Sports
Golson Gets Chance to Replace Winston at Florida State
RALPH D. RUSSO, AP College Football Writer
Everett Golson came oh-so close to beating Florida State with Notre Dame last year.
Now, he has another chance for victory at Doak Campbell Stadium — only this time, he’ll be playing for the home team.
Golson is transferring to Florida State, where he will have the chance to replace Jameis Winston as the Seminoles’ starting quarterback.
Florida State said Tuesday that Golson had signed a grant-in-aid, ending his search for a new school less than two weeks after he announced he was leaving the Fighting Irish.
Golson graduated from Notre Dame on Sunday and will be immediately eligible to play under NCAA graduate transfer rules that many college sports leaders are looking to change.
He also immediately becomes the most accomplished quarterback on Florida State’s roster, with Winston gone to the NFL as the first pick in the draft.
“The support I’ve received there (Notre Dame) over the past four years has helped strengthen my integrity, wisdom and character,” Golson told Fox Sports.
He picked Florida State after also visiting Florida and Georgia last week.
“I would like to thank all of the coaches who spent time speaking with me these past few weeks and considered adding me to their football programs,” Golson said. “To coach Jimbo Fisher, the Florida State football team, staff, alumni and fans, thank you for allowing me to become part of the Seminoles family. I can’t wait to get started.”
Sean Maguire, a junior who led Florida State to a win in his only start as Winston’s backup last season, finished spring practice as the team’s No. 1 quarterback and Fisher said last week nothing would be guaranteed to Golson if he decided to join the Seminoles.
“After meeting with Everett, I came away very impressed,” Fisher said in a statement. “He’s an extremely intelligent and personable young man.”
Golson helped Notre Dame reach the BCS championship game as a redshirt freshman and first-year starter in 2012. He missed the 2013 season because of an academic violation, but returned to Notre Dame last year and threw for 3,445 yards and 29 touchdowns. He also committed 22 turnovers — two more than Winston.
The highs and lows of Golson’s season were on display in Tallahassee, Florida, last October when Florida State and Notre Dame met in a matchup of undefeated teams.
Golson passed 313 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. With 13 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Golson threw a short touchdown pass to give Notre Dame the lead, but it was wiped out by an offensive pass interference penalty that had Fighting Irish coaches livid.
That loss sent Notre Dame into a tailspin to end the regular season, losing four of its last five with a wildly inconsistent Golson.
The mistakes cost him the starting job. Malik Zaire started the Music City Bowl and Golson played a supporting role in the Fighting Irish’s 31-28 postseason victory against LSU.
The two competed for the job during spring practice for Notre Dame and coach Brian Kelly never did declare a winner. Golson made the choice for him.
Golson, a South Carolina native, considered transferring to several teams in the South, but getting into a Southeastern Conference school was going to be complicated. The SEC has a rule prohibiting its schools from taking graduate transfers who have had significant disciplinary or eligibility issues. Golson was suspended by Notre Dame in 2013 for what he has called poor academic judgment.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has no such restrictions.
At Florida State, Golson joins a team that is retooling after going 27-1 with a BCS national championship and a playoff appearance the past two seasons. Winston led the way, winning the Heisman in 2013.
Winston and 10 of his teammates were selected in last month’s NFL draft, but the Seminoles are not without talent. Golson joins Dalvin Cook, who ran for 1,008 yards as a freshman in 2014, and three talented receivers (Jesus Wilson, Travis Rudolph and Ermon Lane), who combined for 93 catches and nine touchdowns last season.
“YESSSSS!!! Welcome to the family EG!” Florida State star safety Jalen Ramsey tweeted Tuesday. “#Nolenation. The Rich Keep Getting Richer!”
Florida State is the second playoff team from last season to replace a Heisman winner with a graduate transfer quarterback. Oregon signed FCS All-America Vernon Adams away from Eastern Washington earlier this year.
Golson and Adams could be among the last players to take advantage of the NCAA’s version of free agency. Many decision-makers are working to eliminate the graduate transfer exception that allows athletes to change schools without sitting out a season.
For now, it has provided two of the most intriguing stories of the upcoming season and given Golson one last chance at redemption in Tallahassee.
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Arts and Culture
Gov. Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom Host 2024 Hall of Fame Ceremony
Former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and three other African Americans were among 10 luminaries inducted into the 2024 Class of the California Hall of Fame on Feb. 8. The 17th Annual California Hall of Fame ceremony was held at the California Museum.
By California Black Media
Former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and three other African Americans were among 10 luminaries inducted into the 2024 Class of the California Hall of Fame on Feb. 8.
The 17th Annual California Hall of Fame ceremony was held at the California Museum.
“The California Hall of Fame is one of our families’ favorite traditions as it is a time to come together to celebrate remarkable Californians as well as their loved ones because we know that it is about partnerships,” Siebel Newsom said. “The governor likes to say that California is a dream factory because it doesn’t matter what zip code or background you come from, the California dream is alive and well to everyone who calls this state home.”
The other Black honorees were filmmaker Ava DuVernay; Federal Judge and civil rights leader, the Hon. Thelton Henderson; and basketball Hall of Fame player and broadcaster Cheryl Miller.
“It’s what I’ve been waiting for and to be among a great group of individuals that also deserve the honor,” Brown told California Black Media on the event’s red carpet before the ceremony began. “No, I never thought someone from Texas would be recognized this way. But here I am, and it all happened in the great state of California. It’s a fantastic feeling.”
Other 2024 inductees are: master chef and “mother of fusion cuisine” Helene An; computer scientist and “father of the internet” Vincent A. Cerf; all-female pop punk band The Go-Gos; Chicano Rock band Los Lobos; former U.S. Secretary of Defense and Congressman Leon E. Panetta; and artistic director and choreographer Brenda Way.
This year’s honorees join a history-making club with over 150 inspirational Californians previously inducted for their groundbreaking achievements and personifying the state’s innovative spirit.
“It’s just a humbling experience. I want to thank the Governor and First Partner. Who would have thought 100 years ago (that I would be inducted?) It’s incredible,” Miller said after her induction. “I want to thank the governor and First Partner for an incredible event.”
During his acceptance speech, Henderson said he was deeply honored.
“You know, it really would have been a really big deal to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the area where I grew up, for example, South Central Hall of Fame, or the Watts Hall of Fame, or the Straight Out of Compton Hall of Fame,” he said. “But being inducted into the California Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame of the greatest state in the country in this great nation is something else.”
Community
El Cerrito High Senior Jayvon Bolds Named to Blue-Grey All-American Bowl
El Cerrito High School senior Jayvon Bolds is set to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl game at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas on Jan. 8. Bolds, an 18-year-old scholar athlete whose favorite subject is history, was nominated for the honor by Rodney Alamo Brown, founder of Soulful Softball Sunday who also serves as an announcer for the Texas bowl game.
By the Richmond Standard
El Cerrito High School senior Jayvon Bolds is set to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl game at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas on Jan. 8.
Bolds, an 18-year-old scholar athlete whose favorite subject is history, was nominated for the honor by Rodney Alamo Brown, founder of Soulful Softball Sunday who also serves as an announcer for the Texas bowl game.
“It’s a real honor,” Alamo Brown stated about Brown’s selection for the bowl game. “This makes him an All-American.”
Bolds will play three positions for the Eastern team: kr, slot back and special teams—i.e., kickoff and punt return.
“The plan is to line up Bolds all over the field and let him do his thing. He’ll be a weapon for our staff,” said NFL veteran Tampa Bay Buccaneers standout and All-American Bowl Coach Dick Bell. “In a game like this, with the platform being an NFL facility with former professionals as assistants and mentors, he’ll have a chance to shine on one of the biggest stages around.”
Recently, Bolds received a scholarship offer to continue his higher education at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa.
Bolds maintains a 3.3 GPA and is heavily involved in leadership as he is the vice president of the Black Student Union.
Blue-Grey Football launched in 1989 by founders Gus and Erik Bell with the aim of helping prospects gain national exposure so that they can improve their chances to secure college scholarships.
Some of the nation’s most talented young football players compete in the annual game, with Fox Sports, CBS Sports and USA Today regularly providing coverage, as well as ESPN.com, Scout.com, Rivals.com and 247Sports.com.
Bolds’ family is planning on traveling to Dallas on Friday and is seeking donations from the community to offset the enormous cost. Those who are willing to donate may do so by sending their donations to this cash app, $Juanita Towns.
Rodney Alamo Brown contributed to this report.
Book Reviews
Book Review: “Who Got Game? Basketball”
A little less than two feet. That’s how far you can get your two feet off the floor if you’re an average kid doing an average vertical jump. Not quite twenty-four inches, but don’t worry: the taller you grow, the higher you could be able to jump. Practice some, dribble a little, shoot more three-pointers, and you might jump right into a book like “Who Got Game? Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Jez Tuya.
A little less than two feet.
That’s how far you can get your two feet off the floor if you’re an average kid doing an average vertical jump. Not quite twenty-four inches, but don’t worry: the taller you grow, the higher you could be able to jump. Practice some, dribble a little, shoot more three-pointers, and you might jump right into a book like “Who Got Game? Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Jez Tuya.
Here we are, football season’s almost over, and your mind has turned to other things – namely, hoops set high over your head, and a round bouncy basketball. Kids like you who “got game” have had it for more than a century. Yes, the game of basketball was created by Dr. James Naismith in 1891 in Massachusetts.
In the years since, basketball has changed a lot, thanks to what Derrick Barnes calls “pioneers.” Julius “Dr. J” Erving improved the dunk. Before that, in 1950, the NBA first allowed Black basketball players on the teams. There have been super-tall players (Manute Bol and Gheorghe Muregan were both seven feet, seven tall) and smaller b-ballers – five-three Muggsy Bogues had a vertical jump of nearly four feet! – and just two years after the game was invented, America had its first women’s team.
A lot of off-court people poured themselves into the game, too. Barnes writes, for example, about Pat Summitt, hoopster, leader, and “one of the greatest coaches in all of sports history.” Her record of 1,098 wins ranks her at first-place in coaching women’s basketball, and as the coach with the second-most wins overall.
You can probably guess that in a book about buckets, there are bucketfuls of stats. Barnes includes a list of NBA players who jumped to a team right out of high school. He writes about the greatest basketball park ever, he explains why winners cut down the net, how Title IX changed the game, why backboards rarely break into a zillion pieces anymore, high scores, bad injuries, “hoops movies,” and where in the world you can pick up a game today.
So, your 9-to-13-year-old loves basketball so much that they dribble a ball in their sleep? They think their favorite jersey is church wear? Then you’ll be the hero of the day when you bring home “Who Got Game? Basketball.”
But first, there’s one big thing you need to know: this is not a how-to book. There aren’t any instructions inside here, no rules or plays to follow. Instead, author Derrick Barnes makes young b-ballers happy by sharing little-known info about the game they love so much, short lists, great stories about great players, wins and losses, and phrases they should know to talk the talk. All this knowledge is supported by colorful illustrations by Jez Tuya that kids will enjoy alongside the facts.
This book is for die-hard young b-ballers, but don’t be surprised if an adult finds a thing or two to learn here. “Who Got Game? Basketball” is a book any fan will want to jump on.
“Who Got Game? Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, Illustrated by Jez Tuya, c.2023, Workman Publishing, $16.99, 172 pages.
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