Poems began replacing notes during quarterback meetings. And Tee Martin knew, just two seasons into his NFL career, he no longer loved football.

The same Martin who wore out the University of Tennessee’s band with his brilliant runs and precise passing felt disconnected with football. The passion was gone.

At Tennessee, he exuded such a calm confidence — remember when he simply pointed at Travis Stephens and hugged him after completing the long touchdown to Peerless Price in the 1998 title game? — but now he felt sadness.

The business of the NFL, the corporate atmosphere, was not Tee Martin. No, Tee Martin loved the dorms and bonding with teammates for four years and teaching the game. While you wait for Martin to answer his cell phone, you hear the sounds of a high school drum corps. It’s the “College GameDay” theme music.

“I could do it. I could play the game at the NFL level,” Martin said this week. “But I played football for the passion and the love. It was never for the money. It was never to be famous. It was because of my sheer love for the game. And I stopped loving the game. I moved on.”

He retired three years ago after spending time with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Oakland in the NFL, with stints in NFL Europe and the Canadian Football League. He served as an assistant at Morehouse College in Atlanta, then at an area high school.

The passion was back. Martin enjoyed football again, though a part of him still didn’t feel fulfilled. Sure, he could help the kids on his team. But what about the hundreds of high school players, the ones who could run and throw just like Martin a dozen years before, who didn’t have the proper training? What about the kids who couldn’t socially adjust to college and would see their names in the newspaper for the wrong reason?

Martin decided that was his calling, his purpose: helping kids love football like he loved football when he starred at Tennessee. So Martin founded Playmakers Sports, a performance-training company in Atlanta that provides quarterback and skill-position training. Its Web site is www.teemartinsplaymakers.com.

And today at North Atlanta High School, Martin will host the first-ever Tee Martin’s Playmakers Passing Camp.

It’s a camp for dual-threat quarterbacks, known as simply “athletes” when Martin was growing up in Mobile, Ala. But the game is different now. Defenses are faster. And dual-threat quarterbacks Vince Young and Tim Tebow are wearing national championship rings.

Martin said his camp is the first for dual-threat quarterbacks and attracted top recruits such as Raymond Cotton, who has committed to Auburn. The camp also features a sports psychologist and a life skills coach.

“Those types of quarterbacks are needed, and they are being under-served in terms of coaches having a script for them. These kids are raw and some need to work on passing more,” Martin said. “We’re identifying those kids and helping them out. And if drop-back passers want to be more athletic, we’ll help those kids be more athletic.”

Many drop-back passers, coincidentally, spent time at the Manning Passing Academy this week with Martin’s predecessor at Tennessee, Peyton Manning. Martin said one of Manning’s campers will attend his camp in Atlanta.

“It’s not a competition between us,” Martin said, laughing. Martin said he hasn’t spoken to Manning since his rookie season in Pittsburgh, eight years ago.

Football is making Martin joyful again, just like the night Tennessee won the national championship. Martin is married to singer Toya Rodriguez and turns 30 on July 25. Has it really been 10 years since that evening in Tempe when Phillip Fulmer lifted the trophy? Martin can’t believe it, either.

“It’s gone by so fast. It’s unbelievable how fast it’s gone by,” he said. “Coach Fulmer said after the national championship that we wouldn’t realize what we had done until years and years later. It didn’t sit in at the time.”

It does now. You know, as he prepares to spend a weekend teaching athletes from all over the Southeast, a lot more makes sense to Martin these days. He could probably write a poem, but he’s too busy with the game he loves again.

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