Former Notre Dame and Florida State quarterback Everett Golson is spending the spring in Arizona training for the NFL. But he’s not training for the Combine because he wasn’t invited.
Golson told ESPN he hasn’t heard from NFL teams but is doing what he can to prepare himself to end up on an NFL team in three months.
“I haven’t talked to anybody,” he said. “Right now, my head is just down, focused, ready to go, just trying to do what I can do here to make sure I’m in the best position I’m in.”
Realistically, any quarterback not invited to the Combine is a long shot to get drafted. Extra quarterbacks are invited to the Combine to help out with passing during wide receiver drills, and the NFL invited 18 quarterbacks this year. There hasn’t been a draft in which 18 quarterbacks were selected since 1992, when the draft was 12 rounds. Golson knows it’s not a good sign that the NFL didn’t think him worthy of a Combine invitation.
“I mean, it is what it is,” Golson said. “I’m disappointed.
Golson is only six feet tall, isn’t an extremely polished passer and had academic issues that caused him to miss a season at Notre Dame and didn’t play in Florida State’s bowl game last season for what were described as personal reasons. So there are plenty of reasons to understand why NFL teams don’t see him as much of a prospect. Even if Golson is still hoping for a chance to prove the doubters wrong.