INDIANAPOLIS––Southern Mississippi quarterback Austin Davis is doing his best Aaron Rodgers imitation, trying to escape the considerable shadow cast by Brett Favre while at the same time embracing his positive qualities.

Davis, who attended the same college as Favre, is going through the annual rigmarole that is the NFL Combine and dealing with the odd push and pull, gravity and repellant that comes with being associated with Ol' Gunslinger.

On one hand, there's plenty about Favre any quarterback would like to adopt: his arm strength, his toughness, his playmaking ability to name but a few.

But whether it's Aaron Rodgers or Austin Davis, they want to be their own quarterback and forge their own image.

"He's done so much in the NFL. That's really, I'd say, his legacy," said Davis of Favre at Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday while wearing––as fate would have it––his Combine-issued No. 4 orange Under Armour shirt.

It's just coincidence, however. Davis is the fourth quarterback in alphabetical order at the Combine. But he can't hide from the omnipresence of Favre in Hattiesburg, Miss.

"He's still the legend that he is at Southern," said Davis. "Everybody knows Brett around Hattiesburg, so he's really just another guy."

Most people know Favre as more than "just another guy," though. He's a larger-than-life figure known for both his on- and off-field exploits.

And now, Davis is among a group of players receiving instruction from Favre as the young quarterback prepares for the NFL Draft in April. They practice at Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg.

Sound familiar?

According to Davis, it's the site "where he was hiding out during his 'I don't know if I'm going to retire, but maybe I'm going to retire' time period.'"

Favre will show up a half hour into their workout coming from doing whatever it is that retired Brett Favre does.

"I think one day he was planting pine trees," said Davis.

And the instruction begins.

"So he walks up," explains Davis. "We're already working out, and he just starts, 'Do this, do that. I like this. Let's run this route.' And pretty much just coaches us up."

Anyone that's watched Favre play football knows his style of play sometimes defied convention: the innate escapability, the underhanded passes.

Sometimes they led to incredible, seemingly law-defying results. Other times they led to one of his NFL-history-leading 336 interceptions.

As far as could be judged from one conversation with Davis, Favre's coaching style is much the same.

"It's kind of difficult because he'll do stuff, and I'm like 'Brett, I can't do that. I don't have that kind of ability,'" said Davis. "I'm like 'Teach me something.'"

And on the other hand ...

"(Favre is) arguably one of the greatest to ever play the game, so how could you not want to listen to that guy and listen to what he has to say?"

Yup. That's Favre in a nutshell. One part awe-inspiring. One part head-scratching.

The similarities between Davis and Favre are inescapable, Mississippi natives that led Southern Miss to college success. Likewise, their Southern drawl is unmistakeable.

But there are obvious differences too. Favre was a second-round draft choice, while Davis said he's hearing that he'll be anywhere from a late-round draft choice to going undrafted.

Davis has to overcome the notion that he's merely a system quarterback after having operated out of the spread and the shotgun in college. That's one of the things he's working with Favre at improving, footwork that comes with dropping back from under center.

At the same time, it was also the offensive system that allowed Davis to become an even more decorated college quarterback than his mentor.

So just how many school records of Favre's did Davis break?

"All of them," said Davis. "We ran the spread. We probably threw it more than he ever did.

"But I guess I'll always have that over him."