Since peewee football, senior quarterback/punter David Paulus has spent countless hours on the gridiron. Now as the starting quarterback for the Georgetown Hoyas, he has led the team to its first ever Patriot League win, a 32-31 victory over Bucknell on Oct. 26. In that game, Paulus led the Hoyas back from a 17-point halftime deficit, was 31 of 48 for 350 yards passing and threw five touchdowns. The last, a 19-yard strike to junior wide receiver Walter Bowser, came with 13 seconds left and won the game for the Hoyas.
“I’m just happy that things are going positively for Dave Paulus in his senior year,” said Head Coach Bob Benson.
For his efforts in the Bucknell game, Paulus won the ECAC Offensive Player of the Week, the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week and Don Hansen’s National Weekly Football Gazette’s Co-National Player of the Week for Division I-AA. For the season, Paulus has thrown for 1,026 yards and 13 touchdowns in nine games.
Despite his recent success, Paulus’ career at Georgetown has not always put him in the spotlight. Before becoming a Hoya, Paulus played several sports, along with his brothers at the Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, N.Y. As a first-year at Georgetown, Paulus was the starting punter.
“I enjoy the punting, it’s fun,” said Paulus. “It’s something that, my freshman year, got me on the field and on the bus. I got to go to the away games.”
This year, Paulus is the No. 1 punter in the Patriot League, averaging 41.1 yards per kick, in addition to his reclaimed role at quarterback.
“[Punting] is all about ball control, and if I can help our team out by establishing good field position then that’s fine,” he said.
Paulus’ consistency as a punter, however, has not always translated to success as a quarterback. In his sophomore year Paulus started in an overtime win against Butler, and broke several single-game Georgetown records, throwing for 462 yards and six touchdowns. As a result, he earned the starting spot for the remainder of his sophomore year replacing then-junior Sean Peterson. The next season, Peterson won his starting spot back and Paulus saw few repetitions at quarterback. Coming into the current year, there was a three-way battle for the starting job between sophomore Drew Crawford, junior Morgan Booth and Paulus.
Head Coach Bob Benson said that he decided to start Booth in the season opener because of his knowledge of the offense and his post-snap decision-making ability. Benson replaced Booth with Crawford in the Fairfield win on Sept. 21 and then replaced Crawford with Paulus, who started in the Davidson win on Oct. 12. Including the victory over Davidson, the Hoyas have won three out of their last four games, and Benson attributes the team’s success to Paulus’s confidence and leadership.
“I think he has a positive impact on the team and the players,” said Benson. “I think there is a level of confidence and security when he is taking the snaps, and I think they feel they can win with him at the helm.”
Paulus was discouraged at the beginning of the season when he wasn’t chosen to start.
“All three quarterbacks worked hard during the spring and summer and it was definitely tough this being my senior year, my last chance for me to start and play,” he said. “I’ve just been fortunate to be given the chance and the opportunity to excel now.”
“He leads by example when he’s on the field; I don’t think much rattles Dave,” said Benson. “He’ll make the plays and stands up under fire.”
“We feel comfortable with him as our quarterback and as a leader,” said senior defensive tackle Matt Korcinsky, Paulus’ roommate. “I don’t know much about the offense, but I know the defense appreciates when he’s out there, we just feel more comfortable with him.”
While Paulus makes the team feel comfortable on the field, a big part of his comfort comes from having two of his six siblings at Georgetown with him. His brother Matt, who David says is his best friend, is no longer on the team but comes to the games to support him and their other brother, sophomore Dan, a wide receiver.
“Family is very important to Dave, he’s very close with Matt and Danny,” said Korcinsky. “His father calls almost every day to check on his progress.”
“There’s not many people with nine people in their family,” said David. “We do everything together, we’re all at the same school, we all play sports, we’re all just so connected in so many ways. Even when you’re away at school the most important people you have around you, your circle of trust, is your family.”
In addition to his family, David admits that his faith plays a huge part in his life.
“It’s in everything, it’s in my family, school, its what gets you through the day. There is nothing that I do in which my faith does not play a part,” he said.
Georgetown is off this week and has two games left in its season, Nov. 16 at Colgate and Nov. 23 at Towson. Paulus will be ready for them both.
“I just take every day for what it is; I don’t have any plans for 20 years down the road or anything like that, I just kind of take it all in stride,” David said.
