Paulus Done with Basketball...Wants to play Football

Greg Paulus has spent the last 4 years a a Point Guard for the Duke University Basketball Team. However, with one year of eligibility left to play a college sport, he is strongly considering playing Quarterback at either Syracuse, Michigan or other universities.

Paulus, a graduate of Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, NY, visited SU this past week to explore the possibility of playing football for the Orange. "I love Syracuse," he said. "I lived there a long time and it's home. There's been some interest and it's something I'm looking at."

Coming out of high school, Paulus was rated the top high school quarterback in the country, but decided to play basketball for Coach K at Duke. Now he is itching to return to football for one more year. He has also had a workout with the Green Bay Packers, and he says that other NFL teams and universities have contacted him. Being that he is a tremendous two-sport athlete, Paulus is exploring his professional options with both football and basketball.

Paulus has spoken to to other colleges but didn't reveal the names of those colleges. Right now, his two top choices are Syracuse and Michigan. There is a chance he could go to Ann Arbor and play for the Wolverines. He met with Head Coach Rick Rodriguez and got reacquainted with former SU Football Coach Greg Robinson, who is on Rodriguez's staff.

This is weird. I've never heard of playing one sport at one school and playing another sport at another school. It's probably happened before perhaps at the small college level. College Football analyst Beano Cook says that this did take place back in the 1950s. I would love to see him get the starting QB job wherever he goes. It's strange how he is able to have another year of eligibility in another sport. I wonder why he wouldn't play football at Duke. Head Coach David Cutcliffe has the program going in the right direction, and to have someone like the caliber of Paulus to play Quarterback would only help things. I'm sure he would probably play immediately for the Duke Football Team.

This scenario, of course, has happened in the pros. Michael Jordan leaving the Chicago Bulls to try his hand at Baseball. We all know how that went. Coming out of the University of Minnesota, Dave Winfield was drafted by teams from MLB, the NFL and the NBA but decided on Baseball. Deon Sanders played for MLB's Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, and Cincinnati Reds among others, while also playing football for the Atlanta Falcons, S.F. 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens. Bo Jackson was a Running Back for the Raiders and played Baseball for the Kansas City Royals.

Really all I can say is that I wish him the best. I would say that someone playing two college sports at two different universities is a first for me. Maybe I'm making a big deal out of it. If he succeeds at the QB position at whatever school he's at, will he decide to play only Professional Football or only Professional Basketball. Perhaps he will join the multi-sport professional athletes mentioned above who possess the rare ability to excel at the highest levels of two different sports. Another thing to consider, Paulus hasn't touched a football since high school. I find it hard to believe that he will be able to perform at a very high level on the football field. He may have a better shot at Professional Basketball since he's been a quality basketball player at Duke for the past four years. Perhaps I'm wrong. We shall see. Only time will tell, and Paulus only has one collegiate year of football to prove himself.