Georgetown's recruitment of 6-1 guard Greg Paulus was over before most fans knew it had begun.

The fifth of six brothers from Manlius, NY, Paulus was a rising star in two sports by the time he stepped foot on the campus of Christian Brothers Academy. A three year starter on the CBA varsity, his career averages of 23.5 points and eight assists per game led him to two-time All-State honors, a Parade and McDonald's All-America selection, and the Mr. Basketball Award winner for the state of New York.

Georgetown knew all about Greg Paulus, and offered him a scholarship as a sophomore in 2002, per reports. And the Paulus family knew all about Georgetown: each of Greg's four older brothers played football at Georgetown, with his, oldest brother David having played two years at quarterback (2001,02) and two seasons as a basketball walk-on for head coach Craig Esherick. The Paulus family would drive down each weekend from Manlius, NY to watch some combination of David (1999-02), Matt (2000-02), Dan (2001-04) and Chris (2003-06) play for the Hoyas over eight different seasons.

Football was the wild card in his recruitment. Georgetown's offer was in basketball, but it was clear that his talent on the football field would attract programs offering a second sport option that Georgetown could realistically not provide. In in his first two years as quarterback at CBA, Paulus had passed numerous New York state records for passing and touchdowns, and would shatter them by the time he was a senior. In four seasons, he threw for 11,763 yards and 152 touchdowns (during that same period, the Georgetown team combined for just 65 touchdowns). As a senior, he threw for 3,674 yards and 43 touchdowns en route to the 2004 New York state championship. Paulus ended his senior season the state's player of the year, the Gatorade National All-Sports Player of the Year, and what many considered the nation's #1 ranked quarterback prospect.

By this point, however, Paulus had already committed, and it wasn't going to be a two-sport player at Georgetown. Earlier in the season, Esherick recruited a point guard, 6-0 Matt Causey, and while the players were two years apart academically, it was a tacit admission that Paulus was headed elsewhere. In his first week as a high school junior, Paulus announced he would attend Duke with an emphasis on basketball, choosing Duke over offers from a final list of Syracuse, North Carolina, Notre Dame, and Xavier. "First and foremost, Greg has a passion for basketball, and he'd love to be involved in helping coach Krzyzewski and his team compete for a national championship," said his father, David Sr. in an story in the Greensboro (NC) News & Record. "The door is still open on football. He has talked with the Duke football coaches about playing football, but he is not prepared to make a commitment at this time to do anything other than play point guard for the basketball team."

The door was open in more ways than one--as a junior, Paulus could only make a verbal commitment, and football schools took note, continuing to recruit him as his star power grew. Notre Dame, Michigan, and Syracuse all saw great potential in him but Paulus held firm to his Duke commitment.

"He wanted a school with great academics, and he wanted to compete on the highest possible level," said his father. "He was looking for a great system and a good learning environment.". And while Georgetown had all these, "Duke was the place he wanted to be," he added.

Basketball coaches don't like the idea of a star player risking injury in another sport, and in the end Mike Krzyzewski won out over Duke football coach Ted Roof, and Paulus settled into basketball. By contrast, the Blue Devils' football program sank to a 2-33 record over the next three seasons.

A starter in 95 of his first 103 games over three season, Paulus was not the breakout star for the Blue Devils some predicted, averaging 9.8 points and 4.0 assists per game in his first three seasons, leading the ACC in assists as a sophomore and earning third team All-ACC honors as a junior. As a senior, Paulus was benched in place of sophomore Nolan Smith, seeing only five starts that season.

With his Duke degree, Paulus took advantage of an NCAA provision that allowed him a grad transfer year at Syracuse, where he was the starting quarterback under first year coach Doug Marrone. Despite not having played competitive football in four years, Paulus set a school record for completion percentage and threw for 2,025 yards. A brief appearance at a New Orleans Saints mini-camp in the summer of 2010 officially ended his football career.

Following his master's degree at Syracuse, Paulus went into basketball coaching, serving as an assistant at Navy, Ohio State, Louisville, and George Washington before being named head coach at Niagara in 2019.