Former Duke point guard visiting UNL to check out football program

Greg Paulus wants to make sure he's checked out every option before he makes a decision.


Today, he puts Nebraska's football program under the microscope during a campus visit.


The former Duke point guard wants to try his hand at quarterback before his college athletics career is over, and he has one year to do it.


"I wasn't thinking about it," Paulus said in an April 16 press conference. "During the season, you're only thinking about that. There was some contact from the Green Bay Packers, and that kind of got me throwing a little bit, got me thinking about that."


After the Packers sparked the fire, schools like Michigan and Syracuse jumped on the bandwagon early. The Wolverines offered him a scholarship to compete for the starting quarterback position in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Then Paulus visited his hometown of Syracuse, N.Y., to take a look at starting for the Syracuse Orange, who went a mediocre 3-9 in 2008.

Paulus was favored to sign with the Orange just a few days after visits with the coaches, but a signature hasn't found paper yet.

This brings Paulus to Lincoln. Not many Nebraska football fans could have predicted the Cornhuskers would have another quarterback prospect for the 2009 season, but that's exactly what is happening.

Paulus is in Lincoln today visiting with coaches and thinking about the possibility of being a Husker – for one year. That's all Paulus has left after four years of eligibility in college basketball have come and gone for the 6-foot-1 athlete.

According to NCAA rules, Paulus and any other college athlete can transfer to another college for one extra athletic season in a different sport if the main purpose for transferring is for further pursuit in academics.

This rule is possible because of what the NCAA calls a "students first" waiver process that addresses unique situations like Paulus'.

Before becoming a Blue Devil on the court, Paulus shredded competition as quarterback for Christian Brothers Academy, where he went 42-3, throwing for 11,763 yards and 152 touchdowns in a four-year span.

Throughout his illustrious high school career under center, Paulus collected several notable awards, including football All-America honors from U.S. Army, Parade and Student Sports, along with being named the 2004 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year.

Hunter Teafatiller, a former Nebraska tight end planning on graduating in a few weeks, said he was a little surprised when he found out Paulus was coming.

He said if Paulus does decide to choose NU, he's got a tough road ahead.

"It's all about how a player handles it," Teafatiller said. "We have an extremely difficult system to learn on offense. Sometimes kids just don't get it. You can ask any quarterback who has been in our system – you have to have so much repetition under your belt."


If Paulus chooses the Huskers for his one shot at quarterback, he would have to fend off current favorite Zac Lee for the job. Lee would have a distinct advantage over Paulus as far as system knowledge goes, but this isn't the first time this scenario has popped up at NU.


Many remember Sam Keller transferring from Arizona State and sitting out one year before being thrust onto the field for his sole season of eligibility.

Once he was injured and Joe Ganz had his shot, many questioned the legitimacy of starting Keller over Ganz, considering Ganz had much more experience in the offense than Keller.

Teafatiller has some fears that his former team will be going down that same track if Paulus is picked up.

"It's not that nobody learned from when Sam was here," Teafatiller said. "It's the same situation coming in this year, but I haven't seen any film on Paulus. He's been on a Division I team before, so he knows what goes on."


Paulus has said time after time he just wants to make sure all of his options have been looked at before he makes his final decision. 

While most consider Syracuse the extremely heavy favorites to land the former point guard, Paulus said he is taking things one day at a time. He admits he's just excited for the opportunity given to him.

"Every day that I threw for the last couple of weeks, it has gotten better and better," Paulus said.

spencerschubert@dailynebraskan.com