theBIGness
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ATLANTA – They’ve called him Scam Newton. They mocked him in music over stadium public address systems. They’ve vilified him across radio waves and internet sites.
Cameron Newton was carried across the field by his teammates after clinching a spot in the BCS title game.
His father tried to shop him. The NCAA tried to sit him (before quickly backing down). His ability to elude suspension like another overmatched linebacker was decried to the highest levels of the sport.
“There ought to be consequences,” Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told the New York Times, in a rare bit of cross-conference scolding after the NCAA and SEC cleared Newton to play.
You can hate the Auburn quarterback or you can hate the business of college sports but through it all appreciate one thing – the best player in America has just kept smiling. And running. And throwing.
And, of course, winning.
It ended 56-17 here Saturday, Auburn (13-0) annihilating South Carolina to win the Southeastern Conference title on the anticlimactic final day of the college football season. The Tigers will be selected Sunday to meet Oregon in the BCS title game, 37 days from Saturday in Arizona.
It’s been a season lacking in compelling on-field action – Oregon and Auburn have been the top two teams since mid-October.
Newton made up for it off the field with a soap opera/whodunit surrounding a pay-for-play scheme his father tried to orchestrate with Mississippi State before he wound up at Auburn last winter.
The pressure, the investigations, the, well, the pure hate directed at Cam Newton would’ve of crushed most men. He isn’t most men of course. There are plenty of fans – and NCAA power brokers – still doubting his amateur status. The NCAA, media and, perhaps, FBI are all still lurking.
There is no questioning though that Cam Newton’s mental toughness is as impressive as his physical abilities.
“I’m just living the dream,” Newton said. “This whole year I’ve just been living the dream.”
Considering his own father, Cecil, has had his access to the Auburn program limited for trying to sell his son’s services – he supposedly didn’t attend Saturday’s game even though he lives in the area – and Newton has become the most polarizing figure in the game, a “dream” might not be how the outside world views it.
Then again, there he was, laying his 6-foot-6, 250-pound frame in a pile of Georgia Dome confetti, waving his arms and legs around to make an angel. There he was, on his teammates shoulders, then later leading a rendition of “Lean on Me” and then deciding to take a victory lap to celebrate with fans.
There he was praising God repeatedly, noting his teammates’ support obsessively and thanking over and over all the good folks who surround him.
“I just thank God for putting people in my life that had my best interests,” Newton said.
The guy looked like he was having the time of his life. Throwing for 335 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 73 yards and two more touchdowns for good measure tends to do that.
His coach, Gene Chizik once worked as an assistant at Texas where he coached Vince Young. He’s schemed against Tim Tebow and Adrian Peterson. He’s been around the game for two decades. They asked him if he’s ever seen a better player than Cam Newton.
“No,” he said. “It’s that simple. No. You look over a 13-game span; I’ve never seen anything like it. Running the ball. Throwing the ball. Great quarterbacks usually do one or the other better. What God blessed Cameron with is to be really, really good at both.
“I can say that he’s probably the best football player I’ve ever seen.”
Despite constant controversy Cameron Newton stayed focused and proved he's a once-in-a-generation player.
(Butch Dill / AP)
Newton smiled at that.
“Wow,” he said.
You expect Chizik to praise his meal ticket but he isn’t overstating things. Cam Newton is the picture of total domination. Oregon is going to score a lot of points in the title game, but do they have a way to stop this tour de force? The SEC is full of outrageous athletes and man-eating tacklers and they couldn’t invent a specialized defense to stop Cam. No one even came close.
Newton throws the ball better than Vince Young. He is more patient in the pocket as he picks through reads than Tebow. And he runs like almost no one, a combination of elusive open-field moves and bull strength that just taunted the South Carolina defenders. He’s going to be a hellacious pro next season.
“Cam Newton can not only juke you and run, but he’s an excellent passer,” said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, himself an excellent enough passer to once win the Heisman Trophy, which Newton should collect in a couple weeks, scandal or no scandal.
The smile on Newton’s face looked like more than just on-field dominance though. He is a man among children out on the field but it’s the ease in which he’s handled the wildest college scandal in years that seems otherworldly.
He was comfortable in the postgame press conference, even as he read a prepared statement asking that questions be football-related only – no word on whether he knew his dad was trying to sell him to Mississippi State. He then laughed, smiled and spoke with greater ease than Chizik.
If Cam Newton has something to hide, he hides it well.
“It’s easy for me,” he said.
Yeah, of course it is.
The best player on the field is the toughest one off of it. The whole world has gone mad around Cam Newton and how much he did or didn’t know hardly matters. Not a thing has rattled him. Not the questions from the NCAA. Not the rip jobs from rival commissioners. Not the game plans designed to stop him.
“As I said before, I’ve done nothing wrong,” Newton said.
And everything right.
Cameron Newton was carried across the field by his teammates after clinching a spot in the BCS title game.
His father tried to shop him. The NCAA tried to sit him (before quickly backing down). His ability to elude suspension like another overmatched linebacker was decried to the highest levels of the sport.
“There ought to be consequences,” Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told the New York Times, in a rare bit of cross-conference scolding after the NCAA and SEC cleared Newton to play.
You can hate the Auburn quarterback or you can hate the business of college sports but through it all appreciate one thing – the best player in America has just kept smiling. And running. And throwing.
And, of course, winning.
It ended 56-17 here Saturday, Auburn (13-0) annihilating South Carolina to win the Southeastern Conference title on the anticlimactic final day of the college football season. The Tigers will be selected Sunday to meet Oregon in the BCS title game, 37 days from Saturday in Arizona.
It’s been a season lacking in compelling on-field action – Oregon and Auburn have been the top two teams since mid-October.
Newton made up for it off the field with a soap opera/whodunit surrounding a pay-for-play scheme his father tried to orchestrate with Mississippi State before he wound up at Auburn last winter.
The pressure, the investigations, the, well, the pure hate directed at Cam Newton would’ve of crushed most men. He isn’t most men of course. There are plenty of fans – and NCAA power brokers – still doubting his amateur status. The NCAA, media and, perhaps, FBI are all still lurking.
There is no questioning though that Cam Newton’s mental toughness is as impressive as his physical abilities.
“I’m just living the dream,” Newton said. “This whole year I’ve just been living the dream.”
Considering his own father, Cecil, has had his access to the Auburn program limited for trying to sell his son’s services – he supposedly didn’t attend Saturday’s game even though he lives in the area – and Newton has become the most polarizing figure in the game, a “dream” might not be how the outside world views it.
Then again, there he was, laying his 6-foot-6, 250-pound frame in a pile of Georgia Dome confetti, waving his arms and legs around to make an angel. There he was, on his teammates shoulders, then later leading a rendition of “Lean on Me” and then deciding to take a victory lap to celebrate with fans.
There he was praising God repeatedly, noting his teammates’ support obsessively and thanking over and over all the good folks who surround him.
“I just thank God for putting people in my life that had my best interests,” Newton said.
The guy looked like he was having the time of his life. Throwing for 335 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 73 yards and two more touchdowns for good measure tends to do that.
His coach, Gene Chizik once worked as an assistant at Texas where he coached Vince Young. He’s schemed against Tim Tebow and Adrian Peterson. He’s been around the game for two decades. They asked him if he’s ever seen a better player than Cam Newton.
“No,” he said. “It’s that simple. No. You look over a 13-game span; I’ve never seen anything like it. Running the ball. Throwing the ball. Great quarterbacks usually do one or the other better. What God blessed Cameron with is to be really, really good at both.
“I can say that he’s probably the best football player I’ve ever seen.”
Despite constant controversy Cameron Newton stayed focused and proved he's a once-in-a-generation player.
(Butch Dill / AP)
Newton smiled at that.
“Wow,” he said.
You expect Chizik to praise his meal ticket but he isn’t overstating things. Cam Newton is the picture of total domination. Oregon is going to score a lot of points in the title game, but do they have a way to stop this tour de force? The SEC is full of outrageous athletes and man-eating tacklers and they couldn’t invent a specialized defense to stop Cam. No one even came close.
Newton throws the ball better than Vince Young. He is more patient in the pocket as he picks through reads than Tebow. And he runs like almost no one, a combination of elusive open-field moves and bull strength that just taunted the South Carolina defenders. He’s going to be a hellacious pro next season.
“Cam Newton can not only juke you and run, but he’s an excellent passer,” said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, himself an excellent enough passer to once win the Heisman Trophy, which Newton should collect in a couple weeks, scandal or no scandal.
The smile on Newton’s face looked like more than just on-field dominance though. He is a man among children out on the field but it’s the ease in which he’s handled the wildest college scandal in years that seems otherworldly.
He was comfortable in the postgame press conference, even as he read a prepared statement asking that questions be football-related only – no word on whether he knew his dad was trying to sell him to Mississippi State. He then laughed, smiled and spoke with greater ease than Chizik.
If Cam Newton has something to hide, he hides it well.
“It’s easy for me,” he said.
Yeah, of course it is.
The best player on the field is the toughest one off of it. The whole world has gone mad around Cam Newton and how much he did or didn’t know hardly matters. Not a thing has rattled him. Not the questions from the NCAA. Not the rip jobs from rival commissioners. Not the game plans designed to stop him.
“As I said before, I’ve done nothing wrong,” Newton said.
And everything right.
