Cutcliffe Looking At Paulus

If I can't have him, RichRod can't have him, either...

A day after it got out that Duke guard Greg Paulus ((pictured, thanks Jim O'Connor/ US Presswire)) got looks from the Green Bay Packers and the University of Michigan, you knew that Duke football coach David Cutcliffe wasn't far behind... and he wasn't...

Just not at QB...

Cutcliffe said Wednesday that he has told the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Paulus, a standout quarterback in high school who just finished his fourth year of basketball at Duke, that he could try out for a spot at inside receiver in Duke's last six spring practices.

Cutcliffe said he and Paulus "talked extensively" about the possibility of Paulus' joining the football team, but the bottom line was there was "no way" he could come out and try to play quarterback for the Blue Devils after such a long hiatus from the position.

"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."
According to NCAA eligibility guidelines, student-athletes generally must sit out a year if they transfer from one four-year school to another. Because student-athletes are allowed to redshirt for medical or other reasons, they are granted 10 semesters of eligibility.

In the case of Paulus, because he was never a basketball redshirt at Duke, as an undergraduate transfer he would be eligible to play football at another school, assuming there are no extenuating circumstances concerning his eligibility.

Cutcliffe said perhaps Paulus would have a better shot at trying to play quarterback in a spread system like that of Michigan's.

"I hadn't even heard that about Michigan. I had heard he worked out for some pro team," Cutcliffe said. "It's difficult when you haven't been playing quarterback in a long time, to step back into a pro-style offense and have any chance to play. If that's indeed the fact … they've had quarterback issues, and certainly that offense would be more friendly to a more athletic-type quarterback."

Jon Heuser from the Ann Arbor ((MI)) News talked to 99.9 FM Radio in Raleigh, but he thinks that Michigan may not be the place Paulus would be looking for...