PRIOR LAKE, Minn. – Football field or build site, it really doesn't matter.

Put a bunch of athletes together, and competition is sure to ensue.

The Vikings teamed up recently with Custom One for the organizations' Habitat for Humanity Build Week. Vikings players, Legends Leo Lewis and Rickey Young and staff members volunteered their time – and labor – onsite of a four-unit townhome under construction in Prior Lake. When completed, the homes will be available for purchase through Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.

Vikings receivers Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor, Brandon Powell and Lucky Jackson carefully lifted and secured large panels of dry wall, keeping an eye on their teammates in the next room to ensure their panels were just a little straighter and their screws were just a little tighter.

"Our guy Zach prepped us well!" Shouted Jackson, pointing to one of the site supervisors.

Sun spilled through window framing and illuminated teeny flakes of sawdust swirling in the air, a November snow globe of sorts, as in the adjoining room tight end Nick Muse chirped back at the receivers. Muse, Nick Mullens, Ty Chandler, Camryn Bynum and Ryan Wright worked equally hard, the group smiling and laughing beneath the sounds of saws and screw guns.

"It's fun being out here, getting your hands dirty and having to do teamwork in a whole new way. I think this is the most fun type of volunteering we can do," Bynum said before adding, "Though none of us are really that good at it.

"We're making it a competitive environment right now," he added. "And everybody wants to also help each other figure out issues. It really mirrors what we do on the football field, problem solving and trying to figure things out. Me and Nick were trying to rotate the [Sheetrock] to get to the other room, and we had put our minds together and figure out the best way to get this giant piece of drywall to fit in a tiny doorway.

"It didn't work, and we had to pivot," Bynum admitted. "But, that's football. And it's the same thing with building homes. I love it."

On the home's lower level, Habitat Senior Site Supervisor Beth Juedes helped direct Dalton Risner, Walter Rouse, Bo Richter, Henry Byrd, Levi Drake Rodriguez and Zavier Scott in a larger room off the kitchen.

"Tell 'em how it's done, 'Rook,' " Risner told Rouse, who majored in biomechanical engineering at Stanford.

Juedes appreciated the players' enthusiasm, willingness to use a little elbow grease and their innovative ideas … even if some of them didn't work.

"It's so fun when I get to see people work through the problem themselves. Sometimes I'll give them little hints or whatever, and I'll let them try it," she said. "I think it's way more fun than if people just expect me to always have the answer. It's fun that they're being creative, they're having a good time, and they just bring an energy that makes my job really fun."

Fortunately, Juedes good-naturedly intervened when a pair of teammates suggested picking up the dry wall and "running hard" into the light switch box to mark where on the board needed to be cut out.

"It's such a creative idea, but I promise it won't work," she ribbed.

As much fun as the players had, they most appreciated knowing the townhomes will soon be purchased by families who need a little extra support.

Juedes explained that while Habitat for Humanity homes are not free of cost, the monthly mortgage is capped at 30 percent of the qualifying homebuyers' income.

The largest affordable homeownership builder in the seven-country metro area, Twin Cities Habitat has partnered with more than 1,800 families since 1985 to unlock the power of homeownership. Thousands more have stabilized and improved their housing, finances and quality of life through Habitat's programming.

"This week is really exciting," Juedes said. "[These homeowners will be able to say], 'Guess who worked on [my house] to get it all done?' Which is really cool. It's a really nice connection, and it means a lot that the Vikings come out and help us."