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
PHILLIP
November 10th, 2010
5:11 pm
Its only a matter of time before Cam’s father pulls out the race card and we’ll have Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton marching down the streets of Auburn, AL.
Boca Baby
November 10th, 2010
5:11 pm
dawghuff: I know several PhD bedecked christians who would like to sit down and have a conversation with you about brains. We are talking Princeton, Harvard, Edinburgh and Westminster here. Note: These institutions do not hand out degrees to people with no brains.
King Gator
November 10th, 2010
5:11 pm
And the Dawg fans wonder why they’re so average in the SEC … you get what you pay for… I’m mean come on, your best player had to sell the jersey off his back just to get some summer walkin around $$. I would’ve went to Auburn just based on the starting salary comparisions. Go Gators!
dawghuff
November 10th, 2010
5:11 pm
This comment is proof positive that Christians don’t use their brains..
“If you are a Christian, you know positively.”… sure you do…LOL
As I said, Cam believes in the devil, that means he’s a moron.
He’s also a theif, that is proven. Now how hard is it to believe he took money to play FB at AU? Not hard at all.
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:13 pm
My name is Cameron Newton and I am majoring in Football playing at Auburn and minoring in religious studies( with a focus on Religious finances). I really wanted to study Criminology but after my experience at Florida it was my dad’s idea not to pursue that form of study. I also really liked Computer Technology but after “LAPTOP GATE” at Florida my daddy said I should stay away from laptops. I am now interested in Scooters and Trophies and I am taking an online course in Scooter Repairing. The course is pretty easy as Auburn has provided me with a tutor. I am also taking an online course on how to make your own Trophy and I am designing my own Heisman trophy as I do not think the New York Downtown Club will be inviting me to their ceremony in December after all my payoffs to my daddy are fully discovered.
King Gator
November 10th, 2010
5:13 pm
Cam is so 1 and done, by the time the ish its the fan he’ll be starting qb for the Carolina Panthers. Stiff Arm Trophy or BCS Title or none of it ..he’ll be NFL bound in about 60 days.
icedawg
November 10th, 2010
5:14 pm
Sounds like mostly “he said she said” stuff. Give the kid a break. Until there is something substantial brought forward cut the gossip. Gossip is spreading rumors about someone in order to damage their reputation. Gossip is character assassination. If there is a problem then may the witnesses step forward, otherwise people should leave it alone. I hope he plays this weekend and somehow the DAWGS find a way to win. Remember. It’s just a game.
Sad
November 10th, 2010
5:14 pm
I’m not sure what makes me more sad. The comments on “news” and editorials or the articles themselves. Sadly, Mark, you have your answer.
King Gator
November 10th, 2010
5:15 pm
Not hard to figure out why he was behind Tebow on the depth chart @ UF. All Timmy did is kill you all with kindness! Go Gators!
UGA2002
November 10th, 2010
5:15 pm
Cam needs to go to the NFL. Look how petty grown adults and the media are in CFB? You win in the NFL you’re a saint, in CFB, it’s lynch mobs consisting of the lowest of the low, reporters and boosters.
This is a crying shame.
FREE CAM NEWTON! FREE COLLEGE FOOTBALL FROM ALL OF THIS BULL ****.
King Gator
November 10th, 2010
5:17 pm
at least he’s not broke and always stoned like Quincy Carter
UGA2002
November 10th, 2010
5:18 pm
Something tells me Mississippi St is not in the free and clear. A poor school by SEC standards and dirty boosters makes me think the NCAA might be investigating their activity. After all, they claim they handed this all over to the NCAA as soon as it happened at the Egg Bowl but in reality they kept recruiting Newton until he signed a NLOI with Auburn and then reported and 11 months later Cam Newton is still playing football. Hmmmm. Imagine that, dirty boosters from Mississippi.
Bill Toomer
November 10th, 2010
5:19 pm
you’re right. it is about time for Al Sharpton to show up in auburn and set everyone straight.
Beast from the East
November 10th, 2010
5:19 pm
Mark,
Nice job recapping all of the recent stories. It would be nice if someone could verify the validity of ANY of it. Oh well, at least the trolls are having fun throwing stones.
Beast from the East
November 10th, 2010
5:21 pm
UGA2002,
Ole Miss probably kept recruitng him until the end. When they could not sign him, then they turned the info over.
Old Tackle
November 10th, 2010
5:21 pm
Nick Bell died last week. Our program (MSU) is in grief. Sure, it’s a good time for us to bring up Cam f’n Newton. Seriously, folks.
Boca Baby
November 10th, 2010
5:22 pm
Ignorance is Bliss: The New Testament uses the terms “presbuteros” (pastor) and episkopos (bishop) inter-changeably. So, if Cam Newton’s father is a Bishop he is also a Pastor. Now you can go back to your blissful state of ignorance.
UGA2002
November 10th, 2010
5:22 pm
Thayer Evans at Foxsports.com releases a reckless article saying insiders at Florida gave him information on Newton’s academic record. A felony. Now Florida has got a mess on its hands and it probably didn’t have a single source give Evans anything. Read that dudes articles and he’s just full of hate towards Auburn and Newton and unfounded on so many accounts.
So this is the template, next time Florida, Tennessee or what have you has a 10-0 team and Heisman front runner by a mile, start leaking to reporters that Mr. Anonymous and Mr. Unidentified and Mr. Off The Record and Mr. Speaking on Condition of Anonymity says said player wanted hundreds of thousands of dollars to play and you can make everything come apart.
I once made a comment about something coaching related while in college and I had a reporter call it in. I won’t give details, but I was just talking, I didn’t know crap. I was just saying if then than and the dude called it in. Reporters are underpaid, putting it all out on the line for the same of name recognition is all most have. This is very dangerous.
Run to the NFL Cam, run. Leave the rest of us to clean up the mess from ESPN and Foxsports.
Georgia need to get serious
November 10th, 2010
5:22 pm
partlycloudy
curse Mark Richt for being so religious and honorable, that’s why we have a losing team this year!
partlycloudy
You are an idiot. Curse a man for being honorable? Get real.
An honorable can coach football, remember Tom Osborne?
Richt’s problem is not his religion, it’s getting outcoached, especially in big games.
Mony
November 10th, 2010
5:23 pm
Muddy32
November 10th, 2010
2:26 pm
Muddy makes more sense than the idiot that wrote this article.
UGA2002
November 10th, 2010
5:24 pm
Anybody else here ESPN today: “Cam Newton and his father admit to wanting money to play at Mississppi St and saying that Newton would attend Auburn because they will pay him more, say unidentified sources.”
ADMIT? say UNIDENTIFIED sources. ??!?!?????
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:24 pm
Tim Tebow was a great mentor of mine and I took some great advice while he and I were at Florida. Tim told me to stay in my room and play on my laptop. Well as you all know my Laptop broke and I bought a new one….he he hee and you believe that don’t you. Tim also told me not to get caught being in the wrong place so I sped alot and got alot of tickets. Tim also told me to study hard and use all means necessary to pass all my classes, but what he did not know is that I need a couple of papers to turn in and I called my laptop connection guy and he hooked me up with a three papers I turned in to my professors. So I really did listen to Tim Tebow but it just did not work out for me like it did for Tim Tebow while I was Florida.
My Name is Cam Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:24 pm
My name is CAM Newton. When Jesus be blessin, Dan Mullins be messin. Stop messin wit my daddy you racist. We ain’t got no money from Auburn..And whatever you do, don’t look under the back right pew in my daddy’s church.
UGA2002
November 10th, 2010
5:26 pm
Question for the Heisman trophy voters, if you don’t vote Cam while at the same time saying he’s the best but his integrity is in question, and then in 2011 the NCAA comes out and says “Free and clear, no evidence of wrong doing and the stories were completely false and made up.”
Will you allow a re-vote of the Heisman???
For some reason I doubt it. So there you go, the way to undercut a Heisman winner is laid out for the world to see and use next year and the next and the next and the next.
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:26 pm
The money ain’t under the last pew, it is in the hollowed out bible in the second pew in choir section.
Beast from the East
November 10th, 2010
5:28 pm
UGA2002,
It’s a shame they are allowed to report this stuff without any shred of evidenece. It’s the biggest sports story in the country. Will they report it if he is cleared of all of this? Yes, in a two sentence story.
It may all turn out to be true, but until it is verified then it should not be reported.
JSB
November 10th, 2010
5:28 pm
Schools should be educating and NOT serving as a training facility for the Pros!
My Name is Cam Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:28 pm
And don’t you even think about voting for that Boise State QB for Heisman. Who cares if he completes over 70% of his passes and he’s never been arrested. Vote 4 CAM 4 HEISMAN BABY.
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:28 pm
I should have know that Rogers dude was keeping part of my money…what is 10% of $200,000.00?
he told me I was getting only $50,000.00…..i need to call daddy…
Ignorance is Bliss
November 10th, 2010
5:29 pm
Thanks for enlightening me Boca Baby. Tell me. Which church ordained him a Bishop? Eddie Long’s? rofl…..
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:30 pm
I am making my own Heisman Trophy….It is going to be in my likeness, holding a football in one hand and a laptop in the other…
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:31 pm
SOMEBODY was suppose to give Dan Mullens his cut…what is up with that?
My Name is Cam Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:32 pm
Superman wears CAM Newton pajamas. And Eddie Long don’t wear no pajamas.
cam newton suspended auburn quarterback | A CERTAIN SOMEONE
November 10th, 2010
5:32 pm
[...] The Cam Newton Saga: Even by SEC standards, itâs bizarre – Atlanta Journal Constitution (… Only the SEC could spawn the feel-good-gone-bad tale of Cameron Jerrell Newton. Heâs a quarterback from College … Another source said Cam Newton expressed regret after his father chose Auburn for him, saying, âThe money was too much.â Yahoo! News Nov 09, 2010 4:16pm [...]
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:33 pm
I am turning you guys off now….I need to listen to my supporters….like Paul Finebaum on XM 143,,he likes me….you Atlanta folks are turning on me like I ain’t from Atlanta…that aint cool..I aint no T.I.
DawgDad
November 10th, 2010
5:33 pm
I say follow the money.
First, who benefits from knocking Auburn out of the SEC West Championship and the BCS, or Newton out of the Heisman? Most likely this is motivated by sour grapes somewhere, maybe from multiple sources, all feeding the fire. Who would have sour grapes? Isn’t it still possible Florida could get the SEC BCS bid? Miss. State? Alabama? What about Boise and TCU? Less likely? Taking out Newton and perhaps Auburn entirely would clear a major hurdle.
Second, follow the pay for play money. Start tracing bank accounts and pressing witnesses. As for Auburn, they might as well go all-in and play out the season with Newton, regardless of the allegations. If they are guilty, or if they have lost institutional control, give them the death penalty. If Newton or his family took money he should lose his scholarship and be banned by the NCAA. Most likely there is illegality involved with the payments as well.
My Name is Cam Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:34 pm
Paul Finebaum wears whatever pajamas are popular that year.
Ignorance is Bliss
November 10th, 2010
5:35 pm
It’s already been disclosed that Miss St. turned Auburn in. Not Florida, Alabama, Boise, or TCU as much as Auburn fans want it to be.
5150 P.O.A.D
November 10th, 2010
5:41 pm
Really good aticle Mark
This is getting to be too petty and too big not to have more control over College Football. I just enjoy going to watch the games and hope we win. The NCAA needs to make the kids stay in school and graduate in 5 years befor they can go to the NFL.
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:42 pm
I am going to say this one more time….I did not have sex with that women…oops that was Bill Clinton, I meant to say….I crawled out of the car and could not get her out of the car….oops that was Ted Kennedy….I meant to say…..No New Taxes….oops wrong again….that was George Bush…
I meant to say….we were not talking to Bobby Petrino about the head coaching job at Auburn..oops that was Bobby Lowder…
I got it I got it….I was not paid to come to Auburn……thats the ticket
madmac
November 10th, 2010
5:43 pm
@ Mark Bradley.
Mark, I’m not a college football fan by any means, But before this young man’s name is needlessly destroyed via the media, it’s time for some of these reporters to drop names of “unnamed” sources. All I see right now is that somebody has a serious ax to grind with either him personally or professionally or with Auburn. Until they start dropping names or evidence all I see so far is a bunch of jilted suiters out there looking for as James Brown used to say “Some Get back…Payback”.
My Name is Cam Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:44 pm
OK, I am tired of lying. The money is securely hidden behind my front teeth.
Old Coach
November 10th, 2010
5:45 pm
Hope he plays and the Dogs win. If he didn’t play and Ga wins then we would have to listen to Schultz and Bradley Offer excuses that if the Cam had played Auburn would have won.
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:46 pm
AUBURN will be no better than 5-5 WITHOUT me and everyone at Auburn knows it, I am worth every penny….
atl
November 10th, 2010
5:47 pm
Athens West campus is going to be rockin’ on Saturday afternoon. Tiger fans, leave your pride at home and get ready for a whoopin. By 6pm, you’ll need to bring the fire hoses out again because I will be at mid field dancing around and may take a poop at the 35 on my way out.
atl
November 10th, 2010
5:49 pm
I am also going to give that retarded Eagle some poisoned bird seed right before kickoff.
justincase
November 10th, 2010
5:52 pm
Seems with the record Cam has he is more of a fit toplay at Georgia
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:52 pm
When I run for elective office I will firmly support “Pay for Play for ALL college Athletes”. I do not think it is fair for just a select few of us getting paid…That just ain’t cool…….
My name is Cameron Newton
November 10th, 2010
5:54 pm
Yes, I would fit right in at Georgia.
Bosshog
November 10th, 2010
5:55 pm
wow, bradley is cammy cam now your whippin boy since you can’t write about mike vick anymore.
jeebus X do some real work and earn that paycheck. what’s bizarre is you forgetting the principles of your profession and prostituting yourself.
come on bradley you are better than that.