With the NFL lockout still in full swing, former Cyclone quarterback Sage Rosenfels and Southeast Polk graduate Kyle Orton returned to Central Iowa last weekend.

The pair of Iowans turned NFL quarterbacks held a two-day youth football camp at Southeast Polk High School.

“Sage and I used to run into each other every once in a while. And we just started talking about how we wanted to do something back here in Iowa, and just decided that this was the way to do it,” Orton said.

With nearly 400 kids who were in grades 7 through 12 attending the camp, Rosenfels and Orton knew they needed to find some extra coaches.

Rosenfels turned to some former Cyclones to fill the camp’s need. Former Cyclone quarterback Austen Arnaud was one of the first people Rosenfels called for help.

“I’ve known Sage for many years, and I’ve worked his camp before with [former Cyclone defensive back] Michael O’Connell,” Arnaud said. “Now they have the combined Rosenfels-Orton camp, so Sage called me right away and had me round up some guys.”

Cyclones at the camp (both former and current) included Arnaud, O’Connell, wide receiver Lane Danielson and running back Jeff Woody.

“I think it’s a very unique situation in the state of Iowa to have this many guys with experience at a high level,” Rosenfels said. “Having those guys here ensures that this is a first-class event for these kids and this community.”

For Orton, this is an opportunity to give back to the school that helped start his path to the NFL.

“It just means a lot to be back here where I established my football career and spent hours and hours working my butt off to get where I am,” Orton said. “It’s just great to come back to the high school and have this community support us.”

Rosenfels, Orton and the other coaches spent much of the first day of camp coaching the athletes through positional drills, before breaking into small groups to play some competitive two-hand touch football games.

“It’s so much fun to see them working hard and trying to learn,” Rosenfels said. “It makes me look back and remember when I was trying to learn how to be a quarterback and how to be a receiver.”

Rosenfels, who went down in ISU football history for leading the Cyclones to their first bowl victory in school history in the Insight.com Bowl in 2000, is now a backup quarterback for the New York Giants.

After being traded from the Minnesota Vikings to Giants in September 2010, Rosenfels saw very little action behind Giants star quarterback Eli Manning.

Orton, who played his college football with Purdue, will be entering his seventh season in the NFL.

In his second season as a Denver Bronco, Orton started 13 games. The Broncos were 3-10 in the 2010-2011 season with Orton under center, despite the former Southeast Polk Ram’s putting up big numbers.

Orton threw for 3,653 yards with a 58.8 percent completion rate last season. He passed for 20 touchdowns and just nine interceptions.

However, with the Broncos mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, Orton was forced to watch the final three games of the season from the sidelines while rookie Tim Tebow took the field.