GREEN BAY -- All eyes figure to be on Aaron Rodgers today when the Green Bay Packers hold their first open-to-the-media, open-to-the-public (weather permitting) practice of the annual organized team activity workouts at Ray Nitschke Field.

After all, the OTAs are Rodgers' first opportunity to truly be The Man. Sure, the Packers' new starting quarterback attended the annual Fan Fest in March, shortly after his legendary predecessor, Brett Favre, called it a career, and Rodgers has been participating in the offseason workout program and quarterback school sessions.

But this week marks the true start of the Rodgers era. OTAs began with physicals and administrative work Monday, and Tuesday was the team's first practice. Although technically voluntary, most of the roster is expected to participate.

While Rodgers will be the center of all the lights-camera-questions attention today, the new guy in the neighboring locker -- rookie second-round pick Brian Brohm, who found himself in that high-profile position at the veteran-less post-draft rookie orientation camp earlier this month -- will be off to the side.

And although Brohm respects how Rodgers, the Packers' 2005 first-round pick, had to wait three long years for Favre to retire so he could get his shot, Brohm isn't conceding anything -- including the starting job, despite general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy's draft-day proclamations the job belongs to Rodgers.

"For me, I'm preparing as if I'm going to be playing. I think that's the way every player needs to look at it," said Brohm, a three-year starter at Louisville and the second of the Packers' three second-round picks last month. "You have to prepare as if you're going to be on the field, as if you 're going to be the guy playing. And if I am, or if I'm not, I need to be ready to do that. I need to be able to prove in the preseason and then in the camps that I can go out there and do it. That's my mindset coming into this camp."

Whereas seventh-round pick Matt Flynn spent the bulk of his career at LSU as a backup before leading the Tigers to the BCS championship last season, Brohm has never truly been a No. 2. Even as a freshman at Louisville, where his father and two brothers played before him, Brohm was more of a starter-in-waiting than a backup.

"I was behind Stefan LeFors, but I would come in in the second quarter and play," said Brohm, who led his high school (Louisville Trinity) to three straight Kentucky state football titles from 2001 through 2003 and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a junior in 2002.

It's also the first time since Pop Warner he hasn't been coached by either his dad, Oscar (his high school coach) or his older brother, Jeff (a former NFL backup who serves as Louisville's quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator).

"It's probably the first time since before high school that I haven 't had a relative on the staff," Brohm said. "It'll be nice to get a fresh look at things and hear it from a different perspective."

Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements and McCarthy, who has a reputation for developing quarterbacks and helped Favre sharply reduce his interceptions during last year's renaissance season, will certainly provide that perspective. And so far, McCarthy likes what he's seen from Brohm and Flynn.

"You could see they both have a lot of experience, just the way they step into the huddle. Their huddle command was very good," McCarthy said following the rookie camp. "There's a number of fundamental things they've been asked to do that we'll adjust here, (but) they seem to be very coachable.

"(I'm) very happy with the starting point that both Brian and Matt give us, but we do have a lot of work to do."

Brohm, who along with wide receiver Jordy Nelson represented the Packers at the NFL Players Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles earlier this month, is aware of that. That's one reason why McCarthy allowed him to take his playbook with him after the rookie camp.

"I'm just trying to soak in everything as fast as I possibly can, because there's so much information," Brohm said.

While scouts labeled him the most "NFL-ready" of the highly-rated quarterbacks in the draft -- Brohm, at No. 56, was the third QB taken, after Atlanta's Matt Ryan at No. 3 and Baltimore's Joe Flacco at No. 18 -- Brohm knows there's a long way between that moniker and proving himself ready to be a starter.

"I can't speak for the other guys out there, so I don't know if I'm the 'most' NFL-ready, but I feel like I'm ready for this challenge," Brohm said. "We'll see how quick I can pick everything up. Obviously Aaron Rodgers is the starter right now. I'm going to work as hard as I can, and hopefully show the coaches something they like."