Any young player thinking of transferring or struggling in school is going to seek out Golson to talk to even more if he is a Captain.
Sure, I can see the conversation: "You're struggling in school? Don't even worry about it, even if you get expelled you can just come back next year and they'll make you a captain."
So because Golson is just coming back, his punishment should start now? Floyd not being a captain was part of his punishment. Golson has been gone for over a year. I don't get the logic that he should be treated the same because he, like Floyd, is just coming back. Floyd didn't pay any price with time away from the team... Golson missed an entire year as punishment.
I just think that he has paid his price. It's silly to make him continue to pay the price for something he spent the last year being punished for.
They are totally different situations, imo.
Lets look at the captains we've had in the past few years:
2013: ZMart, BJax, TJ
2012: Manti, ZMart, Kap, Eifert
2011: Was initially announced as Harrison Smith and Floyd, but Floyd was dropped and game day captains were added.
2010: Game captains I believe
2009: Clausen, Scott Smith, Kyle McCarthy
2008: David Bruton, David Grimes, Maurice Crum Jr.
2007: John Carlson, John Sullivan, Zibby
2006: Brady, Zibby, Travis Thomas
2005: Brady, Brandon Hoyte
2004: Dunno
2003: Darrell Campbell, Omar Jenkins, Jim Molinaro, Vontez Duff
2002: Who knows, I give up
Now, to my knowledge, these guys were pretty much all squeaky clean during their careers. Becoming a captain is both a reward and an honor, just because Golson served time I don't feel like he's eligible to be a captain having been completely cut off and expelled from campus over the last year. Our captains tend to be leaders on the field as well as off the field, they're a shining example to the other guys. The only snafu I can think among any of these gentlemen came from Travis Thomas...he got a little personal in a game against PSU in 2007 I think, but he also wasn't a captain that year.
Now again, I'm not saying Golson couldn't and shouldn't be a captain in the future, just not this year. It's a slight to all the guys that worked hard in 2013 and did the right things, guys like Cam, Brindza, Day, Lombard, NMart, or even a Jarrett Grace who has worked hard to come back from injury. Of course KR is a no brainer. Basically theres a number of guys that are more deserving captains. If Golson wants to come back for his senior year and be captain, I'm fine with that. However, I'm willing to bet half my remaining v-Bucks (After the trillion dollar give away later this month) that Golson won't be named captain at the start of the season...and quite frankly he shouldn't be.