Cam Newton

For other people named Cam Newton, see Cam Newton (disambiguation).

Cameron Newton

Newton during the 2010 Iron Bowl
Auburn Tigers – No. 2
Position	Quarterback
Class	Junior
Major	Social and Behavioral sciences
Personal information
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight	247 lb (112 kg)
Career history
College	University of Florida (2007-2008) Blinn College (2009) Auburn University (2010-present)
Bowl games
High school	Westlake High School Atlanta, Georgia
Career highlights and awards
2009 NJCAA National Football Champion AP Player of the Year (2010) Walter Camp Award (2010) Maxwell Award (2010) Davey O'Brien Award (2010) Heisman Trophy (2010) 2× BCS National Championship (2009, 2011)
Stats at ESPN.com

Cameron "Cam" Jerrell Newton (born May 11, 1989 in College Park, Georgia) is the starting quarterback for the Auburn Tigers. Newton was initially a member of the Florida Gators. He would later transfer to Blinn College, where his team won a national junior college football championship. Newton was then recruited by head coach Gene Chizik of Auburn University and transferred once more. He became just the third player in major college football history to pass for 20 touchdowns and rush for 20 touchdowns in a single season. On December 11, 2010, he was awarded the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding college football player despite a major controversy concerning his eligibility that embroiled the second half of the season.

Cameron Newton is the son of Cecil Newton,Sr., who played strong safety for two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys and the younger brother of Cecil Newton, Jr., a center for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL.

High School

In 2005, as a junior in Westlake High School, Fulton County, Georgia, Cameron Newton ran for 638 yards with 9 touchdowns and threw for 2,500 yards, completing 118 out of 189 pass attempts for 23 touchdowns with 9 interceptions. In 2006, as a senior, Newton threw for 1,400 yards and ran for another 1,000 yards. On September 7, 2006, Newton verbally committed to University of Florida, and on National Signing Day 2007, Newton signed his letter of intent. Newton was an early enrollee, and arrived on campus just before the beginning of the team's spring practice.

Collegiate career

University of Florida

Newton, far left, with Tim Tebow and other quarterbacks during his freshman season at UF.

In 2007, as a freshman, Cam Newton earned the spot over fellow freshman quarterback John Brantley as the back-up for star quarterback and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. In 2008, during his sophomore season, Newton played in the season opener against Hawaii, but then suffered an ankle injury and decided to take a medical redshirt season.

On November 21, 2008, Newton was arrested for alleged theft of a laptop computer from a student at the University of Florida. He was subsequently temporarily suspended by the team after the laptop was in fact found to be in his possession., Newton withdrew from the University of Florida after the Fall 2008 semester. All charges against Newton were dropped after he completed a court-approved pretrial diversion program.

Blinn College

In January 2009, Newton transferred to Blinn College in Texas. That fall he led his team to the 2009 NJCAA National Football Championship. His head coach at Blinn College was Brad Franchione, son of Dennis Franchione. For the 2010 recruiting season, Newton was ranked the number one QB from either high school or junior college by Rivals.com, and he was the only 5-star QB recruit.

Auburn University

Newton started the first game of Auburn's season, a home victory over Arkansas State on September 4, 2010. Newton accounted for 5 total offensive touchdowns and over 350 yards of total offense. He was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week following his performance.

Three weeks later Newton had a second break-out game with 5 total touchdowns and over 330 total offensive yards against the South Carolina Gamecocks. "That's a great SEC win against a really, really good football team. I can't be more proud of our guys," Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. "I thought we had a good pace going on," Newton said.

On October 2, 2010, Newton led Auburn to a 52-3 victory over Louisiana-Monroe. He completed three touchdown passes, one of which went for 94 yards. It was the longest touchdown pass and offensive play in Auburn football history. On October 9, 2010, Newton led Auburn to a 37-34 victory over Kentucky. He passed for 210 yards and rushed for 198 yards including 4 rushing touchdowns. On October 16, 2010, during the Arkansas game, Newton ran for three touchdowns and threw one touchdown pass. Following these performances, media reports began to list Newton among the top 5 candidates to watch for the Heisman Trophy.

Newton (top) warming up prior to the 2010 Iron Bowl.

On October 23, 2010, Newton led Auburn to a 24-17 victory over the LSU Tigers. He rushed for 217 yards in the game which gave him 1,077 yards for the season and set the SEC record for yards rushing in a season by a quarterback—a record previously held by Auburn quarterback, Jimmy Sidle, that stood for over 40 years—and became just the second quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards in the conference's history. He also broke Pat Sullivan's school record for most touchdowns in a single season—a record that has stood since 1971—with 27. Both of these records were broken on the same play: a 49-yard touchdown run in which Newton escaped two tackles, corrected himself with his arm, eluded two additional tackles, and dragged a defender into the endzone for the touchdown. The play was described as Newton's "Heisman moment". Auburn received its first #1 overall BCS ranking and Newton was listed as the overall favorite for the Heisman.

By halftime of the game against Georgia, Newton became the first SEC player to ever throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a single season. With the victory, Auburn improved to 11-0 and clinched the SEC West, allowing them to play in the SEC Championship game.

Newton led the Tigers back from a 24-point deficit to defeat rival Alabama.

Newton led Auburn to a 28–27 victory over Alabama in the Iron Bowl after being down 24–0. The 24-point come from behind victory was the largest in the program's 117 year history. He passed for 216 yards with three passing touchdowns, and ran for another touchdown.

On December 4, 2010 Newton led the Tigers to an SEC Championship, their first since 2004, by defeating South Carolina once again 56-17, which set an SEC Championship Game record for most points scored and largest margin of victory. Newton was named the game MVP after scoring a career-best six touchdowns (four passing and two rushing). With his performance, Newton also became the third player in NCAA FBS history to throw and run for 20-plus touchdowns in a single season (along with former Florida teammate Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick, who reached the milestone earlier the same day). Following the victory, Auburn was invited to participate in the school's first BCS National Championship Game. The game took place on January 10, 2011 in Glendale, Arizona, with Auburn playing against the Oregon Ducks. Auburn beat Oregon 22 to 19 to win the BCS National Championship. Newton threw for 262 yards 2 touchdowns and one interception. He also ran the ball 22 times for 65 yards including 1 lost fumble that later allowed Oregon to tie the game.

Newton was named the 2010 SEC Offensive Player of the Year as well as the 2010 AP Player of the Year. He was also one of four finalists for the 2010 Heisman Trophy, which he won in a landslide victory.

If Newton declares for the draft, he is projected as a high to middle first-round NFL draft pick.

Eligibility controversy

Newton spent much of the second half of the 2010 football season embroiled in a controversy regarding allegations that his father, Cecil Newton, had sought substantial sums of money in return for his son playing for a major-college team, in violation of National Collegiate Athletic Association rules.

In early November, officials with Mississippi State University charged that Cecil Newton said that it would take "more than just a scholarship" to secure his son's services. This demand was apparently communicated by Kenny Rogers, a recruiter who formerly played for the Bulldogs, to John Bond, his former teammate at MSU. Rogers later said in a Dallas radio interview that Cecil Newton said it would take "anywhere between $100,000 and $180,000" to get his son to transfer to MSU.

Auburn maintained throughout the investigation that they were not involved in any pay-for-play scheme, and that Cam Newton was fully eligible to play.

On December 1, the NCAA announced that Cam Newton had been declared ineligible by Auburn after having found evidence that Cecil Newton did in fact solicit Mississippi State for money in exchange for Cam Newton's athletic service. Auburn would immediately file to have him reinstated. The NCAA quickly reinstated Newton, declaring him eligible for the 2010 SEC Championship Game three days later, stating that there was not sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn had any knowledge of Cecil Newton's actions. Auburn restricted the elder Newton's access to their athletic program as a result.

The NCAA reinstatement cleared Cam Newton's eligibility as a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, which he won in a landslide victory with 2,263 points and 729 first-place votes.

External links

• Auburn Tigers bio