An anonymous source contacted me today to let me know that Auburn quarterback and Heisman frontrunner Cam Newton tipped less than 15 percent during his most recent visit to Super Happy China Buffet. Newton declined comment although his father admitted the family really enjoyed the Kung Pao chicken.
I kid, I kid. It only seems like the Newton family have taken over the college football landscape in the past two weeks. Gee, at this point you’d think people would be used to the idea that parents are going to sell their child’s athletic ability to the highest bidder.
The Newton stuff added a new interesting piece today when former Mississippi State player, pseudo-agent and all-around humanitarian Kenny Rogers told a radion station that yes, Cecil Newton wanted between $100-180K for his son’s letter of intent.
Of course in bizarro SEC world, the focus seems not to be on whether Newton and his family actually broke NCAA rules – but who snitched and why?
While anonymous Mississippi State staffers have provided the info about Cecil Newton’s monetary request, in the Deep South – fingers remain firmly pointed at Urban Meyer for the leak about Newton’s academic standing when he left Florida two years ago.
The media seems flummoxed by the entire thing and seems completely obsessed with whether anyone is going to vote for Newton for the Heisman trophy. To me the far more interesting question is – if this thing progresses down that NCAA doomsday road in the next couple of weeks, does there come a time when head coach Gene Chizik should bench his superstar quarterback for the remainder of his season? Or does it matter at this point? If he’s ineligible now, he’s likely been ineligible the entire season.
The biggest beneficiary of all this? North Carolina coach Butch Davis, who’s getting a nice reprieve from the national this-guy’s-team-broke-the-rules spotlight.
And while I don’t particularly dislike Auburn – it could bring a good schadenfreude chuckle if the Tigers/War Eagle/Plainsmen went unbeaten – again – and didn’t even have a chance to win the national title – again.
