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A Fork Union Military Academy connection paid off Monday for Virginia linebacker Jon Copper and Virginia Tech center Ryan Shuman, both headed to the Green Bay Packers.

Copper, a walk-on from Northside High School who had more than 300 tackles during his college career, faces a similar challenge in Green Bay.

Copper was invited to participate in a mini-camp this weekend, after which the Packers will decide whether they want to sign him to a contract.

"They talked to my agent this morning," Copper said Monday. "Then, I found out this afternoon that Pittsburgh had made a similar offer. But, everything had been set in motion with Green Bay."

The connection with Green Bay was John Dorsey, a Fork Union graduate who has been the Packers' director of college scouting for the past nine seasons.

"My agent said that's who he talked to," Copper said.

Copper spent a postgraduate season at Fork Union, where he was coached by John Shuman, Ryan Shuman's father.

Shuman was one of four ex-Tech players who will be headed to NFL camps or mini-camps, along with defensive end Orion Martin (Miami), quarterback Sean Glennon (Minnesota) and fullback Devin Perez (Cincinnati).

Glennon's agreement with Minnesota will reunite him with Kevin Rogers, the Hokies' quarterbacks coach during his first two seasons in Blacksburg.

Rogers is in his fourth season as the Vikings' quarterback coach.

Copper is one of five Virginia players going the free-agent route. The latest are defensive end Alex Field, who signed with the New York Giants, Copper, and wide receiver Maurice Covington, who has a make-good arrangement with Chicago that is similar to Copper's in Green Bay.

Copper said that all he knows about Green Bay is that both linebackers drafted by the Packers, Clay Matthews and Brad Jones, are outside linebackers.

Starting linebackers last year in the Packers' 4-3 scheme were Nick Barnett, A.J. Hawk and Aaron Kampman, but new defensive coordinator Dom Capers is installing a 3-4, Virginia's base defense during Copper's career.

Copper doesn't expect to learn the Packers' defensive playbook before the weekend, "but it will be easier to transfer what I already know," he said.

"I think it will be mostly drills. I'm sure we'll get into some scheme stuff. I don't really know what to expect, so I'm just going to go up there ready to go. I don't expect to get any film on them between now and then."

Randy King contributed to this story.