Everett Golson Confirms What We Already Knew About Suspension from Notre Dame Fighting Irish

By Tyler Brett

October 30, 2013

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were optimistic about their chances of getting back to a BCS bowl game in 2013 thanks in part to the return of Everett Golson at quarterback. But those plans took a hit last spring when Golson was suspended from school for the Fall quarter for what was only described as “poor academic judgement” and the sophomore who led the Irish to the national title game in 2012 would not be allowed on campus for the 2013 season. Now, Golson has opened up about the suspension to Sports Illustrated and pretty much confirmed what we already knew.

When asked about why he was suspended, Golson responded that it wasn’t because of poor grades or “anything like that,” and when asked directly if he had cheated on a test, the former ND signal caller said: “Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaahh, something like that.” He went on to elaborate that what he had done was considered a violation of the honor code at Notre Dame which resulted in his suspension for a quarter. The school and football team won’t comment on the exact nature of what the violation was due to “privacy laws,” but it’s been pretty clear from the start what happened.

Golson cheated on a test, or “test situation” as Golson puts it, and got himself kicked out of school for a quarter. Instead of transferring to a junior college or other university, Golson instead has been spending his time in San Diego under the tutelage of quarterback coach George Whitfield so that he can take care of “unfinished business” when he re-enrolls at ND next winter with two more years of eligibility remaining. It’s almost the perfect redshirt season for a quarterback looking to hone his skills with a full-time QB coach to work with and none of the “school” stuff to get in the way.

Notre Dame will welcome Golson back with open arms in 2014 after Tommy Rees graduates as a junior who has gotten a year off from getting knocked around by defenses and plenty of tutelage to iron out some of the kinks in his game. While it may have been a bit inconvenient for them this season, this situation may turn out to be the best honor code violation ever to happen for Notre Dame.

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