There’s a good chance Greg Paulus never heard of Jarrett Brown before this football season.
But Brown knew Paulus.
He faced the Syracuse signal-caller in 2008 when he was a member of the Mountaineers’ basketball team and Paulus was a starter at Duke.
That day, Duke fell to the Mountaineers 73-67 in the second round of the NCAA tournament despite 13 points and four assists from Paulus.
Brown? He played 17 seconds in the first half with no statistical line.
The two will meet again as opposing quarterbacks when West Virginia visits Syracuse for its Big East opener at noon Saturday.
Paulus, a top-flight high school quarterback who was recruited by the likes of Notre Dame, had a year of eligibility left and transferred back home to Syracuse to play football, despite overtures from, among others, Rich Rodriguez and Michigan.
Brown, for one, is impressed by what Paulus is doing.
“I can’t imagine doing that,” he said.
But he sees benefits in the limited time he spent on the college hardwood.
“Playing basketball helped me improve my agility, direction changes, accelerating, balance and conditioning that benefit me while playing football,” he said.
In five games, Paulus has completed 103-of-160 passes for 1,157 yards and eight touchdowns. He has been intercepted nine times
In four games, Brown has completed 73-of-108 passes for 946 yards and seven touchdowns. He has been intercepted five times.
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To a man, the Mountaineers have a new-found respect for Syracuse under new coach Doug Marrone.
“They’ve got a lot of talent,” senior linebacker Reed Williams said. “This is a different Syracuse than the Big East is used to seeing in the past. They run a pro-style offense, so they could really do some damage to us if we let them.”
“They’ve improved in all aspects,” free safety Eain Smith said. “They’re not the same Syracuse we’ve seen for the past two years. They have some good playmakers and a new coach, so it’s going to be a better game this year.”
Last year WVU downed Syracuse 17-6, but it took a late Noel Devine 92-yard touchdown run to seal it.
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Williams said his turf toe/ankle injury isn’t going to get any better.
But that won’t stop the Moorefield native now.
“My foot is doing well, but (the pain) is always going to be there, so it’s something I’ll learn to play through,” he said. “The pain goes away in front of 65,000 people, but it’s kind of hard to go out and practice every day.”
Despite missing a game, Williams is fourth on the team in tackles with 19 and he has also broken up three passes.
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Redshirt freshman kicker Tyler Bitancourt has been solid for the Mountaineers this season, making all five of his field goal attempts and 16-of-17 on extra points.
But he has had just one field goal since the season-opening win over Liberty.
That speaks to the Mountaineers’ efficiency in the red zone.
Since settling for four field goals in that opener, WVU has scored seven touchdowns inside the red zone.
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The game will be broadcast live on the Big East Network (WOAY-TV 4) with a noon kickoff. Mike Gleason will handle the play-by-play with John Cangemi as analyst and Quint Kessenich on the sideline.
— E-mail: demorrison@
register-herald.com
