Everett Golson and the New Free Agency in College Football

In the end, the only things missing from The Decision: Everett Golson-style were Jim Gray and ESPN. But it's one thing waiting for the world's greatest professional basketball player, LeBron James, to pick his new team and another waiting for a college quarterback to decide where he'll transfer for one year of football.

It is different, isn't it?

If you don't know, Golson left Notre Dame, shopped himself around to different schools and announced Tuesday he'll play this fall for Florida State, per Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman:

Let the college football world's panic begin.

This is the latest example of college football free agency. It's also the latest example of what big-time college football is all about: football, not college.

"Free agency's a little bit of the recruiting puzzle in college football now, whether we want to believe it or not," said Terry Bowden, who has coached at every level of college football and is currently head coach at University of Akron. "The top 30 quarterbacks in the country always go to the same few schools every year. When one is passed by another one, he's looking to transfer so he can play somewhere else.

"I always keep my eyes open to see what players are leaving."

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So why is this cause for panic? It's not just the transfer rules; it's the graduate transfer rule, specifically. Normally, when a player transfers from one school to another, he has to sit out a year before he can play. It's meant as a disincentive to transferring, keeping college football from having open-market free agency like in professional sports.

But with the graduate transfer rule, which Golson is taking advantage of, a player doesn't have to sit out a year if he has already graduated. The rule was put in place to allow players, who can have five years of athletic eligibility, to start working on a master's degree. But players are making football decisions, not academic decisions.

Golson graduated from Notre Dame this past weekend. He'll play for Florida State this fall.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby put it best, telling CBS Sports' Jon Solomon that the way the graduate transfer rule is being used "sort of smacks of 'hired gun.'"

He's right. It's not about academics. It's about football. Most people have accepted that by now. The players and coaches already know it, and most administrators do, too.

Bowden said when he coached Division II football, he found the players were all holding on to their dreams of playing in the NFL—same as when he coached Auburn. College football is the minor leagues, and that's what players like Golson are after: the best path to the big leagues.

Golson's decision to transfer to college football superpower Florida State is not the first one of these moves of this offseason. Eastern Washington star quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., who earned his degree, decided to transfer to Oregon. It was a move to the big time, where he'll get more exposure and a better shot at making it to the NFL.

This creates a situation where coaches have to worry they might lose their best player and big-time programs might start recruiting off of smaller programs' rosters. In fact, even dominant programs could lose players to other powerhouses with a better offer.

Look, this is about the professionalizing of college sports. That's where some panic comes in, and it's why the NCAA is looking at changing the rules, according to Dan Wolken of USA Today.

"It's a shame that happened at Eastern Washington," Bowden said of Adams' decision to play at Oregon. "You hate to see a team lose its quarterback. A school gives a kid a scholarship and all this time, and then he ups and leaves. But it usually isn't the team's best player that leaves. It's a kid who's not having success and is trying to have a great college experience.

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Bowden has a perfect grasp on the reality here. He also noted coaches don't have any problem switching schools for better jobs, so it's hypocritical to demand players not be able to do the same thing.

The panic from most college coaches doesn't come from reality, though. It comes from a place of power.

Coaches like to have it over players. They make a player sit out a year as a freshman. They keep them around in the summers to work out. Sure, it's an investment for coaches. But it's also an investment for players, who are mostly on one-year renewable scholarships. Typically, coaches think that means they get to choose about renewing.

For nearly a week, everyone expected Golson to announce he was transferring to Florida State. But FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said they were still "negotiating," and then the decision didn't come off Monday as expected. Whispers leaked to the media that Golson might visit a few more schools before deciding.

You can bet the delay and the whispers were all part of the negotiation.

Bowden said that's fine with him. He's quickly rebuilding his own team on transfers from big-time colleges, getting players who aren't getting the field time they want.

But things might be different if a star player walked into Bowden's office this afternoon, degree in hand, and said, "Coach, I'm leaving for Notre Dame."

"I'd feel terrible about that," Bowden said. "And I'd say, 'Son, let me get this right. Notre Dame is trying to win a national championship, and they're coming to Akron to find the players to do it? Are you sure they've promised you a starting job? You're going to start here.'

"It'd be my job to sell him on staying."      

Recruiting your own players. It's the new reality.

Greg Couch covers college football for Bleacher Report.