(MCT) — FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In his first official appearance as a Notre Dame quarterback about to play for a national championship, Everett Golson followed a phalanx of teammates and security through hotel doors and into a wall of waiting cameras. His head and eyes darted back and forth before he spotted the entrance to a small ballroom, and he headed toward it.

It was a bit of misdirection by the sophomore. Golson heard officials call his name for a reroute. He was escorted to the cavernous ballroom next door with dozens of rows of chairs and a bank of still more cameras in the back. He climbed a few steps and took a seat on the dais, inextricably on the big stage, in the middle of everything.