DREW HENSON FEELS PAULUS’ PAIN

As an athlete who has attempted to juggle and flip between sports, Drew Henson is certainly more qualified than most to understand the challenges Greg Paulus will be facing in the comings months.And with that understanding comes a healthy dose of sympathy.Speaking to the Detroit News, the Detroit Lions “backup” quarterback says there are two major hurdles Paulus -- who is contemplating a collegiate football career after four years on Duke’s basketball team -- must overcome to make the transition."There’s two difficult things: Moving up a level, to begin with, and then just the muscle memory that it takes to be consistent,” Henson said. “When you take time off, that’s the first thing that you try to get back. So I’d say it took me 12-16 months to really feel like, mechanically, I was consistent day-to-day."Henson was Michigan’s backup QB -- behind Tom Brady, incidentally -- in 1998 and 1999 before assuming the starting job following Brady’s departure. In 2000, he led the Wolverines to a share of the Big Ten title before stunning most observers by forgoing his final season in Ann Arbor and embarking on a career in major league baseball with the New York Yankees.In 2004, Henson gave up on baseball and returned to football.Given the fact that Henson had been away from football for roughly the same amount of time Paulus has, and the fact they play the same position, the QB knows the challenges that are awaiting the former Gatorade high school player of the year."I wish him the best,” Henson said. “I took time off, too, and tried to do that. It’s a definite challenge, there’s no two ways about it."Paulus visited Ann Arbor earlier this week and was afforded an opportunity -- not a scholarship as of yet -- from the university to make it on the football team. Whether that will ultimately happen will be determined by how the NCAA views Paulus’ out-of-the-ordinary case.Syracuse has also been mentioned as a possible destination should Paulus ultimately opt for the collegiate football route.