Now that former Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson is officially a free agent, the one-time Heisman candidate turned backup quarterback for the Irish has begun making the rounds of college visits much like he did as a prep player out of South Carolina. Monday Golson reportedly visited Florida State and Tuesday he was said to have stayed in state to visit with the Florida Gators.
Since making his announcement last week that he was transferring from Notre Dame for his 5th year, there’s been rampant speculation as to where he would land. Reports surfaced on Monday that Notre Dame had blocked Golson from transferring to any 2015 opponent and select Big Ten schools. Those reports were promptly denied by Jack Swarbrick.
On Tuesday, reports surfaced that Golson is now considering 10 schools – none of which were blocked by Notre Dame – including Florida State, Alabama, UCLA, and South Carolina with later reports adding Florida to the mix.
Florida State would make a lot of sense as a landing spot for Golson considering the Noles lost Jameis Winston to the NFL, but Jimbo Fisher told ESPN that Florida State doesn’t guarantee anyone a starting spot according to ESPN.
Jimbo Fisher on Everett Golson meeting: “We never (promise) a guy he’ll be the starter"
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 12, 2015
For Golson, it would make sense for him to transfer somewhere that he knows he will be the starter. Otherwise, transferring in the first place will have made no sense. Golson will also have the added complication of needing a waiver to transfer to any SEC school such as Florida, South Carolina, or Alabama.
Most published reports so far have Florida State as the odds on favorite to land Golson, but for Golson the move would not come without risk. Junior Sean Maguire led Florida State to an overtime win over Clemson in his only collegiate start although he did need some help from the Tigers to do so. Maguire also was not overly impressive this spring. Still, the rising junior knows the Florida State offense inside and out at this point and will have a large lead over Golson in the film room and in his understanding of the offense.
If Florida State does not work out, one school that hasn’t been mentioned in any report yet that would seemingly make a lot of sense is Miami of Ohio where former Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin will be entering his second season in command. Golson should be very familiar with the Miami offense after playing under Martin in 2012. So far, however, there have not been any reports linking Golson with his former offensive coordinator. In fact, published reports have started that all 10 schools Golson gave Notre Dame are from Power 5 conferences.
Right now it’s not clear what kind of time frame Golson has in his mind for making his decision or how many visits he intends to make. If Golson does indeed have 10 schools in mind we also don’t even know all of the potential landing spots for him at this point either. What we do know, however, is that
I think Golson deserves a lot of credit for coming back from the academic scandal and graduating. I thought BK showed a lot of patience with him. Personally, I would have played Zaire sooner. Golson will need to play very well in order to avoid sliding way down in the 2016 draft. Right now, he’d be an undrafted free agent. I still wish him luck. I just want to see an improved Irish team this year with a running game, good defense and production on special teams.
GO IRISH!
You should save all of these comments Frank for the end of the year. It would be fun to read the predictions from these oracles. No one knows what will happen, and you can’t change the past. Golson is gone now so let’s look to the future instead of dwelling in the past with this sour mentality. Good luck to Golson and Zaire this year.
I believe that any 2015 opponent and/or ACC opponent should not get the opportunity to have him as a transfer. Otherwise, I wish him the best in where he goes where he believes he can contribute and self benefit. I think he deserves credit for contributing to wins he was part of and the flip side, he also has contribution to games lost he was part of when he played. I give him kudos for graduating after, and let’s not pretend this isn’t part of who EG was at ND, the academic impropriety he chose to engage in and how that outcome affected more than just EG alone. It CERTAINLY DID have a factor on the 2013 team & season. I say this not to bash EG but to point out, this was part of his ND history. EG has skills to where he could do some playing on Sunday’s. I think his biggest weaknesses aren’t his physical capabilities, but lie between “his ears.” Good luck, EG and may you use that degree for your benefit in the future.
Malik, it’s your time, make it happen.
Go Irish
The haters gotta hate!
We’ll pick this up as to what would have been the best decision for Golson come next January. I believe
Golson staying would have been best for ND. Sharing time with Zaire might more likely not have been best for him as he sees it.
In the meantime, stuff your criticism about his academic blunder where it belongs- in the past. Move on!
1) He returned to graduate- to prove that he could-and he did.
2) He was a vital ingredient in the twelve win 2012 season.
3) Last November’s collapse might have had more to do with the statistically worst ‘D’ at ND since 1956 and a kicking game that self-destructed last November than Golson’s turnovers.
4) If he wasn’t enjoying the ride, then it was time for a change of venue- despite how much playing time he would get- and it looked like “the thrill is gone” for EG at ND as B.B. King would sing.
5) ND hasn’t exactly been a place where QBs under Kelly have sought to complete their eligibility.
I wish EG the best.
Beware Malik- fan bases turn on QBs quickly. Without blame, they have no game.
Go Irish!
Chris:
In my opinion, the NC appearance in 2012 a largely a credit to incredible defense. I’ll go even further and say that Manti Te’o’s leadership and play to get them there by itself bought Kelly more job security than his coaching has deserved.
The bear hug he gave Teo at USC was a very conspicuous moment of visceral, immense gratitude.
Golson has a real talent for throwing a football. Though you can’t go far wthout that, there is much, much more to the quarterback position than just that.
It seems that a lot of you are bitter about Golson leaving but seriously guys..why the bashing? He was the last QB to start for a NC game for us. He won us some games with his talent alone. He has a rocket arm and is generally accurate. I know the turnovers sucked last year, but our defense was as much to blame. The last 5 games of the season, what did the defense give up in points? Our offense continued to score even with Golson’s turnovers, he was still making plays. This was all after a full year off from playing. It’s tough to come back and be dominant right away after a year off like that. He was going to be better this year obviously as it couldn’t have been much worse. It really hurts losing Golson, especially for depth purposes alone. Whoever gets Golson on their team this year just made them a whole lot better.
From Pre-2012:
“Golson has eligibility left, a strong arm and strong legs. He was impressive when he played and doesn’t seem to be prone to the mental lapses Reese had.
His scatter arm and lack of judgement made him a liability every time he stepped back to throw”
Hate being without an experienced backup but feel Golson would have ended up being a cancer.
Him transferring makes it easier for the ND staff to make the decision that they would have had to make anyway and that is to start Zaire over Golson. Zaire has eligibility left, a strong arm and strong legs. he was impressive when he played and doesn’t seem to be prone to the mental lapses Golson had. His scatter arm and lack of judgement made him a liability every time he stepped back to throw. Missing a year didn;t help him regardless of what the experts say. What looked to be a sure thing, became a disappointing career at ND. Go Irish!!
If he hasn’t fixed the turnover problem it won’t matter where he goes, he’ll be sitting on the bench.
The Gators could use him.
Golson is and always will be a domer in my eyes, but the fact is, he is simply not an NFL quarterback. I would try my best to get there as well if I were in his shoes and though he will likely not be a high draft pick if one at all, he certainly will get picked up by some team and get his shot. I will say it though until I am blue in the face… Golson’s best option was to stay an ND! I truly believe he would have been the starter even though I do not think he is the best QB on the team. Kelly would have named him the starter and he would have had another shot to prove himself. If he failed to do that then that’s his sign. Now he has already told NFL teams by his actions that #1, he can’t handle pressure, if it gets to him at ND, it will be double that in the NFL. #2 he’s get media baggage tied to him now…..HOw has that worked out for Tebow and Manzil?
Beauty contest? More like a short sale of potentially damaged goods. ND, its staff, its players, did enough for Golson. Now he’s on his own. Swarbrick should rightly block any transfer to an upcoming opponent, and any ACC school.
People love the inflated drama, but remember…this guy couldn’t make grades, or run the ND offense.
NFL… Are you kidding me?!
This beauty contest process will no doubt go a long way to re-inflating Golson’s badly bruised ego, perhaps restoring the confidence he needs to be an effective QB.
In college.
He’d better pick this next team wisely. Because unless he plays and acts more “professionally” from here out, I predict he will have a very hard time convincing an NFL team that he’s an NFL player.