Still a month shy of reporting to his first NFL training camp, Clinton Portis nonetheless headed to the league's annual rookie symposium this time a year ago, cocky and callous and convinced that the sessions were just robbing him of some of the fleeting free time that remained in his summer.

The second time around, the Denver Broncos standout tailback and league rookie of the year in 2002 is a year smarter, and ready to share some of that wisdom with the players attending this year's symposium. The rookie symposium, now in its seventh year, will convene Sunday through Wednesday in Palm Beach, Fla., and Portis is among several players, coaches and club officials who will participate.

"I'm sure there are going to be guys who were just like I was last year when I checked in for the (symposium)," said Portis, the Broncos' second-round choice in 2002. "I went with a bunch of preconceived notions and feeling like it was just going to be a waste of my time. You know how it is: You're young, you've got some real money in your pocket for the first time, you think you know it all.

"But the symposium, if you pay attention to what the guys are telling you, it's kind of a wake-up call."

League officials consider the event so important that attendance is mandatory for all 262 prospects from the '03 draft. The players who blow off the symposium, and there have been only a few since its inception, are subject to stiff fines. As of Friday, the league had received no requests for an excused absence.

These four days essentially mark the first and, most likely, the last time the NFL will have the opportunity to address in one setting the entire 2003 draft class. And, as Portis pointed out, to pass on some real-world advice about how their lives are now about to suddenly change.

From one year to the next, the topics at the symposium aren't dramatically altered, and that will be the case again this week. The rookie class will receive counsel on issues as disparate as dealing with celebrity to monitoring their investments, from what to expect in their first training camp to how to prepare for their final one.

One new element the league did add for this week is a Tuesday morning football clinic for local youngsters, an event that is an extension of the NFL's youth program.

Portis is part of a panel moderated by former NFL fullback and current ESPN analyst Merril Hoge, and which includes second-year veterans Antwaan Randle El (Pittsburgh), Coy Wire (Buffalo) and Scott Fujita.

The roster of speakers also includes Atlanta head coach Dan Reeves, general manager Charley Casserly of the Houston Texans, and a variety of speakers from the league and the NFL Players Association. Retired center and current CBS analyst Randy Cross will moderate a panel dealing with life after football and the speakers include Emmitt Smith, Peyton Manning, Marcellus Wiley and former Miami linebacker John Offerdahl.

"I think, basically, from the time you start your career, you have to start readying for the end of it," said Jacksonville first-round quarterback Byron Leftwich. "Hearing that from a guy like Peyton, who still has a lot of years left in the league, yeah, that will probably drive home the point even more for me."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.