Paulus signs letter of intent

Greg Paulus will be playing basketball for Duke after all.

The senior point guard announced Monday that he signed a letter of intent Nov. 16 to play basketball for the Blue Devils. The announcement ends weeks of speculation that Paulus, one of the nation's top high school quarterbacks, might forego his verbal commitment to the Blue Devils to play football elsewhere.

"Although I love football, and am flattered by all the positive attention and compliments that I have received during my career, basketball is my passion," Paulus said at a Monday afternoon press conference.

Paulus shied away from the media while leading the Christian Brothers Academy football team to a state championship this season. Paulus, a finalist for numerous National Player of the Year awards in football, had not previously indicated he had signed a letter of intent to play basketball until Monday.

"My future plans have not been discussed or announced because I did not want to focus on my individual plans and take away from the accomplishments of my team and teammates," Paulus said. "I wanted to focus 100 percent of my attention on the team's goals of winning the state championship."

The signing of Paulus, the No. 3 point guard in the class according to scout.com, gives Duke five signees for the class of 2005. He joins Josh McRoberts, Eric Boateng, Martynas Pocius and Jamal Boykin to give Duke one of the nation's top recruiting classes.