Will Duke Point Guard Greg Paulus Play at Michigan in the Fall

Reports have been surfacing lately, that former Duke University point guard Greg Paulus has been weighing the options of whether or not to return to the sport of football. Paulus was a former High School Gatorade National Player of the Year at Christian Brothers Academy in Upstate New York. Paulus has gotten interest from the University of Michigan, the Green Bay Packers and now the Syracuse Orange to be on their football roster in the Fall.

So why hasn't Paulus gotten interest to play football for the University where he is currently matriculating? Well, the reason is that Duke Head Football Coach David Cutcliffe actually has a brain in his head. Cutcliffe knows that after being out of the sport for four years, that a player cannot come back and play the position of quarterback, especially against Division I competition. Cutcliffe did off handedly offer the kid the chance to play slot receiver, but the offer was rebuffed by Paulus.

"It's difficult when you haven't been playing quarterback in a long time just to step back in a pro-style offense and play," Cutcliffe said. "They've had quarterback issues [at Michigan], and certainly that offense would be more friendly with an athletic quarterback."

Paulus visited the University of Michigan this weekend and met with HC Rich Rodriguez. Paulus claims that talks went well, and that Rich Rod stated that he has the chance to start next season. This statement came after Michigan's spring game which saw heralded freshman recruit Tate "The Savior" Forcier perform above and beyond The Nudge's expectations.

There's no denying Paulus's athletic ability. Paulus was a former Gatorade high school football player of the year at Christian Brothers Academy, where he was a four-time all-state player, set six state passing records and was a starter in the U.S. Army All-American game. Christian Brothers was 42-3 during Paulus' time there, and he had 11,763 career passing yards and 152 touchdown passes in 45 games.

This weekend, Paulus is going to visit hometown Syracuse University and meet with the coaches of that school that is trying to rebuild itself. Paulus ran a spread option offense in high school, much like the new scheme up in Ann Arbor. the Orange run more of a conventional Pro-Style offense, but with their entirely new coaching staff, it's still anyone's guess which direction their trying to go in.

The Real Story: This kid, no matter how good he was four years ago, really never played against any serious competition in high school. Quick, name the last player outside of Mike Hart who came out of Upstate New York and was actually a force on the college football field. There's absolutely no chance he ever makes an NFL roster. So what the Packers were thinking, I have no idea.

Secondly, he will only be a distraction if he does go to UM. He's not going to start over Forcier. And if he is on the roster, the first time Forcier starts to faulter everyone will want Paulus put in rather than letting Tate take his lumps.

In a couple of weeks, after all the dust has settled in this saga, we will never again here the words Greg Paulus and quarterback mentioned in the same sentence again.

Just listen to the guy's voice when he did an interview on PTI. You could here it as he stutters along that he's in way over his head. Rich Rod, batten down the hatches and run out the program in the arms of the savior-Tate Forcier