Paulus Returns Home to Wear the Orange
5/14/2009 2:39:13 PM | Football
Former Gatorade National High School Player of the Year Greg Paulus announced today his intention to enroll as a graduate student at Syracuse University and play football for head coach Doug Marrone. A scholastic standout at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, Paulus recently graduated from Duke University after earning four letters in basketball.
“Greg is a proven winner and leader who is coming home to finish his collegiate athletics career,” Marrone said. “We are excited to have him join our program to compete and help us win.”
As a quarterback at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, Paulus won the Gatorade National High School Player of the Year (all sports) award. An All-American in football and basketball as a senior, Paulus led CBA to a 42-3 four-year record in football, including a 13-0 mark and the NYSPHAA Class AA championship as a senior. In 2005-06, Paulus was named the New York State Player of the Year in both football and basketball and earned the National High School Coaches Association Senior Athlete of the Year award.
A two-time team captain and four-year basketball letterwinner, Paulus earned a degree in political science with a certificate in markets and management studies from Duke. He closed his Duke basketball career tied for ninth at Duke with 139 career games played and is one of just 20 Duke players to start 100 career games. He ranks 41st on the Duke career scoring list (1,193 points) and ranks in the top 10 on Duke's all-time record lists for assists (9th, 468), three-point field goals made (8th, 210) and attempted (9th, 527), and three-point field goal percentage (T-6th, .398). In 2007-08 Paulus earned third-team All-ACC honors as the Blue Devils starting point guard and was a third-Team ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America selection. As a freshman, he was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team and to the ACC All-Tournament Second Team after leading the league in assists (5.19 per game) and became just the fourth freshman in ACC history to lead the league in assists. He orchestrated an offense that led the ACC in scoring (81.1 ppg), scoring margin (+13.0), field goal percentage (.487) and three-point percentage (.386).
Paulus did not use a redshirt year at Duke and is therefore eligible to petition to play one year of another sport at a different institution, according to NCAA rules. Once his petition is granted by the NCAA and he is accepted at Syracuse, Paulus will be eligible to compete. He has already signed a grant-in-aid with the institution.
