What is going on with all the interest in Greg Paulus?

I doubt there are many NBA teams looking into a point guard who was benched during his senior season, even if said point guard played at Duke.

No, it’s not any basketball team showing interest in Paulus. The interest is on the football field.

It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. While at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, Paulus played football and basketball. He was good enough at the former to get scholarship offers from Notre Dame and Miami to play quarterback. According to some people, he was better at football than basketball, but for some reason he chose basketball and went to Duke.

Last week, the Green Bay Packers had Paulus in for a workout. There’s reportedly also a chance he could end up returning to college to play football at either Duke or Michigan.

Although everyone associated with Michigan football has denied or refused to comment on Paulus, he was on campus on Tuesday and watched spring practice.

At Duke, head coach David Cutcliffe said he has talked to Paulus extensively about playing, but at wide receiver.

“He’s a quarterback at heart, but there was no way he was going to be able to compete and play quarterback for us,” Cutcliffe said. “I think that was the deciding factor. Prior to our last six practices, I was going to try to get him out, give him a chance to work at slot receiver. He’s a fierce competitor, a great young man. He’s been a tremendous basketball player.”

Cutcliffe also went on to say that maybe it would be easier for Paulus to play quarterback at Michigan because of the spread offense run by coach Rich Rodriguez. Not everyone thinks that’s a good idea.

It’s not unheard of for college basketball players to go into the NFL. Sam Clancy was a star at Pittsburgh before playing in the USFL and NFL, and more recently, Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates have found success in the NFL.

But none of them were trying to catch on as a quarterback.

Tags: college basketball, college football, David Cutcliffe, Duke, Greg Paulus, Michigan, Rich Rodriguez