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University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog: Gophers Meet the Media
9/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Many items pertaining to Minnesota's season-opening game at Syracuse were discussed at Tuesday's press conference with head coach Tim Brewster and selected players. But two recurring themes were Syracuse quarterback Greg Paulus and Minnesota playing its season-opener in a domed stadium in the season when Minnesota begins playing home games outdoors for the first time since 1981.
Paulus, who was a point guard on the Duke University basketball team for four years, has made national news by being allowed to play a season of college football and transferring to his hometown team. Paulus hasn't taken a live snap in a football game since his senior year in high school at Syracuse's Christian Brothers Academy.
See more comments from Coach Brewster and the players in the video below. This blog entry continues after the video. For full video of Brewster's press conference and full video coverage of the players being interviewed by the media, check out the Gold Zone.
Paulus was a highly-touted, heavily-recruited student-athlete coming out of high school. He could have signed with virtually any college football program in the nation. But he decided to play basketball for the Blue Devils.
"As you look at Syracuse’s football team, offensively everybody wants to talk about Greg Paulus," Brewster said. "Greg Paulus was a Gatorade National Player of the Year as a high school senior. He’s a very outstanding football player, very athletic, throws the ball extremely well. I have watched the video tape and evaluated the kid coming out of high school. He could have played football at any university in America and you would have been very excited to have him on your team. He did not forget all that he knows about football. He is going to be an excellent football player Saturday."
Gopher linebacker Lee Campbell was also asked about Paulus. He said preparing for a somewhat unknown player was difficult. But he credited Minnesota's signal-callers and coaches for helping to prepare the Gopher defense.
“It’s tough because we know what kind of player he [Greg Paulus] was in high school, but you have to be prepared for anything," Campbell said. "I think going up against great quarterbacks like Adam Weber and MarQueis Gray have prepared us a lot for him. Anytime you go up against a quarterback, you want to put pressure on them. You don’t really know what to expect (with Paulus), but I think we’ve been prepared well. I think we are ready to get after him.”
Many of those in attendance at Tuesday's press conference noted the irony that Minnesota will open the historic 2009 season in a dome, after building TCF Bank Stadium and taking Gopher football back outdoors.
“It’s a little ironic that we’ve been playing in the (Metro)dome and we couldn’t wait to get out of it and now in our first game we are in a dome again," Gopher quarterback Weber said. "It’s a little funny, but it will be exciting because we know they are going to get nice and loud for us. It will be a good way to start the season.”
Coach Brewster found even more irony in the fact that the Carrier Dome does not have an air-conditioning system, when it carries the name of a prominent manufacturer of cooling systems.
“I find it really ironic that the Carrier Dome, which (Carrier) is the largest air conditioning manufacturer in the world today, doesn’t have A.C.," Brewster said. "That’s ironic too. To me (playing in a dome is) not going to be that big of a deal. We practice in our indoor facility and we’ve been playing in the Metrodome, so we understand the confinement of playing in a dome. Their dome is a little different, because it’s smaller and they really do a great job of being loud and being the 12th man for their football team.”
We're now less than four days away from the season-opener at the Carrier Dome. On game day, follow along with us here at GopherSports.com and our live blog while you're watching on television or listening on the radio.
Check GopherSports.com tomorrow for a new feature we'll be running this season. We'll be interviewing a member of the media who covers Minnesota's opponent each week and posting that interview here on GopherSports.com on Wednesdays.
-Andy Seeley
