Everett Golson

Golson broke off on a 61-yard touchdown run out of the shotgun on the 4th play of the game.

He finished with 10 rushes for 78 yards while going 21 of 40 passing the ball for 287 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Wildcats.

Golson fumbled 8 times and threw 14 interceptions, 4 of which were returned for defensive touchdowns.

Not all of the blame was on Golson, however, as the Irish defense suffered multiple injuries at key positions early in the season and never recovered.

Everett Demone Golson (born January 2, 1993) is a former American football quarterback.

At Myrtle Beach High School, Golson threw 151 career touchdown passes for the football team, leading them to the AAA state titles in both 2008 and 2010.

In addition, he helped lead the basketball team to a state championship in 2008 as a point guard and was named to the all-state team.

Golson originally committed to North Carolina before changing his college choice to Notre Dame.

He previously played quarterback for Notre Dame from 2011 to the spring of 2015.

Golson chose to transfer to Florida State after graduating from Notre Dame.

Golson was born to Sherwin "Wayne" and Cynthia Golson and grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

During the 2011 season, Golson was redshirted as sophomore quarterback Tommy Rees led the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to an 8–5 record.

During the 2012 season, Golson guided the Fighting Irish to the National Title game against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

In May 2013, it was reported that Golson was suspended from Notre Dame because of an academic violation and other reasons.

Initially, Notre Dame's assistant vice president for public information and communications said in an email: "Everett is not enrolled at Notre Dame. Federal law and our own policies preclude us from discussing specifics."

After having sat out the entire 2013 season, Golson was readmitted to Notre Dame on December 13, 2013.

He was not allowed to practice or travel with the team for the Pinstripe Bowl.

In a conversation with Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated, Golson admitted to cheating on a test as the reason for his academic suspension.

The 2014 Fighting Irish began the year at 6–0 ranked No. 5 in the country by October 12.

This fast start included victories over Rice (49–17), Michigan (31–0), Purdue (30–14), and Syracuse (31–15)—all in September.

Notre Dame ended the season with an 8–5 record.

In Notre Dame's October 4 matchup with No. 14 Stanford, the team prevailed after a 23-yard touchdown pass by Everett Golson to Ben Koyack on 4th down-and-11 with only 1:01 left in the game.

Golson was 20-of-43 for 241 passing yards and a couple of scores that day.

Later, Notre Dame won a 50–43 shootout win over North Carolina (October 11) and lost to then-#2 ranked Florida State, 31–27, on October 18.

Afterwards, Notre Dame went 1–4 that month, culminating in a blowout loss to rival USC in which the Golson was benched early in favor of his backup Malik Zaire.

Closing out the season in a bowl game, Golson's teammate Malik Zaire was named the starter in a time-splitting arrangement as the Irish defeated SEC powerhouse LSU (finished 8–5 in 2014) in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl in a close one, 31–28.

Golson was 6 of 11 for 90 yards passing in the bowl game, while Zaire threw for 96 yards and rushed for 96 more to defeat Les Miles's Tigers.

He opened the 2014 season against Rice on August 30 by throwing for 295 yards (14 of 22 passing attempts) and for two touchdowns.

The next weekend, he went 23-of-34 for 226 passing yards and 3 touchdowns versus the Michigan Wolverines.

On September 13, Golson threw for 259 yards and 2 scores while leading the team in rushing with 56 yards against Purdue on the road.

Against Syracuse on September 27, Golson set a Notre Dame school record by completing 25 consecutive passes, one shy of tying the NCAA record.

He threw for 362 yards and 4 touchdowns off 32-of-39 passing attempts against the Orangemen.

In Notre Dame's loss to Florida State (finished 13–1, ranked No. 5 in 2014), Golson finished the evening with 313 passing yards (31 of 52 passing attempts) and 3 scores in a game in which he received much praise from his coach, Coach Brian Kelly.

"He was terrific," Kelly explained following a road matchup that involved much controversy over the officiating at the game's conclusion.

Other big games for Golson that year included a 315-yard passing effort at Navy as he finished 18 of 25 for 3 touchdowns on November 1 in a 49–39 win over the Midshipmen.

He also had a big day on November 15 in a 43–40 overtime loss to Northwestern running with and throwing the football.

On May 7, as many expected following his lackluster finish to 2014, Golson announced his intent to transfer from Notre Dame.

Golson provided roughly 10 schools to the Notre Dame compliance office as to where he was interested in transferring.

Among the schools on Golson's initial wish list were Florida State, Alabama, South Carolina, and UCLA.

On May 19, he announced he would transfer to Florida State for his final season of eligibility.