So we've heard the majority of Syracuse's opinions on Greg Paulus:

1. Nothing to lose.
2. They have an extra scholarship to give to him.
3. He was national player of the year in high school.

Cool.

While these are somewhat true arguments, there are also many things that should raise red flags for Doug Marrone and the Syracuse Orange. Maybe I am out of my mind. Maybe I am tired of Greg Paulus. Maybe I think that he is a tad bit overrated.

Nonetheless, I have compiled three key reasons why Greg Paulus coming (back) to town is bad for Syracuse University Football, NOT including the psychological effect of Ryan Nassib (really the only argument I have heard against Paulus).

 

1. Circus: Greg Paulus coming to Syracuse has been working out very well media wise for SU. They have been mentioned on ESPN for something other than how terrible they are. While this is good, the local media in Syracuse have been outrageous.

The perception of Paulus right now is completely overblown. Not Greg's fault, but after watching the "Greg Paulus Football/Basketball Marathon" on Timewarner Cable a few weeks back I realized something: Greg Paulus is being setup to fail completely.

Don't believe me? Watch the backlash of fans if Greg does not win more than four games. And before you read this and think, "Hey, he has to earn the starting spot first," stop kidding yourself.

Ryan Nassib is royally screwed for this season, and Paulus is going to be our starter. Good luck, Syracuse. You are now under the microscope for having one of the most known college athletes in sports. Media attention is great for a team, but not when it is solely focused on one player.

Whether Syracuse wins or loses this season now is irrelevant. Greg Paulus is now the story instead of that team.

 

2. Hype: The Greg Paulus hype is putting Syracuse Football on everybody's radar. While some people see this as a good thing, I personally do not. When you are a basement dweller trying to come back, you don't want attention. You want to be Utah in the preseason, or Hawaii a few years back.

You don't want one of the most hated college athletes in America as your quarterback for players to lick their chops at. Not only was Greg voted one of the most hated athletes, but he also was the national player of the year coming out of high school. Now don't get me wrong here, Greg Paulus was a very, very good quarterback.

However, Greg Paulus was playing High School Football in the Central New York Area, specifically Syracuse.

His numbers were fantastic, but would they be the same in Florida, California, or Alabama? He had greatly-hyped Bruce Williams and Llavar Lobdell as his High School teammates, and their transition to division one football has been mediocre at best.

With Lobdell turning down the option to at one point take a scholarship to USC, he has been a decent receiver for the Orange but nothing more. My point is that Paulus has a lot of hype being brought to this team (not to mention it was four years ago) that he might have a difficult time living up to.

The most talented player that he played against was Ray Rice, who had nothing to do with him because he was on the other side of the ball.

 

3. Size: If you ever watched Greg Paulus play for Christian Brother's Academy (again, see GregPaulusAthon on Timewarner), you would notice something very interesting. He never got touched in the backfield. Part of it was scrambling, sure.

But I think it is safe to say that Greg Paulus had one of if not the best offensive line in New York State. At Syracuse, he will not have that.

Marrone will have them improved from last year, sure. But he will get sacked. He is an undersized quarterback who realistically has not taken a hard hit in football since probably ninth grade. It is kind of a big gamble if you bench Nassib the original starter to go with Paulus and have him break in half after two games.

All in all every reason I just gave could be discredited and I could look like the biggest moron on the planet, or it could turn out to make me look brilliant. It all depends on what Paulus does in the offseason.

He SHOULD transition good to Marrone because of the coaching style of Coach K, but who knows if he can still play football. I'm not a fan of Marrone's decision to bring him on, but at the same time...Who am I? I think it is bad but, "Hey, we have nothing to lose right?"

-KShaw

As written on http://thesaltinewarriors.blogspot.com