The Cam Newton Saga: Even by SEC standards, it’s bizarre
There’s no tempest like an SEC tempest, the scope of which can be breathtaking. Only in this conference could Alabama’s signing of a lineman from Memphis lead to Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer being served with a subpoena at the league’s Media Days. Only here could a night out in Pensacola, Fla., lead to Mike Price being fired by Alabama before coaching a game. Only the SEC could spawn the feel-good-gone-bad tale of Cameron Jerrell Newton.
He’s a quarterback from College Park who played at Westlake High. He signed with Florida, where he served as understudy for the sainted Tim Tebow. Newton left to attend a junior college in Texas, where he played for Brad Franchione, whose father Dennis used to coach Alabama and whose abrupt departure for Texas A&M led the Tide to hire, albeit briefly, Mike Price. (Nobody does connections like the SEC.)
Newton wound up enrolling at Auburn, where he’s considered the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy. His team ranks second in both the Associated Press poll and the BCS standings and can clinch the SEC West by beating Georgia on Saturday. All of this is, however, subject to change.
Last week ESPN and the New York Times reported that former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond had been informed it would cost $180,000 for Newton to commit to MSU. (This John Bond, not to be confused with Georgia State offensive coordinator John Bond, was the quarterback at Valdosta High after Buck Belue and John Lastinger, both of whom went on to greater glory at Georgia. At MSU, the Valdosta product was known as “One-Hop Bond” for his aerial accuracy.)
Bond has dropped from sight — the celebrity Web site TMZ reports that the FBI wishes to speak with him — but not before granting an on-air audience to Belue, his fellow Valdosta alum, on 680 The Fan in which he undercut his own story by suggesting he hadn’t spoken with the intermediary named in the initial reports. (To which we say: Huh?)
Auburn was quick to assert that Newton was fully eligible to play for the Tigers, whom he led to a 62-24 victory over Chattanooga last weekend. Afterward he told reporters: “When God be blessin’, the devil be messin’.” (Newton’s father Cecil is the pastor of the Holy Zion Center of Deliverance in Newnan, which, as the New York Times helpfully informed us, has only recently been restored to city building codes.)
We pause here for breath, for our tangled tale has only begun. This week FoxSports.com reported Newton had been accused of cheating while at Florida. (While a student in Gainesville, Newton was also charged with three felony counts involving a stolen laptop that was subsequently tossed out a window. The charges were dropped after he underwent pretrial diversion.)
This cheating revelation, attributed to an unnamed source, immediately led Florida coach Urban Meyer to issue a statement saying nobody connected with the Gators had done the leaking. On cue, Auburn coach Gene Chizik dismissed all allegations as “pure garbage” and wondered, in what seemed a clear reference to Meyer and Dan Mullen, the former Florida assistant who’s now head coach at Mississippi State: “Is there a wizard behind the curtain? Is there one? Is there two?”
In all of this, the overarching question has been: If it was going to take $180,000 for Newton to play for Mississippi State, did he really enroll at Auburn for free? On Tuesday ESPN became the first outlet to address that issue, reporting that two unnamed Mississippi State recruiters were informed in separate phone conversations with Cam and Cecil Newton that the player’s services were indeed for sale.
One recruiter, according to ESPN, maintained the elder Newton said it would take “more than a scholarship” to land his son. Another source said Cam Newton expressed regret after his father chose Auburn for him, saying, “The money was too much.”
And that’s where we are, our story nowhere near its conclusion. If Auburn has reason to believe there’s a chance Newton’s recruitment wasn’t aboveboard, will it bench him for the Georgia game and risk losing the division title it’s so close to winning? (Chizik asserted on a teleconference Wednesday that Newton would start against the Bulldogs.) Does the SEC, shuddering over the possibility of its championship game matching Auburn and Chizik against Florida and Meyer, intercede? Does the NCAA? The FBI?
And what of Georgia, which needs one victory in its final two games to become bowl-eligible? Could the underwhelming Bulldogs face Georgia Tech without quarterback Joshua Nesbitt, who broke his arm against Virginia Tech, and Auburn without Newton? If so, wouldn’t that make Mark Richt the luckiest man alive?
And what of us? What does it say when we pay so much attention to games purportedly played by amateurs after being reminded so often that college football is as pure as the driven sludge? Does that make us hypocrites? Or merely fools?
Feel free to answer, but I’m not sure I want to know.
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519 comments Add your comment
DawginLex
November 10th, 2010
4:35 pm
GTBob,
Oregon vs Arkansas
Oregon vs Auburn(with Cam)
Oregon vs Bama
Oregon vs LSU
would all be great games.
Oregon vs VT also
shane72774
November 10th, 2010
4:35 pm
What does Miss. State have to gain by reporting any of this? Think about it. No coach wants the NCAA looking into his program and by blowing the whistle Dan Mullen gave them a free invite. Also today on XM radio Dan Mullen stated “The truth of the situation is, the people that need to know the truth, know the truth.” This was in response to a question as to whther Cam and his family were seeking a payment. Why wouldn’t he flat out deny it if untrue? I can’t believe any coach would be that vindictive and make it all up.
SECWasteManagement
November 10th, 2010
4:35 pm
HAHAHA @ arrowhead59
Saint Tebow
November 10th, 2010
4:36 pm
I always told my mother – if you look for trouble – you’re sure to find it. Put anyone under the microscope and you’ll find less than desireable results.
I wish someone would have put Timmy Tebow under the same spotlight during his time at UF. They woulda discoverd that he was actually a big ole girl!
John
November 10th, 2010
4:36 pm
Why should Auburn even consider holding Cam Newton out against Georgia? This is still the “feel good” story of 2010 despite the efforts of some to bring a redeemed young man down. I will be at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday. You better have your ear plugs on because the cheeers greeting the Auburn team on Saturday will be louder than the day Alabama first came to town in 1989.
Boca Baby
November 10th, 2010
4:38 pm
Hey Auburn, in the words of legendary AJC sportswriter Furman Bisher, “If you cheat you ought to win.”
Buck Commander
November 10th, 2010
4:38 pm
John = Otis The Town Drunk.
VolGuy
November 10th, 2010
4:39 pm
I like to watch college football, but ie is just a huge business that makes a few kids wealthy while exploiting the rest. The whole system has become rotten to the core. The big football factories should just pay the players a decent salary to play. With a few exceptions (particularly in the big football conferences) the concept of a “student athlete” is a complete lie.
74 Dawg
November 10th, 2010
4:39 pm
To answer your last question, Mark: both hypocrites and fools. But it still beats the No Fun League.
Buck Commander
November 10th, 2010
4:41 pm
VolGuy, very well said and very true. Congrats!!
SECWasteManagement
November 10th, 2010
4:42 pm
It’s the same guys who tried to hire Patrino behind Tubberville’s back that are behind it all.
Whip Cream on Dawg Crap
November 10th, 2010
4:43 pm
How2fish. Quit hidding behind the SEC Skirt, you scheduled Idaho State in week 10 of the season. Do you remember Colorado, they are not even above .500. Lets see… a combined 33-40 is what the W/L is for your teams schedule so far. Nice tough schedule. Now go get some more RC and Moon Pies and come back with something southern….
RussDawg
November 10th, 2010
4:45 pm
None of this helps UGA win Sat.
Good Grief CMR had this guy pegged as a tight end that says enough.
taking money or not has no impact on what he will lay on UGA defense SAT
If he is declared ineligible later after he is in the NFL making millions has no bearing on the game Sat. Stop him in his tracks on the field Sat that is where it counts. then no more talk of AU in BCS or tropheys etc. UGA beat AU and this becomes 2nd rate story where it belongs.
Monkey Says
November 10th, 2010
4:45 pm
Know matter what is being printed or made of it, unless you are and Auburn Fan this some funny times to be on the outside looking in at an Auburn program who fired a winning coach, that took over a probationed program and won, then hired a coach who could not win at Iowa St. Now Iowa St. is winning and has won more games in one year than Chizik won in two at Iowa St. Chizik knew he had to win and win in a hurry as he was considered a bad hire even by the Auburn people. He brought in a gun slinger in Malzhan and he know Gus is gone after this season too. If Chizik was going to win he had to win now because he and anyone with football knowledge knows that without a stud a qb this offense is another version of run and shoot employed by June Jones and in the SEC the good coaches figure you out pretty quick. Cameron Newton has been the difference maker and he will be long gone either way next year and Auburn is back to the bottom tier in the SEC. The 2011 ROAD schedule for Auburn is good for 4 losses and Chizik needed this year to buy him some time….well folks ..a bought and paid qb got him those extra few years.
PI
November 10th, 2010
4:45 pm
I see and smell smoke. We will soon find the fire
StraightJacket
November 10th, 2010
4:46 pm
To Mark Bradley, I must thank you for the entertainment value of these blogs! I used to think Saturday Night Live reruns were good for laughs, but reading the comments on these blogs is better!
I mean, … you’ve got fans of one SEC team INSISTING that THEIR team cheats LESS than yours, and therefore, their wins are more “righteous”. Fans arguing over what violations are “worse” or “better”. Fans lamenting over the fact that their team didn’t cheat ENOUGH in recruiting, and fans that are already “spades” calling fans of other teams “spades”. Talk about blind spots and lack of self-awareness; the SEC has it in SPADES!
All this is like an episode of Seinfeld. Self-absorbed fans of one team that ignore the planks in their own eyes because they’re so focused on the speck in the other fans’ eyes.
FUNNY STUFF !!!!
Boca Baby
November 10th, 2010
4:46 pm
John: What is your definition of redemption? Being kicked out of Florida for academic malfeasants, signing with the next highest bidder school, you call this redemption? I believe we are about four steps away from redemption in this matter. If all the allegations are true then what we will have is exposure, expulsion, acknowledgement (by Cam Newton) and repentance. Then, and only then, can redemption occur.
partlycloudy
November 10th, 2010
4:47 pm
I think Auburn bought him. And I think lots of players are sold to the highest bidder.
curse Mark Richt for being so religious and honorable, that’s why we have a losing team this year!
dawghuff
November 10th, 2010
4:47 pm
Will someone please tell me how this thug can be a “fine young man” when its proven he has stolen a laptop and lied to the police?
Where there’s smoke there’s fire… daddy’s church suddenly got reparied and Cam’s blaming the devil… LOL
Christians always provide such comedy to the rest of society who actually uses their brains.
All Auburn All In
November 10th, 2010
4:48 pm
I call BS. All rumor and speculation at this point. Investigation has been going on for months AND he’s been playing all season. Unnamed Sources = BS. WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!!
Jumpin Frog
November 10th, 2010
4:48 pm
UGA/ Auburn. Anybody care. One’s 10-0 while the other is 0-10 (well just about anyway)
Monkey Says
November 10th, 2010
4:53 pm
All in…
The SEC turned this over to the NCAA just two months ago and if the SEC had come up with nothing the case would not have been turned over to the NCAA…the smell of cash inducements to a player is what the NCAA lives for and you can go bury your head in the Auburn Prosrciptive Turf at Jordon Hare Stadium, but anyone can see this case is going to cost Auburn either way. Now stating that, If I were Gene Chizk I would keep playing Newton as he is “all in” now and without him Auburn is no better than a 4th place Ole Miss team.
Bill Toomer
November 10th, 2010
4:54 pm
What does “War Damn Eagle” mean?
DawginLex
November 10th, 2010
4:55 pm
dawghuff,
Christians don’t use their brains?
So when you die, do you know where you are headed? If you are a Christian, you know positively. If you are not a Christian, you don’t know although a Christian can tell you.
Now who does not use their brains?
Mike
November 10th, 2010
4:55 pm
Mark-
Sounds like a bad contry song.
“I got caught cheatin’, while I was stealin’, runnin’ & throwin’.”
lawzoo
November 10th, 2010
4:57 pm
What is Cam Newton majoring in at Auburn? An entire article about a student-athelete and not a word about his Major?
Very shoddy jounalism, if any.
Mike
November 10th, 2010
4:57 pm
Newton’s a trainwreck. Rumors, and bad news follow the dude around like mud on a pig.
BG
November 10th, 2010
4:57 pm
Suspend Newton now! The NCAA needs to suspend him for the rest of the year. Where there is smoke there is fire!
Mike
November 10th, 2010
4:57 pm
Didn’t man to say Newton is a pig, just that bad news follows him around everywhere he goes.
Mike
November 10th, 2010
4:59 pm
Mama always said, if you play in the sandbox, you’re gonn get some dirt on you.
Bob
November 10th, 2010
5:00 pm
All you hatin Dawgs can kiss my arse!!
War Eagle!!!
Mike
November 10th, 2010
5:00 pm
If it looks like afish, smells like a fish, feels like a fish, it might be fishy.
Limerick time
November 10th, 2010
5:00 pm
There once was a guy named Cam
Whose Daddy got him into a jam
He played ball in the fall
Hoping the NFL would call
But now wishes he was on the lam
UGA fans are a bunch of sissy's scared of an ars whipping Sat
November 10th, 2010
5:00 pm
There isn’t much to this story that has been kept alive locally by the UGA (AJC) writers. Instead of hearing all this sideshow crap, we should be reading articles about how each team is preparing etc.
Cam Newton will play and make UGA look silly—and lets not forget the Auburn D line rush either which looks to neutralize AJ by pressuring Murray.
DawginLex
November 10th, 2010
5:01 pm
I hope he plays Saturday and this goes away.
no excuses.
Just play football
King Gator
November 10th, 2010
5:02 pm
If it looks like afish, smells like a fish, feels like a fish, it might be fishy … same for a lot of the sorority girls in Athens! Go Gators!
King Gator
November 10th, 2010
5:03 pm
Reggie Bush just “unfriended” Cam on facebook
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:05 pm
My name is Cameron Newton and I am majoring in Playing Football and Minoring in Religious Studies. I really wanted to study Finance but my daddy told me he would handle that aspect of my life. I was going to study Criminology but after my experience at Florida I decided I would not be a good candidate. I also liked the thought of studying in Computer Technology but my past experience with laptops did not work out too well. I really like Scooters and I am taking a night course on Scooter repairs, but that is an online course and I have a tutor for that one.
Susie AU
November 10th, 2010
5:05 pm
NIce summary. What of the timing of this? Alleged cheating at UF in 2008? Really? That matters today, this week, in arguably the biggest game for AU this year (so far).
And the Miss St recruitment does not mean AU paid. AU’s NCAA coordinator is among the toughest in the league…post Pat Dye recruitment debacle in the late 1990’s. Auburn is UBER-cautious with these issues…recall the 11 and 0 season in which we were not bowl eligible. No one wants to relive that. Not to mention, the NCAA has had this info for 7 months…timing is everything, isn’t it?
Regardless of Cam Newton’s innocence or not, the underbelly is this…kids with less, see opportunity for more. There are rogue, vile agents salivating at the opportunity to “sell” the talent. It happens…and far more often than anyone in the SEC, NCAA or FBI would know or admit.
Mike
November 10th, 2010
5:05 pm
Let’s see, Newton says he did NOT:
1) Steal a laptop–he bought it hot from a guy off the back of a truck
2) Cheat academically
3) Lie about why he left Florida
4) Lie about why he changed his mind after agreeing to play for Miss St.
5) Lie about accepting $180,000+ from Auburn
6) Lie about where the money came from to repair his Dad’s church
Gen Neyland
November 10th, 2010
5:05 pm
What we need now is for the Golden Goose of named or unnamed sources to shed some light on whether Cecil got paid for choosing Auburn for Cam. And if Cecil did in fact take a buck or 200,000 bucks, why didn’t Mama Newton get her share..? Hmm, something just might be rotten in College Park.
Big Ol' Dawgleg
November 10th, 2010
5:06 pm
It all looks pretty crooked, but why would Auburn bench him now? If he did get paid, and that is proven to the NCAA’s satisfaction, thern Auburn is going to be screwed whether or not they bench him now at this late date. Basically, Auburn is “all in” with Cam at this point. Its too late to fix anything that went wrong, so why not go for it and try to win a championship? I’m not an Auburn fan, but at this point it seems that they would be better off winning a championship and potentially having it taken away later, rather than sitting down the guy that is the key to your whole team and losing thre last two games and missing out on the SEC championship. Besides, even if they sit him for these last two games, I doubt the Newtons are going to refund any of that money.
Whip Cream on Dawg Crap
November 10th, 2010
5:06 pm
I went to see Cam play MSU. When the team ran out of the tunnel the team stopped at auburn’s sideline, but Cam kept running almost around the whole stadium jumping up and down and yelling.
It was called creating a diversion. How many people are missing laptops today?
BULLDAWG BILL
November 10th, 2010
5:07 pm
There is lots of smoke here — must be a fire some place. Newton has a “troubled” past at Florida and was much too good of an athlete for them to just let him leave. We will probably never know all that happened in Florida. Auburn has some supporters capable of buying him, so I’m not all that shocked.
ROGER
November 10th, 2010
5:07 pm
It doesn’t matter if Auburn paid Newton or not. We already know everything we need to know about Cam Newton. HE IS AN ADMITTED THIEF WHO STOLE A LAPTOP FROM ANOTHER STUDENT IN A FLORIDA DORM ROOM. This is enough to justify NOT voting for him in the Heisman race. Integrity counts.
collegeballfan
November 10th, 2010
5:08 pm
“Does that make us hypocrites? Or merely fools?”
“Feel free to answer, but I’m not sure I want to know.”
OK, I will not tell you. But, wow!!!!!
Gary
November 10th, 2010
5:08 pm
Not fools, Mark, tools.
Whip Cream on Dawg Crap
November 10th, 2010
5:09 pm
Roger. Right on brother. Integrity counts!!!!!
cam newton suspended auburn tigers | A FACE IN A BOOK
November 10th, 2010
5:09 pm
[...] The Cam Newton Saga: Even by SEC standards, itâs bizarre – Atlanta Journal Constitution (… Auburn was quick to assert that Newton was fully eligible to play for the Tigers, whom he led to a 62 … State recruiters were informed in separate phone conversations with Cam and Cecil Newton that the playerâs services were indeed for sale. Nov 10, 2010 8:51pm [...]
Ignorance is Bliss
November 10th, 2010
5:10 pm
He’s a Bishop, not a pastor. Get it right. <.<