It began as a suggestion. One that Greg Paulus, initially, didn't take seriously.

While a senior point guard at Duke University this past basketball season, someone approached him about still having a year of college football eligibility.

"I kind of brushed it aside," Paulus said. "I said, 'After the season I will talk.' "

Several months later, he will face a football opponent - Penn State - more intimidating than North Carolina fans at the Dean Dome.

Now Syracuse's starting quarterback, Paulus will lead the Orangemen (0-1) into Saturday's matchup at Beaver Stadium against a Nittany Lions team (1-0) ranked fifth in the USA Today poll and seventh in the Associated Press poll.

"Penn State, every one knows how good they are," said Paulus, who graduated from Duke in the spring and is taking graduate courses at Syracuse. "We know that we need to be executing and we need to play" well.

Regardless of what happens, Paulus already has perhaps the feel-good story of the season.

The 2004 Gatorade national high school player of the year in football is making the most of an opportunity.

After receiving an NCAA waiver to play football with his one remaining year of athletic eligibility, Paulus has a chance to play football professionally. That's something, as a 6-foot-1, 185-pound hoopster with unspeakable desire, he wasn't able to do in basketball.

This past weekend against Minnesota, Paulus played well in his first competitive game since the 2004 season at Christian Brothers Academy in suburban Syracuse.

The only thing his debut lacked was the storybook ending.

Eric Ellestad kicked a 35-yard field goal to give the Gophers a 23-20 overtime victory, thanks in large part to Paulus' interception on an ill-advised pass on the first possession of OT.

Other than that, Paulus made plenty of positive plays. He was 19 of 31 for 167 yards and a touchdown.

It was a performance that impressed Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

"He's a good athlete, obviously," Paterno said, "and he will get better and better as they go along."

The 82-year-old coach, in his 44th season as a head coach, doesn't recall seeing another athlete attempt what Paulus is doing.

"I'm sure that there are some kids that played basketball for a couple of years and switched," Paterno said. "But I don't know anybody that transferred.

"But it is not an easy transition. I think, regardless of how good a competitor you are and how alert you are, it's still some adjustments that have to be made as far as a tempo type of game in football."

For Paulus, staying in the pocket more is an adjustment he needs to work on. Another one is not forcing passes when there's no play to be made.

Paterno believes they are adjustments the quarterback will make over time.

For now, the signal-caller is having fun playing a sport he thought passed him by.

While at Duke, Paulus religiously watched college football on Saturdays in the fall. The times he wasn't watching on television last season, Paulus saw his brother Mike Paulus, a sophomore at North Carolina, play in person.

Greg Paulus missed football.

And after four seasons, he got a chance to play in another game this past weekend.

"It was fun," he said.

Bowman may not play. Penn State outside linebacker Navorro Bowman's status for Saturday's game is unclear.

The redshirt junior did not return after aggravating a groin injury in the first quarter of Saturday's win over Akron. Bowman didn't practice yesterday or Monday.

"I do not know whether he will be at full strength" for Saturday, Paterno said. "He's got an awful lot of swelling in that muscle, and whether it's around the muscle, I don't know. . . . It's probably an outside chance as to whether he'll play or not Saturday."

Bowman, who originally suffered the injury two weeks ago, didn't record a tackle against Akron. He was replaced by redshirt sophomore Nate Stupar, who finished with a team-high 12 tackles.

Contact staff writer Keith Pompey at 610-313-8029

or kpompey@phillynews.com.