Paulus headed to William and Mary

Sources close to the situation have informed TarHeelIllustrated.com that North Carolina third-year sophomore quarterback Mike Paulus is transferring to William and Mary. The story was first reported by Rivals.com reporter Ryan Bartow.

Paulus, a native of Syracuse (N.Y.), arrived at North Carolina in the summer of 2007 as the No. 1 prospect in the state of New York and the No. 82 overall prospect in the Rivals 100, but his UNC career never took off the way many thought it would.

After redshirting the 2007 season, Paulus became the No. 1 quarterback early in the 2008 season after T.J. Yates was injured against Virginia Tech. He took over in that VT game and then made his first and only UNC start the next week at Miami.

In all, Paulus was four-of-13 for 33 passing yards and two interceptions in his Tar Heel career.

This season Paulus fell behind redshirt freshman Braden Hanson on the UNC depth chart and wound up not seeing any game action, and with the Tar Heels grooming Bryn Renner to potentially compete soon for the starting job and the program looking at several 2011 quarterbacks as well, it just didn't appear good for Paulus's long-term prospects in terms of playing time.

At William and Mary, where Paulus will have two years of eligibility starting with the 2010 season, he will be able to compete for immediate playing time.

The ironic thing is that the Tar Heels play the Tribe this coming fall (October 30) in Kenan Stadium, so Paulus, who shouldn't have to sit out a year, could very well play against UNC soon.

Paulus's departure leaves Hanson and Renner to compete with Yates for the starting quarterback job this coming spring.