Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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that he's doing," Kelly said. "… I'm not surprised by anything that 18- and 21-year-olds do … but there's no indi- cation that there's anything that he's done that would mean he's doing this as a way to go somewhere else. If I sensed it at all, I would've pulled the plug on it myself because we're wast- ing our time. "I think I've got a pretty good sense of people and situations. I'm not going to jeopardize our program, our staff, our livelihood, what we do, if some- body's not bought in and 100 percent committed." At the halfway point of the spring, Kelly indicated that the competition for the starting QB position would continue into August. That likely was not what Golson wanted to hear, resulting in Zaire now being the clear starter entering the 2015 campaign. DRAMATIC TWISTS & TURNS The Golson era — which began as an early enrollee in the spring of 2011 — was fraught with peaks and valleys. Redshirted as a freshman behind Dayne Crist, Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix during an 8-5 season in 2011, he emerged as the starting quarter- back in 2012, beating out incumbent but one-game suspended Rees. Golson went 10-0 as the starting quarterback during the regular season — although Rees earned the "save" three times and started twice — and helped lead Notre Dame to the BCS National Champion- ship Game. Notre Dame was blown out 42-14 by Alabama in that showdown, but Golson was poised for a strong ca- reer. Months later, it was announced that Golson had been separated from the team for academic reasons. Golson missed the entire 2013 season, one in which the Irish finished 9-4. He returned last spring and beat out Zaire, who was then a redshirt fresh- man, for the starting role. Golson led the Irish to a 6-0 start and a No. 5 na- tional ranking before the heartbreaking loss at Florida State and then the team meltdown in November. Still, Golson's 3,445 yards passing were the third most in a season at Notre Dame, behind only Brady Quinn's 3,919 in 2005 and Jimmy Clausen's 3,722 in 2009. With 283 yards rushing and eight touchdowns as well, Golson finished with 3,728 yards of total offense, which is second only to Quinn's 4,009 in 2005. Unfortunately, the turnover travails helped mitigate some of Golson's num- bers. Overall, Golson threw 41 touchdown passes and 20 interceptions while pass- ing for 5,850 yards. He also ran for 14 scores and 581 yards in his Fighting Irish career. ✦ "AFTER MUCH THOUGHT, PRAYER AND DISCUSSION WITH MY FAMILY, I HAVE DECIDED THAT IT IS IN MY BEST INTEREST TO GRADUATE FROM NOTRE DAME AND TRANSFER TO ANOTHER SCHOOL EFFECTIVELY IMMEDIATELY." GOLSON