MORGANTOWN — From the moment he announced he was going to come to Syracuse to play quarterback after a career as point guard at Duke, Greg Paulus has captured the imagination of the Big East.
How could anyone who had not played football in four years, even someone who had won the Gatorade National High School Player of the Year Trophy his senior season in high school, possibly jump from one sport to another at a major college level and pull it off successfully without even a spring practice?
That was what was going through the minds of the Syracuse players, too, especially the man whose future rested on Paulus’ ability to throw passes to him.
“Everyone was doubtful he could still play after four years,” wide receiver Mike Williams said on Wednesday, just three days before West Virginia University would come to town to challenge the Orange. “Could he stand in the pocket and take a hit? But in the summer, he took command. No one knew him, yet there he was, ‘Coach said do this; coach said do that.’ We were thinking, ‘Who is this guy?’’”
It didn’t take long for Williams to figure out who Greg Paulus was and, being no dummy after four years at Duke, Paulus quickly figured out he needed Williams to make an impact.
He had to throw the ball to Williams, a gifted athlete out of Buffalo who was something of a pretty good basketball player himself, facing Paulus in AAU days.
“I was OK,” Williams said, uncharacteristically modestly. “I always wanted to beat him.”
Assistant basketball coach Mike Hopkins was the first person from Syracuse to see Williams perform. While recruiting Paul Harris, he took note of the kid who was going head to head with that top prospect.
“I couldn’t believe this kid’s toughness and his incredible athletic instincts,” Hopkins told The Daily Orange. “Here was a guy asking to guard Paul (Harris) in practice and going right up with him. Then he’d make a steal and dunk on a 7-footer.”
The football coaching staff knew of Williams, but saw him as a raw, unpolished talent. It took Hopkins to convince them that he could help the program.
Williams did just that for two years, before missing last season with academic issues.
“It was terrible going away from my teammates, from everyone here at school. It was the worst thing in my whole life,” Williams admits.
But as with most things like this, it made Williams appreciate what he had when he got back to school.
“I realized I was no different than anyone else, that I could get suspended if I messed up,” he said.
His suspension did nothing to help the career of former coach Greg Robinson, who never could get the Orange on the right track, winning no more than four games in any season.
This past year Robinson was fired and replaced by Doug Marrone, a former Syracuse player out of the Bronx, N.Y., who has come in and changed the attitude and with it built an enthusiasm that his this 2-3 team thinking it can compete with anyone.
“He brought in a new system,” Williams said. “We were all tired of losing here. There’s a lot more enthusiasm.”
“It’s all about attitude,” West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said of the difference he sees in the Syracuse team. “What I see on film is young men who are straining, playing hard, running to the ball and staying on blocks.”
How can there not be increased enthusiasm with a new coach, a new system, Williams back in school and Paulus injecting life into what was a dead program?
“I always thought we could get to a bowl,” Williams said, perhaps knowing that it previously was wishful thinking. “I feel stronger about it now.”
He is the main reason this team could reach a bowl.
Williams leads the Big East in receptions with 41 in five games, good for 623 yards and five touchdowns.
Against Northwestern he caught 11 passes for 209 yards and last week, against South Florida, he latched onto 13 for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Syracuse couldn’t pull off the upset because Paulus tossed five interceptions, but Williams showed that he can do it all against top competition.
Certainly the West Virginia coaches are leery of him.
“Two years ago he caught a play action pass for 75 yards,” defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel recalled. “He attacks the ball when he goes for it and they get it to him a couple of different ways.”
“He’s a big target, a go-to guy,” Coach Bill Stewart said. “I know a lot of team around the country would like to have him. I don’t know how we’re going to stop him. I only hope we can contain him this time. We are going to have to get some double help.”
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
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