Why Auburn can’t allow Cam to play against UGA (Updated)
On Tuesday Gene Chizik defended Cam Newton against allegations the coach called “pure garbage” by saying the quarterback had done everything asked of him since arriving at Auburn. But now Auburn needs to ask — nay, to demand — that Newton do something difficult for all involved.
Auburn needs to tell Newton to sit out the Georgia game.
The dynamics have changed since Chizik offered his ringing defense. On Wednesday ESPN reported that two unnamed Mississippi State “recruiters” had heard both Newton and his father Cecil mention money in separate phone conversations. On Thursday Kenny Rogers told ESPN 103.3 in Dallas that the elder Newton was seeking between $100,000 and $180,000 for his son to enroll at Mississippi State.
In nine days we’d gone from two reports that referenced the former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond as a rather distant accuser to stronger allegations that Cecil Newton himself asked for money. And late Friday Mark Winne of Channel 2 Action News reported that Cecil Newton has admitted discussing the possibility of getting money from MSU. (Though the elder Newton claimed no money changed hands and that both Cam Newton and Auburn are clean.)
Rogers has offered names, dates, details and demands. Rogers, who has worked for an agent who is apparently being investigated by the NFL Players Association, might not be the perfect witness, but the murky depths of NCAA violations tend not to be the realm of saints.
As yet, nothing has surfaced to tie Auburn to any player payola, but that’s no longer the issue. It can be an NCAA violation for anyone to seek money or benefits on behalf of a prospect, and now Cecil Newton has apparently admitted as much. Which means Cam Newton could be ineligible. More to the point, it means Auburn has reason to suspect he could be ineligible.
Auburn faces Georgia tomorrow. The Tigers can clinch the SEC West if they win, but there’s more at stake that a berth in the SEC championship game and the clear possibility of playing for the BCS title: There’s the reputation of a university on the line, and it’s a reputation Auburn hasn’t always gone to the wall to protect.
In 1957 Auburn went undefeated and finished No. 1 in the Associated Press poll but couldn’t grace a bowl because it was on probation. In 1993 Auburn went undefeated but was barred from a bowl appearance — and even from appearing on live TV — because it was on probation. In 2003 Auburn’s president and athletic director flew to Sellersburg, Ind., on a private jet owned by the toxic booster Bobby Lowder to meet with Louisville coach Bobby Petrino even though Auburn still had a coach in Tommy Tuberville.
According to the NCAA’s database, Auburn football has been penalized five times for major violations. (This doesn’t count JetGate, which was merely an affront to human decency.) The most recent sanctions were levied in 1993, which suggests the school has become more scrupulous in recent years. Here’s the chance for Auburn University to prove it’s more than a football program with a few classrooms as window dressing. Here’s the chance for Auburn to prove it cares more about being an institution of higher learning than it does the outcome of a given game.
Auburn has cause to doubt that Cam Newton’s recruitment was pristine. It plays Georgia on Saturday but doesn’t play again until it meets Alabama the day after Thanksgiving. That’s nearly two weeks to conduct a thorough in-house investigation, as opposed to relying on the kneejerk “Cam Newton is eligible to play at Auburn” defense. That’s enough time to get some grasp on what’s really what.
The worst thing a school can do is to allow a player of questionable eligibility to represent it. For Auburn to let Newton play against Georgia simply on faith would be to ignore the revelations of the past nine days. It doesn’t much matter if Mississippi State or Florida or the CIA or the KGB was behind these allegations; what matters is that the burden of proof — and proving that something didn’t happen is a massive burden — has fallen on Auburn.
If Newton doesn’t play against Georgia and the Bulldogs win, Auburn will have lost a football game. If Newton plays and is later found to have been ineligible, Auburn will lose much more. For the sake of his latest school, Cam Newton cannot take the field tomorrow.
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1,576 comments Add your comment
WDE
November 12th, 2010
9:58 am
Go ahead and sit him. I think he’s innocent, but we’ve got capable backups. No one in college football can replace Cam Newton, but this is a good chance for Auburn to prove that we aren’t a one man team.
Sit Newton and still give me the Tigers.
Lisa
November 12th, 2010
9:58 am
Auburn reecruited Cam fairly. There is no money trail. Miss State staff/alumni are being implicated here- no one else…..Bond, Rogers, Bell, 2 “recruiters” (or now we know- coaches). The money topic could have come up but how do we know that it came from Cecil Newton? Why did it take Miss State until January to report anything even then leaving this out of the report? We have no proof Cecil Newton initiated any of these discussions or even if he did, whether Cam knew that any of this was going on. What Rogers did contacting Bell and Bond (all Miss State alumni) was an effort propagated by them as alumni to esnure his signing…note that Rogers was not involved in the recruiting of Cam at any other school. Bond didn’t like the sound of things or he got cold feet and turned them in. Who knows, maybe Cecil Newton got word that all this was going on and that is when he told Cam that he would go to Auburn. Auburn has clean hands. If Cam is telling Auburn that he knows nothing of this nor his fathers involvement, then they should play him UNTIL hard evidence is revealed.
Pulpwood
November 12th, 2010
9:59 am
While Auburn was cheatin, the big dawg was eatin!! GATA!!!
Auburn will forfiet entire season and then some
November 12th, 2010
9:59 am
Auburn needs to wake up and do what is right…the future is at stake and the punishment will be even more severe than USC.
Brit Massey
November 12th, 2010
9:59 am
Just forget all this BS and come to the Tickle Pile over on The Flats!!! More fun!!!
JP
November 12th, 2010
9:59 am
As a UGA fan, I say let him play. I’d rather play the best team Auburn can field. I win vs a Cam-less Auburn team would mean much less than a win against their best….
Ryan
November 12th, 2010
9:59 am
Are you a Georgia fan by any chance? I am really sick of people assuming Newton is guilty until proven innocent. The burden of proof lies with the ones making the allegations, not on Newton, his Father, or Auburn.
RED
November 12th, 2010
9:59 am
Innocent until proven guilty. Until the NCAA sends members to Auburn to run a full investigation, there’s no reason for Auburn to bench Cameron Newton. Plus, I would love for Cam Newton to play against Georgia. That way, IF (and that’s a big IF) Georgia wins, no one will make excuses that Auburn got beat without Newton.
GT-Hammer
November 12th, 2010
10:00 am
WRONG!
WRONG! WRONG, MARK.
CAM PLAYS TOMORROW, AND UGA GETS WHIPPED. UGA 14 AUB 38
bigeasy830
November 12th, 2010
10:00 am
What about penalties ti Miss St. for being willing to pay for Newton but was out bidded by Auburn. Miss St. has all but admitted that they would have paid.
Gary
November 12th, 2010
10:00 am
At first I though the only reason the NCAA was putting off any investigation was because there was nothing to investifate. Now I’m wondering if they were waiting for evidence not against Newton, but against Auburn. They had the info from MS ST, were they just wainting to follow the money trail back to Bobby Lowder?
That Guy
November 12th, 2010
10:00 am
Interesting read here http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/11/kenny_rogers_says_cam_newtons.html. No doubt the NCAA strong-armed AJ Green, the kid from Bama, so one would think that if there were merit to the accusations that they wouldn’t hesitate to strong-arm Auburn, especially with all the publicity. Even if it is Cam Newton.
picassokat
November 12th, 2010
10:01 am
AU has probably already broken NCAA rules as to giving special treatment to athletes. It would be almost impossible for a typical student to get into a major university such as AU if their transcript from UF contained 3 instances of academic fraud and being found guilty of stealing another student’s $1700 laptop. One year of JC would not change that.
dap01
November 12th, 2010
10:01 am
I am a Dawg fan and I hope PC Cam plays so that AU will have no excuse. I UGA beats them with Cam playing. But his past is horrible, what kind of institution would continue to let him represent them?
Auburn and Clemson - only good when they cheat
November 12th, 2010
10:01 am
Has Auburn ever been good when they didn’t cheat? I guess 2004 would be the only time. I swear, Auburn and Clemson are the same school. And I’ve never seen Danny Ford and Pat Dye in the same place at once.
All I'm Saying Is...
November 12th, 2010
10:01 am
AU has nothing to lose at this point, Bradley. Since these solicitation of money on behalf of the recruit allegations occurred prior to the season start, if true then they mean every game Newton has played in has been tainted since he would have been ineligible. Furthermore, to sit Cam now would be an admission of guilt by Auburn and would do nothing to halt the suspicion.
If I’m Auburn, I’m “ALL IN” at this stage and riding the Newton train all the way to the SEC and BCS Championship games and my explanation is that “a person is innocent until proven guilty” and “as far as we know in terms of facts not allegations, he was eligible during his time with Auburn”.
The only real thing that can be done is for Cecil Newton (and maybe Cam Newton) to publicly and unequivocally deny the veracity of “pay to play” allegations AND once again ask who broke federal law and leaked his academic records.
If Cecil cannot unequivocally deny the allegations at this stage, then he (and Cam) should continue to keep their mouth shut and decline to comment due to a pending investigation.
Lee
November 12th, 2010
10:01 am
It doesn’t matter Cam or no Cam. We are gonna beat your eyes out!!!
WAR EAGLE!!!!
Bradley doesn't deserve to say the name Cam Newton
November 12th, 2010
10:01 am
You’re such a homer. This article is filled with speculation and lack of journalistic ability. I’m not gonna waste time on the Cam story because without solid evidence to what you just posted, you’re no better than Thayer Evans and Joe Schad.
You add JetGate to the story that was never a story also as if Auburn broke some major violation with the NCAA. Every program looks for new coaches once they decide the current coach is out. It was no secret, apparently unless you’re in ATL or Athens, that Tubbs was well on his way out. The media saved his job by making this to be some uncommon event. I’d like to see you do a little research and I’d be willing to bet there have been horses and buggies leaving Athens to find a new coach.
Lefty
November 12th, 2010
10:01 am
My team is long out of it this year, so I’m a little impartial. But does anyone from around here (SEC country) really want a TCU/Oregon national championship? Play him, win the BCS (for the SEC), and deal with the consequences later. By the time that happens, we’ll be on to a new season and it won’t really matter.
Ostrich Racer
November 12th, 2010
10:01 am
After further review — I agree with Bradley. Auburn has a chance to demonstrate a little integrity here. I hope they do.
MURPHY
November 12th, 2010
10:02 am
Auburn in over their heads.AU officials made the committment to Cam’s eligibilty earlier in the week,no turning back now.He will play tommorrow and AU could get alot of egg on their face.
AU FAN
November 12th, 2010
10:02 am
“We shall fly down the field, ever to conquer- never to yield.”
We will protect this house.
War Eagle.
Ender's Game
November 12th, 2010
10:02 am
Auburn will most likely play Newton. With Newton, they win big. Without him, they still win.
So there’s no difference to dawgtards.
Not Disappointed!
November 12th, 2010
10:02 am
Until there’s proof, play him!
You're a Moron
November 12th, 2010
10:02 am
There is no actual proof at this point aside from what you agree are allegations from a dubious source. I thought it was innocent until proven guilty. There is no reason to remove Cam from play until this thing has been sorted out. I’m sorry if you had money on the Dawgs, but if that’s the case you’re a bigger idiot than this article lets on…
coedawg
November 12th, 2010
10:02 am
I’m a UGA grad and hate Auburn with a passion. That being said, I would much rather lose to Auburn with their full compliment of players than win without. At this point, if he is ineligible, he’s been ineligible all year. Let him play. Go Dawgs
bjohndawg
November 12th, 2010
10:03 am
I am not Nostradmus….but I told you guys on this blog earlier, that this was stinking and smelly and that there was more to come on this and it was not going to be good.
First the recruits say that the Newton’s asked for money, then Rogers admits that the Newton’s were holding their hands out.
The little spark of allegations has turned into a smoldering campfire. And if Auburn does not watch out it could burn their season down with it.
I hope it is not true, the young man can flat out play. But if it is, I have the feeling pops is the one that coule bring his son down.
AH
November 12th, 2010
10:03 am
I am a UGA grad – Dawg to the core. There is a lot of smoke surrounding Cam, but I believe in “innocent until proven guilty”. Hopefully, UGA can somehow win this game with Cam in it. If Cam does not play and UGA were to win, it would always be “Ga won because we didn’t have our quarterback” from the Auburn fans. Let it play out and see what happens.
Hog Fan
November 12th, 2010
10:03 am
I think we have a repeat of the Reggie Bush/USC debacle and just like that one, it will come out long after the season and put a damper on it all.
Kenny Rogers
November 12th, 2010
10:03 am
You got to know when to hold em’, know when to fold em’, know when to walk away, and no when to run. You never counts Cam’s money when your sitting at the Hilton, there’ll be time enough for counting when the NCAA is done.
Jeremy D
November 12th, 2010
10:03 am
Think twice before believing this Schad idiot (spell check correction): http://tiny.cc/4i5y9
M in Auburn
November 12th, 2010
10:03 am
Mark – Have you ever been to Auburn??? It is a beautiful, safe community where students thrive and fulfill greatness! Your quote, “Here’s the chance for Auburn University to prove it’s more than a football program with a few classrooms as window dressing. Here’s the chance for Auburn to prove it cares more about being an institution of higher learning than it does the outcome of a given game.” sickens me. You should check out the long list of achievers from this great university. Saying it has “a few classrooms as window dressings” shows your ignorance.
DollarDawg43
November 12th, 2010
10:04 am
Like some others I see your point but I believe (as others have posted) that Auburn is in too deep now. The NCAA is not going to care when AU thought he was ineligible if something dishonest has really occured. If he and his father are found guilty they are going to decalre him ineligible for the entire season and AU will be forced to vacate the wins.
They almost have no choice but to continue to play him and hope they dodge a bullet (I don’t think this one can be dodged but I’m not living under the pressure they are). He’ll play Saturday. Nothing to lose they haven’t already lost (whether officially or not) already.
starphotog
November 12th, 2010
10:04 am
JUST IN: Cam Newton is now being investigated on criminal charges
related to intentional cruelty to animals. Apparently, video evidence
has surfaced that he has intentionally applied beatings in recent weeks
to bulldogs, hogs, tigers, chickens, rebel bears, and wildcats. He has
publicly stated that he intends on …beating more dawgs,… elephants,
gators, and ducks in the coming weeks!!! WAR EAGLE!!!
tammy
November 12th, 2010
10:04 am
Weither or not Cam plays it really doesnt matter we would probably still win. Murray being able to hold the ball till he can get it to A.J. Greene without Nick Fairley sacking him…. it’s going to be almost impossible! lol
Crumpy frisky this morning
November 12th, 2010
10:04 am
I nominate the following as the GAYEST post of all time…
“We shall fly down the field, ever to conquer- never to yield.”
We will protect this house.
War Eagle.
Goodbye barners, enjoy the off-season. Fear the thumb and the NCAA.
BuzzMan
November 12th, 2010
10:04 am
Whence the sudden righteousness, Mark? OK, so if I call ESPN and say, “Aaron Murray and his dad asked $80,000 for him to sign with Florida,” should Mark Richt sit him? And Dan W had it right. If any of this is true, then he’s been ineligible all year. What’s another game? If Auburn doesn’t know it to be true, why would they be so stupid as to punish an innocent man? And themselves? Hey, CMR has been pretty quick to bounce the non-playing team members who crossed the line, but not the first-stringers. Why don’t we let the process work (I mean the REAL process, not prostitutes like ESPN.) If the Newtons did all this, Auburn will be real sorry, no matter what.
Some of you people are really, really stupid
November 12th, 2010
10:04 am
Hey idiots – “innocent until proven guilty” applies to the criminal justice system, not the NCAA.
Alabama Jack
November 12th, 2010
10:04 am
Remember the Wally Butts – Bear Bryant telephone call? I suspect we will eventually learn that all this mess originated in Athens as a way of saving Mark Richt’s job. It all started with Damon Evans “red panties”, A.J.’s “Green jersey” and now Kenny Rogers “blackmail”. We, by God, need a hobnail boot to make Sugar fall from the skies, that’s what we need. Run Cam Run. Choke Georgia Choke.
All this makes just as much sense as any other commentary about Newton and Auburn.
dawghater
November 12th, 2010
10:05 am
Hey Mark,
So you in the camp that in America your guilty until proven innocent! Give me a break. Tehre isn’t any firm evidence Auburn did anything wrong. The NCAA has not levied sanctions or a determination but based on media and by the way illegal leaking of statement your going to take the stance, “sit him”. Hope your not a Heisman voter. If so, they should pull that honor. Heck, I’d need $100K to go to Miss. State myself! We are talking about Starkville! Tell you what, Auburn will sit Newton if UGA sits all the kids they’ve had arrested this year!
Saint Simons
November 12th, 2010
10:06 am
Lets be honest, Auburn is finshed for 5 years in the SEC, make no mistake about it. Hey recruits come to Athens:)
Why would they sit him now? They are already going to get blasted for 5 years in CFB, if they win the next three w/o him they go 3-9 after the others are taken away? Wow, great lets mark those 3 victories as well deserved and fair???
makes no sense, play him, if you get burned in the end you got your money’s….$$$$$ worth.
PB
November 12th, 2010
10:06 am
Mark-
I’d agree with you IF Auburn was simply responding to the uproar from the past 2 weeks. But if (as they claim) they’ve known about this since before the season and none of the recent allegations are a surprise to them, shouldn’t they make sure they DO play Cam Newton, trusting that the full story, when it eventually comes to light, will actually confirm Newton’s eligibility?
Cobb Dawg
November 12th, 2010
10:06 am
The silence coming from The Prettiest Little Village……. is deafening.
Will
November 12th, 2010
10:07 am
Why is everyone in the media so trusting of Kenny Rogers? He told a completely different story on Friday on ESPN radio and now re-emerges yesterday with a completely different one, just in time for Paul Finebaum to break it while he was on-air. Auburn will and needs to play Cam; he hasn’t been proven guilty of anything yet, regardless of the ever-changing stories that are breaking by the hour. WAR EAGLE!!!!
ct
November 12th, 2010
10:07 am
he probably did get a boatload of money to go to Auburn, but who cares..these players deserve to get paid, why should the coaches make millions of dollars and the players get a scholarship? I am a Florida alum, the Gators cheat, Auburn cheats, Bama, Georgia, UT, they all cheat…until the NCAA wakes up and just admits openly that college football and basketball is not “amateur sports” but minor leagues for the NFL and NBA, I will continue to laugh at the entire NCAA system..if you dont cheat you dont get the players..bottomw line, we all want our schools to win. Auburn should play Newton and let this thing play itself out.
RED
November 12th, 2010
10:07 am
GT Hammer, I see you’re a typical GT ignoramous. You know your season is dead b/c your one dimensional football team lost its most talented player and your season is gone. Now you’re trying to ride another team’s coattail to prove your worth against Georgia.
Don't Like Crybabies
November 12th, 2010
10:08 am
Dawgs can’t beat Auburn on the field so they want someone who has had no proven charges against banned. You people should be ashamed. Innocent until PROVEN guilty.
I think Jeff is taking money from Dawg alums to write this crap, ban him until after BCS chooses its champ.
Chi Town
November 12th, 2010
10:08 am
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whats up, Barners?
Dawgs gonna whip that as* this weekend!
Then Im gonna fight my best friend for some fat girl.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
Blackberry Cobbler
November 12th, 2010
10:08 am
Bradley–
Cam needs to sit? Really???
That makes no logical sense at all… not to mention that 99.99% of folks disagree with you.
Marvin
November 12th, 2010
10:09 am
This is the same kid that you just defended and said would get your Heisman vote. You are such a flip-flopping wiener, Bradley. Your morals are adjusted depending on what kind of lousy blog topic you can come up with.