Meet Athlete-Student...Greg Paulus

The Minnesota Golden Gophers open up their football schedule with an away game at Syracuse this Saturday. Syracuse's quarterback is Super Senior Greg Paulus...actually, on Syracuse's team website they point out that Greg's class is "Graduate". A quick recap on how this doesn't make any sense to me how he can play...

* You played and used up all four years of eligibility at Duke while playing basketball. You were never red-shirted or injured in any of those years to gain an additional year of eligibility.

* If you had some ambition to play football in college, why didn't you factor that into your original choice of school. Why didn't you maybe go to a lesser school athletically where you could realistically play both sports?

* Your playing time diminished during your upperclassmen years at Duke. Why didn't you approach Coach K about playing both basketball and football at Duke during your last year or two? It's not as if Duke's football team is anything to write home about. They would've gladly taken you on.

* Your basketball career fizzles with no legitimate opportunities to make bank in the United States.

* You are invited to the Green Bay Packers (need I remind you that this a professional team) for a tryout, but you don't impress them enough for them to sign you to a contract.

* The NCAA grants you an extra fifth year of eligibility. Plus, you don't even have to sit out a year which almost all Division I athletes have to abide by no matter the reason behind the transfer.

* If you disliked the Brett Favre drama, this is no different...except of course it's on the collegiate level and doesn't get the ridiculous, every day coverage of ESPN. A one year solution at the most important position on the field. All of Syracuse's quarterbacks last year, either left the program or had to change positions. All incoming quarterback recruits that probably signed with Syracuse because of instant playing time (they've had one of the worse 5-6 year stretches in Division 1 football) either have to waste a year on the bench or are being redshirted.

Go Gophers!!

SBG