John David Mercer – USA TODAY Sports
The Florida State Seminoles are reportedly the front-runners in the Everett Golson sweepstakes after the former quarterback for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish announced his decision to transfer for his final year of eligibility in 2015. While FSU hosted Golson for a visit this week, they would be best served by not adding the athletic signal-caller to their roster for the upcoming season.
Florida State is dealing with the daunting challenge of trying to replace a Heisman Trophy winner in Jameis Winston this offseason, which can make anyone a bit anxious. Sean Maguire, who started one game in relief of a suspended Winston in 2014 against the Clemson Tigers, has been the heir-apparent all offseason but his limited body of work and lack of an explosive highlight reel have left many fans looking for help from outside the program.
But Golson, for all his accolades and accomplishments, simply isn’t a good fit for Florida State. For one thing, he comes from a completely different offense at Notre Dame and might struggle to pick up aspects of Jimbo Fisher‘s playbook, which does not rely on the athleticism of its quarterbacks to move the football. Golson would have a steep learning curve to pick up a system that runs opposite to many of the philosophies that he has had success with in the past.
On top of that, Golson comes with some baggage. After leading Notre Dame to an undefeated regular season in 2012 and a berth in the BCS National Championship, Golson missed the entire 2013 season after he was kicked out of school for a “mistake” in academic judgement. He would eventually work his way back to South Bend after sitting out a semester and will leave Notre Dame this spring with a degree, which is a testament to his resilience and work ethic.
However, that black mark remains on his reputation. Florida State has spent much of the last year and a half dealing with Winston’s off-field issues, which sometimes overshadowed the work he did on the field. For everything he accomplished in the huddle, he was often a distraction that put FSU on the NCAA’s radar for all the wrong reasons. Adding a player that could bring more negative attention for a one-year “rental” may not be in the program’s best interests.
The biggest reason for being wary of Golson, however, is his issue with turnovers. After avoiding a single turnover in the first three games of the 2014 season, Golson committed 22 turnovers over the final 10 games, contributing to Notre Dame’s late-season slide. It was the second most turnovers by a single player in all of FBS and the most of any Power 5 quarterback.
If there was one criticism of Winston’s game in 2014, it would have been that he was a bit careless with the football. He threw 18 interceptions on the year, second most of any quarterback in FBS and tops among Power 5 quarterbacks (sound familiar?). Moving forward, ball security has to be a top priority for the Seminoles when you consider the incredible turnover on their roster thanks to the NFL Draft and Golson has not proven he’s capable of that.
When you break it down, Everett Golson, for everything he has accomplished, seems to be a collection of the worst aspects of Jameis Winston. He brings off-field baggage and a penchant for giving the football away and would be well behind the curve in terms of learning the offense. For Florida State to remain competitive in the ACC and the College Football Playoff, Golson is not the answer for them at quarterback in 2015.
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