Ever since completing an undefeated regular season last November, the past five months for the Notre Dame Football program have been a nightmare. First, it was the absolute beat-down by the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship Game on January 7, 2013. Second, was the Manti Te’o saga that captivated the sports world about a week later. Third, was the rumor that Head Coach Brain Kelly was bolting for the NFL after just three years a Notre Dame. Although the last one never actually happened, it did send rippling effects to the recruiting war that was about to end. Now, there was another bombshell dropped over the weekend. Starting quarterback Everett Golson has been suspended for the fall 2013 term for violating an academic policy. Notre Dame has been mum on the situation due to privacy laws, but Golson did confirm the report a couple of days ago. Golson stated that he had been suspended for the 2013 season due to “poor academic judgment”, and that he aims to return to Notre Dame for the spring semester in
2014.
What does this mean for Everett Golson and Notre Dame?
For Everett Golson, his collegiate career has certainly taken a hit, but it is not over. Golson will attempt to be reinstated into the university this winter, and he should have an opportunity to be re-enrolled if he can show that he has matured and learned from the mistake that he made. If Golson does return to school in 2014, then he will have a shot to regain his spot of the team. It is hard to predict what the quarterback situation will look like in 2014, but I can guarantee that Head Coach Brian Kelly will not simply hand Golson the starting role upon his return. Golson will miss all of summer and fall practices, leaving him with plenty of work to catch-up on. With Andrew Hendrix eligible for a fifth year in 2014, and incoming four-star freshman Malik Zaire entering his second season with the program, Golson will have his work cut-out to return atop of the quarterback depth chart. If Golson cannot return to Notre Dame in 2014, then he will likely enroll at another school and begin his career elsewhere. Hopefully, Golson can recover from this mistake, and he can still have a successful collegiate career regardless of where that occurs.
For Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish will simply have to move on from the loss of Golson. Brian Kelly has always preached the mantra of “Next man in”, so one can assume that Kelly has already started to figure out a plan for the 2013 season. The obvious choice to start at quarterback is Tommy Rees. Rees is entering his last season of eligibility at Notre Dame, and he has 18 starts under his belt. During his three-year career at Notre Dame, Rees had completed 403 passes in 634 attempts (63.6%) for 4,413 yards, 34 touchdowns, and 24 interceptions. Those numbers are not great, but they are not bad either. The biggest thing going for Rees is his knowledge of the offense and his career win-loss record. Rees is 14-4 as a starter, and he also came off the bench to help lead the Irish to victories in three games last season. Right now, I would be shocked if Rees is not the starter to begin the year. Whether or not he starts every game or plays every snap is another story.
The other two scholarship quarterbacks are fourth-year junior Andrew Hendrix, and early-enrollee freshman Malik Zaire. Zaire may be the most talented quarterback on the roster, but I would be very surprised to see him play this season. Kelly was planning on red-shirting Zaire this season, and I doubt that those plans will change despite the Golson news. Kelly has the experience in Rees, and he also has another veteran in Hendrix. To me, Hendrix is the wild-card in this situation. Hendrix has two years of eligibility remaining, and he has the athletic ability that Kelly wants at the quarterback position. Now, I do not think that Hendrix will or should start over Rees, but don’t be surprised to see Hendrix on the field early and often in 2014. While I am not a fan of a true two-quarterback system, it may be necessary this season. Rees is solid pocket-passer, but he has absolutely zero athletic ability in terms of avoiding a sack, or running the ball from the quarterback position. With Golson, Kelly had the best of both worlds in one player. Now that he no longer has that, look for Kelly to utilize the strengths of both Rees and Hendrix to win as many ballgames as he can.
The loss of Golson is certainly a blow for the Irish, but it should not ruin their 2013 season. Notre Dame should still have a strong defense, and they had a legitimate chance to return to the BCS National Championship Game next season with Golson at quarterback. While those dreams may have been squashed with Golson no longer with the team, I still expect Notre Dame to win 9 or 10 games and compete for a spot in a BCS bowl game.
-Eric Tichelbaut
Follow me on Twitter @etichel07
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