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Everett Golson keeps championship window open for Florida State

By Patrick Schmidt

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Former Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson has found a new home and is transferring to Florida State.

Eight days after visiting Florida State, former Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson is transferring to play his final year of college football with the Seminoles, according to Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman. Golson also took visited Florida and Georgia on subsequent days.

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“This past weekend has been a defining moment in my life as I am proud to say I am a graduate of the University of Notre Dame,” Golson said in a statement to FOX Sports. “The support I’ve received there over the past four years has helped strengthen my integrity, wisdom and character. I would like to thank all of the coaches who spent time speaking with me these past few weeks and considered adding me to their football programs. Their interest and sincerity was truly humbling. After much thought and careful consideration, I will utilize my fifth year of eligibility to join the Florida State University Seminoles. To coach Jimbo Fisher, the Florida State football team, staff, alumni and fans, thank you for allowing me to become part of the Seminoles family. I can’t wait to get started.”

Golson announced his intentions to transfer out of Notre Dame where he helped lead the Fighting Irish to the BCS Championship Game against Alabama as a redshirt freshman in 2012, sat out the 2013 season due to an academic suspension and returned to start every game in 2014.

His return to Notre Dame went swimmingly in the first half of the season with a 6-0 record and Golson playing himself into the early Heisman Trophy conversation. But things took a dramatic turn for the worse for Golson and Notre Dame after the loss to Florida State in Tallahassee on the game’s final play.

Golson threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw a pair of interceptions, including one to Jalen Ramsey to end the game after Notre Dame’s go-ahead touchdown was nullified because of an offensive penalty.

Notre Dame would lose four of the next five games and Golson’s turnovers were a big reason for the team’s slide. He finished with 22 turnovers on the season (14 interceptions, 8 fumbles) to offset his 29 touchdown passes for 3,445 yards and his eight rushing scores.

He was benched against USC in the regular season finale and saw Malik Zaire start against LSU in the Music City Bowl and after competing with him in spring practice elected to seek a new stark with a better chance of starting in his final year.

Golson will compete with Sean Maguire who took all the first-team reps for Florida State in the spring after serving as the backup to Jameis Winston. He only has one career start, an overtime win against Clemson last year, when he got the nod over the suspended Winston, so he trails in the experience department to Golson.

The two will compete for the starting job in the fall and Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher offered no assurances to Golson that he would be promised the starting job, but he will be given every chance to win the job and I would be stunned if he’s not starting the opener on Sept. 5 against Texas State.

He immediately upgrades the position with his big-game experience and production and should keep the championship window open for Florida State this year. The ACC still runs through Tallahassee and now they have a proven quarterback who has an arsenal of young and talented receivers to work with in Travis Rudolph, Ermon Lane and George Campbell and a Heisman-caliber running back in Dalvin Cook.

Further, this allows the younger Seminoles quarterbacks to sit and learn without the pressure of having to possibly play this year should Maguire have struggled. The addition of Golson is a win for the short and the long-term and is the perfect bridge option for a team who lost a Heisman winner who won a national championship and only lost one game before being the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.

Not many teams could be so lucky to have a quarterback like Golson fall in their laps, but Florida State is, and it could result in another trip to the College Football Playoff and a second chance for Golson to get that national championship.

Next: Ranking the ACC Head Coaches for 2015

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