Paulus named Orange's starting QB

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Syracuse is going all in on the Greg Paulus experiment.

Orange head coach Doug Marrone officially named the former Duke basketball player as his starting quarterback on Monday night, even though Paulus has not played football in four years and has never played a collegiate snap.

Paulus, a high school football star who played point guard for the Blue Devils for four years, transferred to Syracuse as a graduate student this spring. Despite having just a week of official practice under his belt, Paulus beat out sophomore Ryan Nassib -- who was named the No. 1 quarterback in the spring -- and senior Cam Dantley, who was last year's starter. His first college football game will be Sept. 5 against Minnesota in the Carrier Dome.

The news that Paulus had won the job was sent out in an official news release late Monday night. Earlier this month, Marrone talked glowingly about how Paulus could handle such an unprecedented transition.

"He has instincts that are hard to teach," Marrone said. "He knows how to look people off, how to take control of the game and how to change plays.

"If you had ever met Greg Paulus, you'd understand and I wouldn't get a lot of the questions that I get," Marrone said. "If something can be accomplished, he can do it."

Brian Bennett covers the Big East for ESPN.com.

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• ESPN.com Big Ten blogger
• Joined ESPN.com in 2008
• Wrote for The Courier-Journal