Cam Newton (Getty Images)
Welcome to a college football horror story. It involves agents, boosters, phone calls, runners, coaches, assistant coaches, undefeated team, violations, academic fraud, theft, payola, Vegas, FBI, SEC, Heisman Trophy candidate, pastor, father, son.
It involves Auburn football, which has been penalized by the NCAA five times for major violations.
Call this: Nightmare on the Plains.
Cam Newton never hoped to be playing the role of Freddie Kruger but he is.
Until about 10 days ago, the only people Newton was terrifying was opposing defensive players. He’s the closest thing college football has seen to Michael Vick since Michael Vick.
Then the first story broke: A runner allegedly asked Mississippi State for $180,000 to secure Newton’s services. Mississippi State didn’t pony up and Newton enrolled at Auburn. Guilt by Internet: If Newton was playing for the Tigers, he or his father or an agent’s runner must have gotten Auburn to pay.
“Here’s what I can and I will this say very loud and very clear: Cameron Newton is eligible at Auburn University, period.” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. “End of story.”
Apparently not.
By Thursday, Vegas had been pulled into the Newton scare. Two sports books, amid rumors the NCAA was about to declare Newton ineligible, had pulled the line on today’s Auburn-Georgia game. Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs yesterday said “we’re not commenting” regarding Newton’s status. But knowing the meticulous nature of the NCAA, it was a stretch to believe Newton would be sidelined. Reggie Bush was some four years removed from USC before the NCAA brought down the hammer.
But this is life in the world of wireless Internet: Post it and watch it run.
At best, this is how the rest of the season will roll for Newton: There will be fact, fiction and friction reported or rumored about the leader of the nation’s No. 2-ranked team. At worst, he’s going to keep playing for Auburn and, possibly long after he is gone, the NCAA will vacate wins and an SEC title if the Tigers get that far.
Newton hardly is a saint. He began his career at Florida, but his arrest for burglary, larceny threat and obstruction ended his stay in Gainesville.
Newton’s spin was that he didn’t want to sit another year behind Tim Tebow. Then another version came to light — that Newton would have been expelled for three occurrences of academic fraud.
Newton reportedly signed his name on another student’s paper and purchased a paper off the Internet.
“I’m not going to entertain something that took place not three months, not six months, not even a year, [but] two years ago,” Newton said. “I’m not going to sit up here and say anything about it, whether I did or did not do it, because I think I don’t want to beat a dead horse talking about it.”
Thus far, that is the most sensible statement to be uttered. Had Newton been expelled from Florida, he still would be eligible to play elsewhere.
Hopefully Newton has learned that if he cheated academically, the person he cheated most was Cam Newton. Of course, that sounds naive: Cam and his father, Cecil, allegedly had phone conversations about playing for pay. Kenny Rogers, the alleged runner, said on a radio interview that it actually was Cecil who broached compensation with two Mississippi State assistant coaches, not the runner.
Some now view Newton, once the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, as a Reggie Bush-in-waiting. The Heisman Trophy trust surely fears a presentation ceremony in which the majority of questions focuses on the winner’s past.
Imagine one row of seats occupied by NCAA investigators and FBI agents, who are looking into various aspects of this case? There are plenty of Krugers in this story. Pastor Cecil Newton, Cam’s father, is not coming across as someone I would like to worship with.
Rogers, one of the primary sources of this story, comes across as Florida coach Urban Meyer would say a “scumbag,” or as Alabama coach Nick Saban would say a “pimp,”
Rogers’ alleged boss, agent Ian Greengross, has had a complaint filed against Rogers by the NFL’s Player Association. That was just before the Newton story came to light. Greengross has denied any involvement in the Newton case, though he and Rogers share a bank account.
Pastor Newton, who allegedly said he wouldn’t send his son to Mississippi State so he could be a “rented mule,” reportedly has turned over financial documents to the NCAA regarding his church, the Holy Zen Center of Deliverance.
Meyer has refuted allegations that he is a source of some information, but Alabama surely is being suspected by Auburn fans.
Here’s the final scene in this horror flick: College football is enjoying a remarkable season. Auburn is one of four undefeated teams along with Oregon, Boise State and TCU.
But no one is talking about that. Cam Newton has become college football’s bogeyman. No one walks out of this theater feeling good.