Catching up: Syracuse still doesn't matter

* Greg Paulus is officially a Syracuse Orange-man/guy/player/entity (I refuse to call a player an Orange). Brian Bennett, an ESPN blogger, had an interesting take on Paulus' decision, basically saying that regardless of the impact Paulus has on the field, he has at least thrust Syracuse back into the collective national consciousness (if only for five minutes). He's right in a sense: Syracuse can use all the positive attention it can get, because it hasn't been relevant in years. But I highly doubt that Paulus' mere presence on the roster is going to inspire the next Donovan McNabb, Marvin Harrison or Dwight Freeney to head to Syracuse for four years of bad football in a cold-weather city in a mediocre conference. And without a massive influx of talent, even the best coach in the country -- which Doug Marrone probably isn't -- wouldn't be able to make the Orange respectable again at a national level.

* With all the changes at Boston College this offseason, it had to be especially disappointing for new coach Frank Spaziani to find out that outside linebacker Mark Herzlich, last season's ACC defensive player of the year and the heart of the Eagles defense, is battling a rare form of cancer in his left leg. The status of his football career is uncertain, although that's probably low on his lost of priorities at this point. Best of luck to him.

* A disastrous offseason at Pitt somehow continues to get worse, as senior middle linebacker Adam Gunn has been suspended after an arrest on a charge of public drunkenness and various other offenses. I don't even know what else to say about Pitt except that I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Dave Wannstedt, and I never thought that was possible prior to the last four months. Even in a wide-open Big East, it's hard to see the Panthers making much of a run.

* Former five-star recruit Kevin Grady, who's now buried on Michigan's depth chart at running back, apparently has serious difficulty following directions. After passing out behind the wheel last July and blowing an incredible 0.24, Grady is now serving seven days in jail after a court came to this determination:

Court officials said he failed to properly report to probation agents in Ann Arbor, failed to complete a victim impact panel and alcohol highway safety education class, failed to complete 24 hours of community service and tested positive for opiates, a type of pain killer.

Nice. Grady was in Lloyd Carr's doghouse on a handful of occasions and had already been given a second chance by Rich Rodriguez after his first arrest, so I'll be surprised if he's still on the team come fall practice.