GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The freshmen didn’t know what to expect. The legend of Joe Callahan had grown so much on the Wesley College campus over the past several months that those who’d never played with him were anticipating, well, the second coming of Aaron Rodgers. Even though Callahan is the guy two slots below the two-time NFL MVP on the Green Bay Packers' quarterback depth chart.

So when Callahan, the Packers’ rookie No. 3 quarterback -- but their No. 1 feel-good story of training camp -- arrived at the Wolverines’ practice last Wednesday in Dover, Delaware, those who’d never met him were initially ... underwhelmed.

“The young guys, I think they expected a 6-foot-5, giant-looking guy or something. And here comes Joe, all 6-1, 220-whatever pounds,” Wesley coach Mike Drass said. “Then, he picked up a ball and started throwing. And the freshman receivers and everybody was like, ‘Wow.’ They were just so in awe.

“That was neat -- a guy who was on our field last year, who is now stepping on Lambeau Field, at our practice.”

Yes, while Callahan’s pro teammates scattered about the country to enjoy a week off during the bye, Callahan retraced the steps that got him here. His vacation consisted of a trip home to Absecon, New Jersey, to see his parents and visit Holy Spirit High School, and a cameo at Wesley’s practice and in the quarterbacks’ post-practice meeting, where Wolverines offensive coordinator Chip Knapp always has weekly trivia, with pizza for the winners.

“I’m pretty sure the meeting consisted of pizza and stories about what Aaron Rodgers is like,” Drass said Friday, in advance of Wesley’s 63-9 victory at Southern Virginia on Saturday. “They were excited to see him. That was evident.”

With the NFL season in full swing, Callahan’s improbable path to the Packers’ 53-man roster is no longer the talk of Titletown. The games count now, so the focus is rightfully on Rodgers and the Packers winning those games, not on how a Division III longshot became the poster child for Green Bay offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett’s “make the most of your opportunity” credo.

But with a Week 4 bye and the Packers’ next game set for Oct. 9 against the New York Giants, it’s hard not to look back on Callahan making the team Sept. 1 and marvel at just how unlikely it was.

After all, had Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy decided to play Rodgers more than just two measly series during the preseason, and had second-year backup Brett Hundley not suffered an ankle injury Aug. 1 -- and reinjured the ankle in an Aug. 18 exhibition game against Oakland, during which he’d played only 20 snaps -- there’s no way the Packers would have seen enough of Callahan in the preseason to consider him for the 53-man roster.

After back-to-back seasons of keeping three quarterbacks -- Rodgers, Scott Tolzien and Hundley last year; Rodgers, Matt Flynn and Tolzien in 2014 -- the team intended to go into the season with two quarterbacks on the roster and a developmental third QB on the practice squad, which had been standard practice from 2009 through 2013, before Rodgers missed 7 1/2 games with a fractured collarbone.

“This is just clearly Joe Callahan earning the job. I mean, how the hell does he not make the team?” McCarthy said after Callahan was kept on the roster. “It was clear. Just watch the games.”

Of course, all those game snaps Callahan played this summer -- during which he completed 54 of 88 passes (61.4 percent) for 499 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions (88.2 rating -- had been earmarked for Hundley, who’d had a strong preseason as a rookie last year but clearly needed the work after being elevated to the No. 2 job.

“I thought [preseason] was going to be The Brett Hundley Show, as far as the opportunities Brett was going to get. That was the design of it, that was what we were looking for, especially with five games,” McCarthy said. “I thought Brett was going to get a ton of work this preseason and, frankly, it went to Joe. And he got better each day.

“I just think he’s a heck of a football player.”

He certainly was in college -- Callahan went 33-7 as a three-year starter and threw for 12,852 yards and 130 touchdowns, including 5,068 yards and 55 touchdowns last season, when he won the Gagliardi Trophy, the Division III equivalent of the Heisman Trophy -- but scouts rightly questioned the competition level.

In February, organizers of one of the NFL’s regional combines in Baltimore were unimpressed -- “Napoleon Dynamite’s Uncle Rico could show up to that combine and get a shot, and they sent Joe away,” Drass said, annoyed -- and only the Packers and Indianapolis Colts showed interest after Callahan’s workouts at the University of Delaware and after Monmouth’s pro day for Packers area scout Mike Owen.

Then, when Callahan was poised to get what was potentially his best opportunity to impress the Packers coaches in a game situation in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game, the game was canceled.

Had it not been for Hundley’s continued issues with his ankle, Callahan might have played only in mop-up duty during the preseason and never shown enough to earn a spot.

“To know where he came from, trying just to get somebody to look at him, to see him go from there to where he finished and what he did, for me, knowing Joe personally, it was awesome,” Hundley said. “Knowing it was my playing time, it’s frustrating to a point. But it’s also intriguing to me when you can see somebody grow from where he started to where he finished. That was awesome.”

Said Callahan: “[Hundley’s injury] did play a huge role. Coming to the Packers, it was the best fit for me. I think my playing style fit into their system, and then Brett getting hurt, that was just a huge window of opportunity for me. And I felt like I made the most of it.”

Callahan’s finest moment came at San Francisco on Aug. 26, in the one preseason game Rodgers started -- and a game Drass and his entire staff watched together at the local Buffalo Wild Wings. In that game, Callahan went 16 of 24 for 167 yards and a touchdown (100.5 rating) and did so against some of the 49ers’ front-line players. He played well again in the preseason finale at Kansas City, finishing off a camp unlike anything the Packers’ veteran coaches had ever seen.

“Coming from where he came from to where he is today? Probably not, to be honest with you,” said Green Bay quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt, who played nine years in the NFL and has coached in the league since 2006. “That’s the beauty of this game.”

While Callahan has a long way to go before joining the patron saints of Division III NFL quarterbacks -- Augustana (Ill.) College’s Ken Anderson, a four-time Pro Bowl pick with Cincinnati, and Milton (Wis.) College’s Dave Krieg, the former Seattle Seahawks starter -- he’s given himself a chance.

“I was aware of the D-III tag I had the whole time, and I may have wanted to prove myself more than some of the guys from bigger schools. But the guys never really looked at that -- or at least never said anything to me,” Callahan said. “I never felt like they treated me any differently because I came from a D-III school.

“I was hoping for, at the very least, the practice squad. But each week, I felt more and more confident and comfortable with the offense. And things just seemed to work out like they were supposed to on the field.”