My gut tells me, He's staying, he's going to be the starting quarterback at Notre Dame, most people who reach that level of competition are fighters, they rise to the challenges in front of them and they succeed... They don't do that by running from adversity.
If he leaves, it goes against his behavior and athletic pedigree...kid was a multi sport state champion. He would have to be awfully beaten down to have regressed to the point of submission...especially after his fight to get back into school and graduate...
However that graduation goal will have been achieved and his next 12 months should be spent preparing for his career... Lets just say the list of suitors would be long and intriguing from the SEC to the PAC12 and ACC. So I do understand why he may even have some curiosity.
If he does go, it would be an acknowledged wart on Brian Kelly's resume... Golson was a hand picked, Whitfield camped for a year, redshirted for a season under Kellly, started on a #1 ranked team and for the majority of his career has been one of the best quarterbacks in the ncaa...
I hate to say it, but Brian Kelly needs to make this work...He's gotta help Ev win back the locker room. The year away from the program was detrimental to the locker room. Malik's best attribute has largely been his ability to lead and not turn the ball over. If Golson adapts any of those attributes into his game, he would win the job and serve as an on the field leader within the skill players...sounds corny but he's gotta win 7 on 7 - he's competing against the best secondary in the country (I said it) - someone has to raise the bar on offense during the week to help that translate to Saturday.
If we are going to posture on where he goes... UCLA, Florida and Northwestern are my front runners for where he lands... UCLA will use him as a bridge before Rosen is ready, Florida will have a new coaching staff for the entire team and Ev would be on the biggest stage SEC Saturday in a "down year" for the sec ... Northwestern is an interesting option as the Big Ten has been familiar foe for Ev and there are undeniable media/pr benefits w/ Northwestern having media deals with the big ten network, cbs radio and espn
Now with all of that being said, the opportunity for Ev to be the only quarterback to take Notre Dame to multiple championship games since ??? He would build his legacy to one of the greatest in school/program history.
Further, this is the most talented team top to bottom that Ev could play for, ND is closer to a title than any of the aforementioned programs... Big games, big broadcast events, Big wins, will translate into big awards and big dollars as his draft stock has the highest ceiling at ND. It's just smarter to stay and win