[3] 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.
[3] During the 2011 season, Golson was redshirted as sophomore quarterback Tommy Rees led the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to an 8–5 record.
[2] In a conversation with Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated, Golson admitted to cheating on a test as the reason for his academic suspension.
[12][13] 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.
[20] 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.
[23] 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.
Golson netted eight starts to a season that was reduced significantly from a concussion—which the Seminole signal caller suffered in the 22–16 loss to Georgia Tech on October 25.
[27] He opened the season with a 59–16 win of Texas State on September 5 and was accurate passing the ball (19-of-25 for 302 yards and 4 touchdowns) in a game where he had no turnovers.
[29] The rest of the first half of the season resumed as Florida State glided past four opponents in five weeks with Golson at the helm.
Three games—wins over Boston College (14–0), Wake Forest (24–16), and Miami-Fla. (29–24)—helped set up Florida State's confrontation with Louisville (finished 8–2 in the last 10 games after an 0–3 start in 2015) on October 17.
[33] Golson took his Florida State team to its high-water mark at 6–0 for the year when the Seminoles dismantled Louisville at home, 41–21, on October 10, 2015.
Louisville led the contest at 14–13 early in the 2nd half when Golson found Kermit Whitfield for a 70-yard touchdown pass with 8:05 left in the third quarter.
[34] With National Championship hopes in the balance, Golson's season turned bitter when Florida State traveled to Atlanta to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on October 24.
With 0:54 left in the game, Georgia Tech had tied the score at 16–16 after their kicker Harrison Butker made a 35-yard field goal.
The 9-yard pass went to his wide receiver Jesus Wilson as this set up for a long 55-yard field goal try for kicker Roberto Aguayo-as the Seminoles had just 0:01 left in the game.
Florida State's Coach Jimbo Fisher rested Golson for the next two weeks as the Seminoles had to face Syracuse and #2 Clemson (13–1 in 2015).
With Florida State's Peach Bowl invitation, Golson was unable to attend this matchup as he was dealing with a death in the family.