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Greg Paulus' football experiment is an exercise in the now, in the immediate. The one thing he doesn't have is time.
Yet his coach wants him to be more patient, try not to make impossible throws to make plays. And his former coach and biggest booster says his real impact on Syracuse's football program may not come until next season, after he's gone.
At the halfway point of this one-year football coda to the former Duke point guard's college career, why does everyone want to talk about later? What about now?
“I'm not thinking about it in terms of that,” Paulus said. “I came here to help Syracuse, whether it's in the long term or the short term. … I have goals, and I know this team has goals, and we want to achieve them now.”
The results of Paulus' decision to play quarterback for his hometown team are mixed. He's fourth in the Big East in completion percentage but second to last in passer rating.
He threw six touchdown passes to help Syracuse to a 2-2 start. But three weeks ago, he threw five interceptions in a loss to South Florida. He was pulled at halftime of a loss to West Virginia after going 5-for-9 for 30 yards and an interception.
The mid-game switch to redshirt freshman Ryan Nassib sparked a controversy among fans, with a vocal faction arguing that at 2-4, it was better to turn to Nassib rather than continue to work through the growing pains as Paulus relearns a position he hasn't played since high school.
With two weeks off before today's game against Akron, this would have been the time to make a change. Syracuse coach Greg Marrone squelched that debate, saying “Greg is our starter,” but even Paulus admits he has to get better.
“I'm not where I'd like to be,” Paulus said. “I think I've said that different points throughout the year. There are times where offensively, we'll do everything we want to do in terms of execution, whether it's putting up points in a hurry, moving the chains, or a high percentage on third down. Right now, we haven't done that the past couple games.”
From Marrone's perspective, the problems Paulus has had are all symptoms of a common football disease: trying to do too much.
“I try to tell Greg, he's such a competitor, just let things happen and not try to force anything,” Marrone said. “We've gotten ourselves into trouble at times trying to force some things. Greg's a winner. He wants to win football games. Sometimes you put yourself in a position as an athlete where you force things that just aren't there.”
Then there's the perspective of his former basketball coach, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who said last week it may not be until next fall that his former point guard's real impact is felt on Syracuse's program — after Paulus is gone.
“His team isn't a great team. It's a team that's building,” Krzyzewski said. “They're building a program there. Greg being there and doing what he's doing has moved their program up, whether they see it completely this year, they'll see it in the future. … He'll leave his DNA on that program in a very positive way.”
Paulus isn't interested in that kind of delayed gratification. There will be time to savor it when he completes his graduate work in broadcast journalism, when his athletic career is over and another career begins.
He's interested in immediate gratification, like a win over Akron and three more after that to get the Orange into a bowl game.
“When the season is over, then you can look back and have that type of perspective,” Paulus said “Right now, the only thing we're thinking about and I'm thinking about is to try and achieve our goals, and that's to win ballgames.”
