HOUSTON -- David Carr traded his college books for a playbook Thursday and started his new job as quarterback of the expansion Houston Texans.

Carr could not work out with his new employers until his college class at Fresno State graduated. But that's behind him now, and he was eager to get caught up on his NFL homework.

"I was just told by the trainers to get to the weight room tomorrow, so I guess this means it's back to business," Carr said following his first workout.

	“	You can see that David hasn't been working with us but he jumped in there and did a good job for the first day. When you have the tools, the rest will come. ”
		— Dom Caper, Texans coach on David Carr

"But that's fine. I'm excited to get started. I'm ready to brush some of the rust off."

The Texans made Carr the first selection in the college draft in April and he signed a seven-year contract that could pay him $60 million if he achieves all incentives.

Carr attended the Texans' first minicamp following the draft but he was not permitted by league rules to participate in off-season workouts until his senior class officially graduated.

Carr spent the off-time getting moved into his new home here, studying the Texans playbook and throwing passes to anyone who could catch them.

"I threw to some high school kids over at Fort Bend Clements, basically with anyone who will catch for me," Carr said. "These guys here, they've been working for a while. I've got to just jump into the mix and start catching up as best I can."

All that matters to coach Dom Capers is that Carr is ready to go to work. He's not worried about rust.

"You can see that David hasn't been working with us but he jumped in there and did a good job for the first day," Capers said. "When you have the tools, the rest will come.

"He's been working on the playbook, you could tell, otherwise he couldn't be calling plays out there. Quarterback is a demanding job."

Carr has been studying the Texans' playbook at home but admits it's doesn't compare to on-field action.

"There's nothing like seeing it live with live bullets," Carr said. "It certainly speeds up the process."