No Off-Season for Everett Golson

Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Everett Golson (5) celebrates after scoring a touchdown in action during the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Spring Game, at Notre Dame Stadium, in South Bend, IN. (Photo - Robin Alam ./ IconSMI)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Everett Golson (5) celebrates after scoring a touchdown in action during the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Spring Game, at Notre Dame Stadium, in South Bend, IN. (Photo – Robin Alam ./ IconSMI)

Notre Dame football players reported back to campus on Sunday for the summer semester, but not all of the 2014 Fighting Irish spent their time away from campus relaxing. Everett Golson, Notre Dame’s almost certain starting quarterback for the fall, spent his time off honing his craft with quarterback guru George Whitfield along side some fellow signal callers.

Golson, along with Baylor’s Bryce Petty, Michigan State’s Connor Cook, Virginia’s David Watford, and other aspiring elite NCAA quarterbacks, spent the last week plus training with Whitfield at his “Dime City” camp for #QBSharkWeek.  As you can see from the Tweets below from Whitfield, that work included both time on the field and in film study.

Golson will benefit from all oft he extra work he can get right now after missing all of 2013 following his poor academic judgement. He played well in the spring for Notre Dame after being reinstated, but he also looked rusty at times and very much like a quarterback who was away from the field for a while.

Training with Whitfield is nothing new to Golson either. While his teammates trudged through an up and down 2013 season, Golson worked with the renowned quarterback guru whilst in exile. Golson used that time to focus on the intricacies of the position – something he hadn’t done in the past as he was able to get by on raw talent alone.

Coming out of his time with Whitfield, Golson made improvements like gripping the football by the laces. That may sound elementary, but it was something that he hadn’t done in the past. Given all of the other work the Irish coaching staff had done with Golson before his departure, it was also something they hadn’t had a chance to work.

Golson has not yet been named the starting quarterback for Notre Dame this fall, but while Malik Zaire showed that he is more than capable of making plays in the Blue-Gold game in April, it would be a shock to me at this point if Golson were not the starting quarterback on August 30.

Goslon is preparing like someone who thinks he will be the starting quarterback this fall as well and not just because he spent the last week of his  break running through drills at Whitfield’s academy. Brian Kelly praised Golson’s practice skills in off-season interviews when talking about the differences between his two quarterbacks vying for the starting role. Those types of comments were not the norm the last time Golson was in a battle for the starting quarterback position for the Fighting Irish.

So far all indications are that Golson has returned to Notre Dame focused and dedicated to winning on the field and more importantly, in the classroom since that is the area that has him in locked in a battle with Zaire in the first place. Spending his free time working at getting better is just another indication of that dedication.

Golson’s work with Whitfield is also a stark contrast to how the South Carolina spent his Memorial Day this year as opposed to last. If you remember, it was last Memorial Day weekend that we learned of Golson’s academic shortcomings and subsequent punishment. A year later, a refocused Everett Golson has his sights set on recapturing the starting quarterback position he surrendered a year ago by falling short off the field.

As the players all report back to campus and participate in off-season drills on their own, look for Golson to step into more of a leadership role – something he had begun to do last spring before learning that he would not be a part of the University for the fall semester.

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21 Comments

  1. “Field-turf vs. Natural-grass”? ENOUGH ALREADY! No disrespect, fellas, but ND made this switch so that the playing surface would not be an issue. The issue is not. Let’s turn-the-page and find some employment for the grounds crew who was responsible for the grass.

    1. As you say, no disrespect intended, but it appears the jest of my previous post sailed right past you.

      Along similar lines of IrishChan.. I too was interested in “reading more of his analysis and explanations.”

      What can I say… it’s a slow day at the office!

      Or as the late-great Colonel Sanders, once said…
      “I’m too drunk to taste this chicken.”

      Cheers!

  2. I want the QB in that gives ND the best chance to win. At this point, if it’s EG or MZ, I don’t care. Those 2 will determine by their play & preparedness that status as to who will start. I like the fact we now have more of the prototype QB to function in the Offensive scheme ND wants to run. I will be somewhat surprised if EG doesn’t start the first game but anything can happen.

    Go Notre Dame

  3. Golson is the more seasoned and better QB. He seems to have paid for his mistakes and to be ready to lead the offense to a new level. Go Irish!

  4. I hope Golson is the answer this year at quarterback. I truly believe that is the missing piece to Notre Dame being among the best teams in the country. Needs to improve his overall accuracy.

  5. This is what leadership looks like. Something that “appeared” to be missing from the field last year. Manti showed the team what it looked like and now it appears that EG is stepping up, taking the lead and shouldering the load.

    So excited to watch this team come together on the field.

  6. I would agree Zaire surprised during spring game but I didn’t see him as a guy who is better or even as good as Golson. Better than TR – yes.

    Goslon has played in College competition and has been successful and at times looked like he could be dominating – Zaire looked like a good defense could get to him and force him to mistakes very easily during the spring game.

    I don’t mind Kelly making the summer about getting better through competition – that’s a good thing. I’d hate to see him throw Zaire in just because he has another brain fart as he did with TR, AH, Crist. I really do not trust Kelly and QB’s. There’s something off about him there.

    1. Not sure I agree with you, Jim. I don’t think pulling those QB’s when they weren’t performing was necessarily a bad idea, even if the fan reaction was that he was trigger-happy. He pulled QB’s when they weren’t playing well. When they were, he left them in. AH didn’t ever play well; maybe he’ll do better over in Ohio. Crist never was any good after getting hurt in his soph year. He played badly enough in the opener to look worse than Rees. He got a lot more opportunity to show what he could do at Kansas, and bombed there too. Lasted in the pros for about a month. When Golson played well, Kelly kept him in. When he didn’t, Rees played. Finally, if he really were trigger-happy, he would have put Zaire in last year. I wouldn’t have liked it either.

      1. It’s insane for you non believers to think that golson is better than Zaire he is not. Two years ago he was better than Reese because that’s al he had to compete with and as you know Zaire is no Reese. This kind of talk assures that Zaire is being disrespected as a young man and Qb
        Golson is a fraud and cannot carry this offense like Zaire can. Those so call sacks would’ve never happen had it been live because Zaire can run his butt off but didn’t because he wanted to show the world that he can pass and pick you apart. Golson was running around cause he couldn’t read the defense of kne his progressions. Coach Kelly is no fool he know golson is slow and doesn’t know what he is doing out there.

      2. And you formulated this opinion after seeing 2 hrs of a glorified scrimmage? That or you are an assistant coach on here to provide your insights.

      3. I’d love the read your analysis and explanations as to “why” you feel this way.

      4. Don’t listen to them Tony.

        They are just more of those insane, disrespecting, non believers.

        As you say, Zaire is no Rees, and unfortunetly, some people around here need to be reminded of that.

        I’d like to pick you brain on the issue of natural grass versus artificial field turf.

        What’s your view on the subject?

        I think coach kelly decided to have field turf installed because he knows how really slow golson is and is trying to cover up for him.

        What do you think?

      5. @Tony:
        X2 on Burgundy’s post. You know this how? Because of a scrimmage vs. a QB who was 12-0?

        None of us know who the “better” QB will be, you included. So those who think Golson is the better player to start are “disrespecting” Zaire. But you calling Golson a “fraud” and “can’t carry the offense (despite that 12-0 record) is not disrespectful to Golson?

        I see alot of incredibly stupid posts, but yours is a special kind of stupid.

      6. Tony,

        Thanks for the clarifications. I was waiting for someone to finally blow the whistle and tell the truth.

        Here’s hoping you clean up the mysteries surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, the Loch Ness Monster and Obama’s actual place of birth. Keep up the good work!

  7. cool update Frank. Golson is really exemplary in how he handled this adversity. He is not relying merely on his seniority. He’s hangin’ with some good company in Bryce Petty and Connor Cook, and Petty runs Briles’
    up tempo.

    Frank, can you make the season get here sooner?????

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