Our Culture: Sport and Society in America." Hosted jointly by St. Norbert College and the Green Bay Packers, a first-of-its-kind partnership between an institution of higher learning and a professional sports franchise, the event will take an extensive look at the way sports and society interact.

"The basic concept of the conference is to bring together sports academics and sports professionals in one place and to talk seriously about all the issues that surround organized sports," said Dr. Michael Marsden, Dean and Academic Vice President at St. Norbert, a pri..