Everett Golson would be Maryland football's dream, but don't get your hopes up

Senior Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson is now "senior transfer quarterback Everett Golson," as the four-star recruit-turned-pretty good college player announced Thursday he'd move on from the Fighting Irish.

Golson will be eligible to play immediately in his last year of eligibility, and the Maryland football team desperately needs a quarterback. Nominal starter Caleb Rowe is still injured, and neither backup Perry Hills nor Shane Cockerille exactly seized the job during spring practices. Naturally, when Golson announced his intention to leave South Bend, the Everett-to-Terps Twitter conversation began in earnest:

@testudotimes are the Terps interested in Golson?

— LNR (@bmorehoopster) May 7, 2015

@testudotimes with Everett golson now on the transfer block, do the Terps have a shot? Could be a nice gap solution here with all our QB ?'s

— Jeff (@jknc09) May 7, 2015

@RandyEdsall call Everett Golson. There should be a few openings in the grad program #Terps

— Slappy (@coachhater) May 8, 2015

COME TO MARYLAND EVERTT GOLSON

— Ethan Rothstein (@ethanrothstein) May 7, 2015

I would take Golson at Maryland in a heartbeat.

— Brendan Darr (@BrendanDarr) May 7, 2015

Off the top of my head, Maryland would be a great spot for Golson to end up. Chance to start immediately in a major conference.

— Joseph Merkel (@Joseph_Merkel) May 7, 2015

There's plenty more where that came from. (Of course, the same conversation was had by fans of virtually every school that doesn't have a solid quarterback situation ahead of 2015, which is a lot of them.)

So, should the Terps be interested in Golson's services? And would he be interested in theirs?

On the first question, absolutely. Golson isn't some kind of gunslinging wunderkind, but he brings an unusual mix of raw athleticism and the ability to locate throws. He's only actually played in two seasons (2012 and last year), but he shepherded the Irish to a national championship game in one of those years and still played pretty solidly in the other. Last year, he completed a full 60 percent of his passes at a totally respectable 8.1 yards per attempt.

Golson threw 14 interceptions, but he also threw 29 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Maryland quarterbacks threw those same 14 interceptions but just 19 touchdowns. And Maryland had a better group of pass-catchers than Notre Dame did.

In short, Golson is better than anyone Maryland has. Whether Maryland gets blue-chip local prospect Dwayne Haskins to come onboard in 2016 or not, Golson would be a terrific one-year placeholder for the Terrapins – if he wanted to come, which he might not at all and which cannot be considered more than a longshot.

Maryland does offer Golson the chance to start in a big-time conference and showcase himself before his NFL Draft year, which is appealing. Mike Locksley's offense is also somewhat suited for running quarterbacks; C.J. Brown had mild success taking off out of a zone-read scheme last season. But beyond that, it would be hard for Maryland to pitch him.

Golson is from South Carolina – not local – and will have plenty better programs than Maryland pursuing him. Sports Illustrated floated a list that includes Florida State, South Carolina, Texas, LSU and Houston, which is now coached by former Ohio State quarterback-whisperer Tom Herman. Other lists have featured similarly strong teams. Expecting Maryland to beat these programs out isn't all that reasonable.

Ultimately, this isn't remotely likely to happen. But that doesn't mean it's not fun to consider.