Mike Krzyzewski and Dean Smith wanted him on Tobacco Road.

Joe Paterno wound up with him instead.

Dreams of putting on the pads and helmets Sundays in the National Football League drove Titcus Pettigrew eight hours north from his hometown of Winston-Salem, N.C., to State College because Penn State embraced his desire to pursue two sports in college.

Coach K and Duke gave him an ultimatum -- play wide receiver on the gridiron or run the point in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"If you ask any scorer, ask them, they'll tell you," said Pettigrew, a former safety in the late 90s. It's not like he couldn't dribble, he didn't want to give up the ball as often as the point guard should.

Pettigrew is one of a slew of Nittany Lion football players who spent their winters inside Bryce Jordan Center. Many, like Pettigrew, his teammates David Macklin and Sam Crenshaw, and most recently, Jordan Norwood hardly ran the court past live practices.

Former Penn State receivers coach Kenny Jackson and the coaching staff wanted to go watch their players play basketball, however, there was one problem, Jackson said -- none of them played.

"It was never taken serious from the coaches' standpoint."

It's why what Syracuse's Greg Paulus is doing is remarkable, Jackson said. Paulus is playing both sports at the highest level, even though he's going from the hardwood to the gridiron. To go from basketball to football, Jackson said, is not realistic.

"For you to go to play basketball and then football is almost ridiculous," said Jackson, who flirted with the prospect of playing basketball at Penn State. "It sounds good, but you're not doing it at a high level.

"The seasons overlap, and they don't correlate. A basketball skill doesn't correlate to a football skill."

Jackson explained his reasoning.

"In basketball, you run full speed and stop and try to back pedal, you fall on your butt," he said. "In football, it's such impact and people banging, you're jumping, you're hitting the bag."

Pettigrew's three years on the basketball court didn't help with his footwork in the defensive backfield, but it did allow him to play faster.

Basketball conditioning is centered on cardiovascular work, the art of maintaining muscle strength, said Pettigrew, who now runs an athletic training facility in Plainfield, Ill., about an hour outside of Chicago.

Norwood, the most recent football player to throw on the shorts and sneakers, echoed Pettigrew's words, saying it takes a little different "lung capacity" to play basketball.

An athlete also must have the ability to play because at a major Division I school basketball programs don't need to harvest talent from the football team.

"It was never serious at Penn State that those kids played," Jackson said. "You're in a dilemma as a coach. The kids are young. They don't understand what takes place. When you go out for a sport like that, the coach is in a position where he's recruiting guys to play that particular sport, and it's very embarrassing."

Norwood was a scout team player the only season he played for coach Ed DeChellis -- if you can call it a season. Football season wrapped up with an Outback Bowl win, and it took Norwood three weeks to decide to play basketball. He essentially had a month to earn playing time.

"I wish I could've thought of doing it [Paulus'] way," Norwood said. "Doing it after I had been done with school. It would've been more productive that way in preparing your body."

Whether players joined the team right out of high school like Pettigrew or latched on in the middle of their careers, like Norwood, it couldn't be done without Paterno's approval.

He encouraged playing two sports, as long as it didn't take away from academics. For Jackson, it was track and field, the sport he said best lends itself to productivity on the football field.

"When Curt Warner and I came off the track, we were in much better condition than everyone on the football team," Jackson said about his days running the 400-meter dash. "I can't explain it, it hurts so much. You just wanted to die. You couldn't get in shape for it."

Norwood said playing shape in each sport doesn't really correlate.

For football, Pettigrew was trying to bulk up and improve his speed and agility, an entirely different workout regimen, Jackson said.

"Football doesn't get you in shape," Jackson said. "That's why heavy people can play."

Anticipation skills and hand-eye coordination correlate. The speed of the two games is where athletes trip up.

"You gotta have wind to run up and down that court," said Jackson, who got looks from Jim Boeheim at Syracuse and Larry Brown at UCLA for basketball. "In the football game, it's a stop and start after every play."

Jackson could only name a few athletes who could do both -- Indiana's Antwaan Randle El, North Carolina's Ronald Curry, and NFL tight ends Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates.

Still, each of them wound up making a name for themselves on the gridiron, which is where Jackson says Paulus has his best shot at a pro career.

"Paulus couldn't make it in basketball," said Jackson, who coached Randle El when he was with the Pittsburgh Steelers. "He wasn't good enough. He's not gonna play in the NBA. He's not a great basketball player. He started right as a freshman and people have passed him by."

No disrespect to Paulus, Jackson said, basketball's skill set takes longer to hone, which is why Allen Iverson, who was a highly pursued high school quarterback, is such a great athlete.

"Basketball is changing direction," he said. "Shooting, it takes hours. Dribbling a basketball is so difficult because you're in such limited space.

"Football, if you've got a set of balls, and you're tough, and you're an athlete, you can be a football player. Greg Paulus is tough."

When Norwood heard of Paulus' return to football, it didn't surprise him. Even his success last week against Minnesota wasn't surprising.

"You can tell by the way he plays basketball," Norwood said.

And by the way Paulus debuted in an Orange uniform last weekend, Jackson knew those four years at Duke helped Paulus lead a football team coming off a 3-9 year, while adjusting to new head coach Doug Marrone.

"You go through Coach Krzyzewski in basketball, there's nothing you can't do," Jackson said. "If you can run that system ... He had a little swagger. He's not out of shape."

Pettigrew and Norwood had no regrets on their time with the basketball team, despite never seeing many meaningful minutes.

It wasn't just about playing time for Norwood, who was good friends with guys on the team and wanted to experience the Big Ten Tournament.

Paulus is in the same boat, saying the camaraderie in football is something he missed his four years in Blue Devil uniform.

"We're children," Jackson said about wanting to pursue another sport. "We all have dreams. There's nothing wrong with what Paulus is doing."