FOXBORO — In college, Isaiah Stanback was a quarterback. In Dallas, he was a wide receiver.

In New England, he’s both.

It has already been an eventful and eye-opening season for Stanback, a 25-year-old Seattle native. He was in training camp with the Cowboys, the team that had spent a fourth-round pick on him in 2007, but was among their final cuts.

A few days later, he was with New England, but as a member of its practice squad. Though Stanback was far from a starter in Dallas — he played in 10 games over two seasons, including 8 last year — he was still a member of the 53-man roster.

To have to take a bit of a step back, as well as a pay cut, to play on the Patriots’ practice squad was humbling.

“Very much so,” Stanback said Friday in the New England locker room. “From the standpoint of every guy wants to play. Not always being active for games (was difficult), but the times I did play I gave it my all, to not even having a chance of playing. First of all, we all love the game, and second of all, it pays the bills. Being on practice squad doesn’t pay as many bills.”

Stanback has been learning — he stresses that he is still picking up new things every day — the Patriots’ playbook from two very different sides: a quarterback, who is at the center of things looking out, and a receiver, who is on the outside looking in.

“I’ve benefited here from being able to sit in meetings with Tom (Brady) and (Brian) Hoyer to see what they expect,” he said. “It definitely helps. But it’s a process.”

Stanback has made the quarterback-receiver move before. A QB at Seattle’s Garfield High — he was classmates and remains friends with Portland Trail Blazers standout Brandon Roy — Stanback was to initially be a wideout at Washington, seeing garbage time under center as a redshirt freshman. But in his sophomore year, he played in five games at quarterback, and as a junior he started all 11 games. He started the Huskies’ first eight games as a senior before a badly sprained foot ended his season.

Dallas still decided to make him the 103rd overall pick in ’07, and he was moved to receiver and kick returner, playing in two games as a rookie.

Last year, Stanback was placed on injured reserve late in the season due to a shoulder problem.

New England wasted little time scooping him up, signing him two days after his release in September.

“We evaluated Isaiah out of college; we thought that he could play quarterback,” New England director of player personnel Nick Caserio said recently. “Then when we signed him, we brought him back in to work at quarterback, but I think Isaiah is kind of a unique player from the standpoint that he has a pretty unique skill set. He has performed multiple roles since he’s been here in practice, whether it’s quarterback or receiver. He’s athletic, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he has good hands.”

When the Patriots placed rookie Brandon Tate on IR before the Indianapolis game, it was Stanback who got the promotion to the active roster. He said he didn’t have butterflies before the game, and intimated that he’d been given a specific idea of what he’d be doing against the Colts.

“I was pretty focused. I knew the role I had going into the game,” Stanback said. “That changed when (Sam) Aiken went down. I went from focusing on 10 good plays or so to 40-some snaps.”

Stanback had two receptions in Indy, and added another last week against the Jets. Since he is playing as a receiver in games, the NFL required him to change his number, which is why he recently switched from 9 to 15; receivers cannot wear single-digit jerseys.

Bill Belichick feels that Stanback’s background as a quarterback helps him as a receiver.

“I think one of the advantages he has is that he understands what the quarterback’s looking at. I think he has a better-than-average feel for how to come open, when to come open on certain routes and what the quarterback’s looking at,” Belichick said. “For anybody that’s played quarterback, you know it doesn’t really help you for a receiver to come open when either you can’t or you’re not ready to throw him the ball.”

In his brief career, Stanback notes, he’s had the good fortune to learn from several future Hall of Fame players: Terrell Owens and Jason Witten in Dallas, and Brady, Randy Moss and Wes Welker with New England.

“If you see them do something, you try to figure out how to do it with your skill set,” Stanback said.

So far, Stanback is figuring some things out, enough to earn him a team-high four black jerseys as a practice player of the week, and a role as a receiver and special teamer on game days.

Maybe his moving days are over.