Melina Vastola – USA TODAY Sports
The Florida State Seminoles added the talents of Everett Golson on Tuesday, bringing the former Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback to Tallahassee for the 2015 season. While the arrival of Golson has been met with great excitement by many, the news is less than ideal for quarterback Sean Maguire.
Maguire was in line to be the starter for the Seminoles in 2015 after acting as the backup to Jameis Winston in 2014. He stepped into the starting lineup once in a 23-17 overtime win over the Clemson Tigers where he completed 21-of-39 passes for 304 yards with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions. Maguire’s play was certainly serviceable but he didn’t create the kind of buzz that made fans excited about the prospects of him taking over for Winston this season.
That apprehension was not relieved during spring practice where Maguire looked inconsistent leading the first team offense. Despite his shaky play at times, Maguire was still tabbed as the No. 1 quarterback heading into the summer for next season.
Until Golson became available, that is. As soon as the former Irish QB announced that he would be transferring from Notre Dame, Florida State immediately became a front-runner for the quarterback’s services. This was after FSU was reportedly interested in Braxton Miller who was rumored to be looking into possibly transferring from the Ohio State Buckeyes. With Miller still enrolled at Ohio State, however, the Seminoles looked elsewhere and found Golson.
While Jimbo Fisher has said that nobody will be “given” the starter job and Golson will have to compete for it during fall camp, Golson likely wouldn’t have committed to come to FSU if he didn’t have a pretty good feeling about his chances to start in his final year of eligibility.
That leaves Maguire, who has paid his dues into this program, as the odd man out. There’s still a chance that Maguire could hold onto his job in fall camp but you can bet that Golson will be given every opportunity to seize control of the position when the team comes back together in August. Fans and coaches alike will be rooting for the exciting new quarterback on the roster to lead the Noles next season.
Fisher and company will be hoping that the addition of Golson pans out for them because this vote of no confidence in Maguire will likely have a lasting impact on his ability to lead at Florida State moving forward.
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