Has Paulus been Offered a Scholarship by Michigan?

The answer is no, he has been offered a chance to join the team as a walk on at this point. Even Tate Forcier weighed in on this: "I've been talking to coaches all morning, and my position coach, Coach (Rod) Smith, he told me specifically that they have not offered him — they don't know why he would lie," Forcier said Thursday afternoon. "They said, 'We'll let you'll know what's up,' because right now, their specific words were, they haven't offered."

"I'm not worried about it," Forcier said. "A kid like that was good in high school, but it's nearly impossible to come back to this level and play. It might be possible, but not in the quarterback position. You have to know too much, you have to know the speed of the game."

Greg would have to get a special waiver from the NCAA to join the Wolverines or any other college football program. Here is what the NCAA had to say on the topic (which is surprisingly fast for the NCAA):


"Mr. Paulus has expressed an interest in competing in a second sport at another Division I school after earning an undergraduate degree at Duke University and competing on the men's basketball team. The NCAA encourages and applauds academic achievement and realizes this is an unique situation and opportunity for Mr. Paulus. Student-athletes seldom have the opportunity to transfer late in their college careers and compete in a second sport after four seasons of competition. The NCAA established a "students first" waiver process to address unique situations and extenuating circumstances such as this that are not outlined in our rules.

If a student-athlete wants to transfer and immediately compete as a graduate student, the college or university they are transferring to would need to seek a waiver, because in most cases they would have to sit out a year before competing under NCAA transfer rules and would not have any remaining eligibility. One of the factors our members have determined is appropriate for a graduate student waiver is if the transfer is academically motivated."


It also seems that Greg understands this rule and during his PTI interview on ESPN last night he mentioned looking into the different academic programs that U of M and other places offered. Michigan does have 3 scholarships left and if Greg in Michigan wanted to jump through all the hoops below, I'm sure RR would give him one of the 3 remaining but this still seems like a long shot for Greg to end up in Ann Arbor. Let's hope this old statement rings true, "there is no such thing as bad press" because Michigan and Paulus sure are getting a lot of it.


Bottom Line on the Paulus to Michigan Situation: Only 1 year of eligibility left + NCAA Special Waiver + not playing football for 4 years + trying to learn RR's system in a couple of months + wanting to start+ not having Tate get the experience he needs = Not worth it for the Wolverines.

• We all know Scott Shafer's defense played poorly last year. We also know that the rumors were that Scott didn't get along with the other Michigan coaches. This week he spoke to a Syracuse newspaper to give us some insight: "I took the job for all the wrong reasons," Shafer said. "I took it because it was Michigan, it was the Big House, the tradition. All great reasons. But at the end of the day, it's got to be a good fit for you as a coach, and the guys you're working with on a daily basis." BTW: The paper calls Shafer a "journeyman" since he has had 3 DC jobs in 3 years.
  


• 2010 DE prospect Darryl Baldwin (6"6, 250 lbs.) has cut his list down to 4 schools. ND, Michigan, OSU, and MSU. He plans to make a decision this summer.
  


• Add Syracuse to a team on Paulus list. He should go there and try to start IMO.