An Unusually Relevant Walk-On

Stephen Bell, a connected guy in the realm of Michigan high school basketball, says that an Alpena forward, Eric Puls, is coming in as a preferred walkon. Normally this would be shrug-worthy news, but since Puls is a 6'9" guy with three-point range he might end up being a contributor. Fawning Alpena News article:

Over the past few years there hasn’t been a basketball player in the northeastern Michigan area as versatile as Alpena forward Eric Puls.

The 6-foot-9 Puls gave Alpena an unmatched presence in the paint who also was skilled enough to step out and drain a three-pointer or handle the ball like a guard.

This is almost certainly wild exaggeration resulting from watching a potential D-II college player go up against the various bewildered lumberjacks I assume populate the high school basketball teams of northern lower Michigan, but if he can shoot and handle and pass Beilein might turn him into another Pitsnoggle. Tatoo parlors of Ann Arbor should go to red alert if this is a picture of him (the caption on the story implies it is but isn't explicit):

He can certainly shoot:

“They shot the ball as well as any team we’ve played in the past seven years,” Cadillac coach Jeff McDonald said. “It was most just one player but to the rest of their team’s credit, they matched up with us athletically and gave us a lot of problems.”

The one player is senior 6-foot-8 Eric Puls. He hit five threes in the game and had 26 points in the first half en route to a 36-point night.

“He was really on fire and you have to give him a lot of credit for the way he played but we have to find a better way to stop him next time,” McDonald said.

And there's more!

“It was The Eric Puls’ Show,” Marquette head coach John Tiziani said. “But big players show up for big games.”

Puls started the game by scoring Alpena’s first 14 points, which included four 3-pointers. He finished with 30 points.

Hopefully he's as successful as fellow Alpena-to-Ann-Arbor transplants Mason Proper, who kick ass.