By Joedy McCreary
Associated Press
DURHAM ó Greg Paulus’ next home could be the Big House.
The Blue Devils point guard visited Michigan to explore the possibility of transferring there to play football, Duke spokesman Art Chase said Wednesday.
Paulus’ visit came Tuesday, the same day word leaked that he worked out for the Green Bay Packers in advance of the NFL draft.
Paulus thought about resuming his football career at Duke, but coach David Cutcliffe’s team is set at quarterback with Thaddeus Lewis preparing for his fourth year as the starter. Paulus hasn’t taken a snap in a game since 2004, when he was a high school quarterback in New York.
He would seem to fit better in Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez’s read-option scheme than in the pro-style system favored by Cutcliffe, who considered trying Paulus at slot 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.
Paulus, who played four years of basketball at Duke but never played football there, would have one season of football eligibility.
Michigan spokesman David Abluaf declined comment and Rodriguez has repeatedly said he only talks about players on his roster.
The quarterback situation at Michigan has been a question mark ever since Rodriguez was hired in December 2007.
After freshman quarterback Tate Forcier enrolled early to practice this spring with the Wolverines, Steven Threet announced he was transferring and Nick Sheridan was sidelined with a broken leg after sharing snaps last season for the Wolverines.
Rodriguez insists Forcier will have to continue to compete with Sheridan and the speedy Denard Robinson when he gets to Ann Arbor this summer.
If Paulus ends up in the mix, it wouldn’t be the first time Rodriguez found a quarterback playing another sport.
His third-stringer at West Virginia in 2005 was J.R. House, a minor-league catcher seven years removed from his record-setting passing days as a high school star in Nitro, W.Va.
House backed up then-freshman Pat White and threw four passes in two games, then quit the team to return to pro baseball.