Cameron Newton

[WarEagle'04 4]

Ummm.... When's the last time Auburn had a 5* QB??? NEVER! As long as I've followed AU football we've never had a 5* QB.

5* JUCO ranking shouldn't count in comparison to typical HS recruits.

Jason Campbell was a much better QB out of HS than Newton was.

I would consider a 5* JUCO ranking better than a 5* high school ranking.

[metafour 4,973]

I would consider a 5* JUCO ranking better than a 5* high school ranking.

You would be horribly, horribly, wrong.

The criteria for JUCO rankings at Rivals are pretty much a joke. There are a few elite JUCO's every year but other than that Rivals probably rates something like 15-20 too many 4-stars than they should. #8 on this year's JUCO list, James Carmon, couldn't get an offer from anyone except MSU. I'm fairly certain that 90% of his rating stems from the fact that he is a huge fatass like Terrance Cody, yet he isn't even in the same league.

HS 5* recruits rarely completely flop. You cant say that about our very own Greg Smith and Raven Gray.

[WarEagle'04 4]

I would consider a 5* JUCO ranking better than a 5* high school ranking.

You would be horribly, horribly, wrong.

The criteria for JUCO rankings at Rivals are pretty much a joke. There are a few elite JUCO's every year but other than that Rivals probably rates something like 15-20 too many 4-stars than they should. #8 on this year's JUCO list, James Carmon, couldn't get an offer from anyone except MSU. I'm fairly certain that 90% of his rating stems from the fact that he is a huge fatass like Terrance Cody, yet he isn't even in the same league.

HS 5* recruits rarely completely flop. You cant say that about our very own Greg Smith and Raven Gray.

Are you talking athleticism or academics? Didn't they both drop out due to academics?

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

I was a Newton fan when he came out of high school in Atlanta. Hopefully, CGC and crew can convince him to come on down in the next few days. It's going to have to be a fast decision for Newton which hopefully gives us an advantage over Oklahoma and Miss St. given his interest in Auburn before. I still have confidence in Rollison and the competition should only make him perform better. Tyrik would still have 2 years to run the show even if Newton came in and won the job.

If Newton signs with Auburn, CGC and staff will have brought in 1 5*, 3 4*, and 1 3* players in early which is very impressive.

[metafour 4,973]

Are you talking athleticism or academics? Didn't they both drop out due to academics?

Neither made any noise even when they were on the team....albeit with Greg Smith it was because he was horribly overweight and Raven Gray for whatever reason never really healed from that knee injury he had.

The fact remains. 5* HS recruit > 5* JUCO recruit every single time. Look at the list of "4*" JUCO kids going to San Diego State, Iowa State, etc. With all due respect to those programs, are those guys really 4-star talents? There are several JUCO's every year that get rated 4* by Rivals who dont even end up picking up any halfway decent offers.

Rivals has a mancrush on Cameron Newton BTW so it wasn't surprising that they're go with the 5* ranking again. His 5* ranking out of HS was laughable considering he couldn't even get an Auburn offer. We picked Kodi Burns over Newton, which makes for a pretty good laugh.

[TennesseeEagle 0]

The guys at Scout say he's got two years to play two. He used his redshirt year in '07 at UF.

From the link in post #10, above: "Newton, who is unavailable for comment, is a medical redshirt

candidate who hasn’t played since the ('08) season opener against Hawaii

because of an ankle injury. Newton (2-of-4 passing, 14 yards on the

year) and redshirt freshman John Brantley battled for the backup

quarterback job in the preseason."

Note that this artilce refers to Newton as a sophmore and Brantley as a RS freshman, so the writer knows the difference.

This, and another article I read somewhere and can't find now, (AJC?) both state that Newton played briefly in both 2007 and 2008 at Florida. It appears that he was injured early in '08 and might qualify for a medical redshirt for that season. Or he may have already been approved for an '08 medical RS.

In any case, I'm sure the coaches know what's up with his status. Obviously, it would be much better for Auburn if he does have two years left.

Here's what the Gold Mine says:

**Auburn is also set to host this weekend quarterback Cameron Newton, the No. 1 junior college player in the nation, according to Rivals. He was recruited by Auburn in 2007, but signed with Florida. He played in one game in 2008, was then redshirted and transferred to Blinn College in Texas.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Whichever it was, he used a redshirt one year and still has two years to play left.

[IndyTiger 3]

Are you talking athleticism or academics? Didn't they both drop out due to academics?

Neither made any noise even when they were on the team....albeit with Greg Smith it was because he was horribly overweight and Raven Gray for whatever reason never really healed from that knee injury he had.

The fact remains. 5* HS recruit > 5* JUCO recruit every single time. Look at the list of "4*" JUCO kids going to San Diego State, Iowa State, etc. With all due respect to those programs, are those guys really 4-star talents? There are several JUCO's every year that get rated 4* by Rivals who dont even end up picking up any halfway decent offers.

Rivals has a mancrush on Cameron Newton BTW so it wasn't surprising that they're go with the 5* ranking again. His 5* ranking out of HS was laughable considering he couldn't even get an Auburn offer. We picked Kodi Burns over Newton, which makes for a pretty good laugh.

We did pick Burns over Newton out of HS, but after watching his JUCO film he has a much better looking ball than Kodi ever will. It's a tight spiral and he can get it down the field in a hurry. He could improve his motion a little, but he looks like a better passer than Kodi is right now. I thought the same thing you did, until I looked at his film a little, he could improve a little on the touch passes, but other than that he looks like he can make every throw.

[Duder 238]

Are you talking athleticism or academics? Didn't they both drop out due to academics?

Neither made any noise even when they were on the team....albeit with Greg Smith it was because he was horribly overweight and Raven Gray for whatever reason never really healed from that knee injury he had.

The fact remains. 5* HS recruit > 5* JUCO recruit every single time. Look at the list of "4*" JUCO kids going to San Diego State, Iowa State, etc. With all due respect to those programs, are those guys really 4-star talents? There are several JUCO's every year that get rated 4* by Rivals who dont even end up picking up any halfway decent offers.

Rivals has a mancrush on Cameron Newton BTW so it wasn't surprising that they're go with the 5* ranking again. His 5* ranking out of HS was laughable considering he couldn't even get an Auburn offer. We picked Kodi Burns over Newton, which makes for a pretty good laugh.

We did pick Burns over Newton out of HS, but after watching his JUCO film he has a much better looking ball than Kodi ever will. It's a tight spiral and he can get it down the field in a hurry. He could improve his motion a little, but he looks like a better passer than Kodi is right now. I thought the same thing you did, until I looked at his film a little, he could improve a little on the touch passes, but other than that he looks like he can make every throw.

Who cares if he throws a tighter spiral? If he throws everything one hundred miles per hour like Kodi, it won't mean anything.

Newton can make an impact here, no doubt. He has the size and speed to give us a true dual threat QB. If we can reign his arm in a bit he'll be fine, of course we said the same thing about Kodi. He would give us a player that is ready to go now that will keep defenses honest. His arm strength means he can throw on the run so they wouldn't even be able to sell out if we stretched the field and it appeared to be a run. The only person that should be concerned about this move is Caudle. If we bring in Newton, Caudle is as good as done for next year. Rollison in all likelihood wouldn't have been starting next year anyway. Having a guy with a similar skillset to Tyrik in front of him could mean worlds to Tyrik's future at Auburn (provided Meta isn't right and that his days are #'d). Due to his off-field problems, Newton has had the opportunity to grow as a man. If he took that opportunity he could be a great mentor for Tyrik if he is truly having serious issues.

I don't see a huge downside to brining him in other than for Neil Caudle. If we had a true go-to-guy at the helm next year I'd say steer clear. As it stands, I think it's the right move.

Yes, I'm aware I said in an earlier post I didn't think he'd be at AU.

[RunInRed 16,992]

This has been mentioned several times before but having a QB with true run-threat capabilities on the field would take Malzahn's offense to the next level. No offense to Todd, but what we saw this year was maybe 60% of our offensive potential.

Newton would definitely be that threat.

[quietfan 233]

Hmmm...a version of the story I hadn't heard (not vouching for its veracity or taking sides, just reporting FYI):

http://blog.al.com/goldmine/2009/12/db_ryan_white_says_hell_sign_w.html

Newton was arrested for stealing a laptop at Florida. The most serious charges were dropped and he completed a pretrial intervention program that typically includes probation. His father, Cecil Newton, said the incident was a misunderstanding. He said his son didn't know the laptop was stolen when he bought it from another student and panicked when police started questioning him about it, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

[subterranean_jack 112]

Who knows what h.s. juniors are going to do? Should we wait more than a year for them to make up their mind? That seems a bigger gamble to me than taking Newton now. If Oklahoma is interested in this guy when they already have Landry Jones, then he must be pretty good.

Unless there is another juco lineman ready to enroll early, take Newton if he wants to come to Auburn. He's probably more ready to play in the SEC than any QB on the roster with the possible exception of Caudle (excepting Kodi Burns who is now mostly a WR).

[Mikey 16,781]

Thinking back to 2007, did we pick Burns over Newton or did Newton pick Florida over Auburn? Seems like we'd have been glad to have both.

As for the years of eligibility question: From Andy Bitter's blog, War Eagle Extra:

"His second season at Florida, he played in the season opener before injuring his ankle. Since it was so early in the year, he qualified for a medical redshirt." Andy Bitter is usually very reliable and I'll take his word over the hurry-up squads at Scout, Rivals, etc.

So it looks like Newton will have two years to play two. This guy has the capability to help us a LOT! If he doesn't work out at QB, he can spell Lutz at tight end...

[TitanTiger 20,708]

My understanding is that we chose Burns over Newton. In fact, one of the premium articles I read quoted his dad saying he would have loved to have gotten an offer from Auburn back in 2007.

[Mikey 16,781]

My understanding is that we chose Burns over Newton. In fact, one of the premium articles I read quoted his dad saying he would have loved to have gotten an offer from Auburn back in 2007.

I honestly can't remember. All I remember is Florida's ridiculous haul of QB's that year, in spite of the presence of Tebow.

Any idea why we didn't want a 5* QB? Didn't suit Borges's offense or what?

[IndyTiger 3]

My understanding is that we chose Burns over Newton. In fact, one of the premium articles I read quoted his dad saying he would have loved to have gotten an offer from Auburn back in 2007.

I honestly can't remember. All I remember is Florida's ridiculous haul of QB's that year, in spite of the presence of Tebow.

Any idea why we didn't want a 5* QB? Didn't suit Borges's offense or what?

He was pretty overrated coming out of HS. If I remember correctly he skyrocketed late in the process and we had already made our decision with Burns. We were Newton's early favorite that year, but we never gave him a firm offer. Borges liked Burns more. I have also read Borges liked these QBs in this order 1a. Burns 1b. Logan Gray 2. Jordan Jefferson 3. Cam Newton

[The Freak 2,530]

quote by meta four from 2007:

"Perfect example? Look at Cameron Newton last year. This is the big athletic QB that wanted to go to AU badly. He went to pretty much all of our camps trying to earn an offer and NEVER got one, he just didn't perform to expectations and we decided that he wasn't a fit for our offense because he was such a raw passer. All throughout this time-period Rivals had Newton as a high 3-star and eventually brought him up to low 4-star status I believe. There was some hype but it wasn't that great. Other schools caught on eventually as Newton possessed a huge frame, great athleticism, and a big arm. He gets an offer from Florida (where Newton's athletic ability pretty much fits in perfectly with the spread offense) and all of a sudden the hype on him goes up big time. He gets invited to the Offense/Defense All Star game (Kodi Burns was there too, the guy we chose over Newton) and has a pretty good game. Rivals promotes him to 5-star status. Kodi Burns, who possess pretty much the same athletic ability, an arm just as strong, and is an even better passer (albeit about 3 inches shorter) has a pretty good game as well playing for the weaker losing team...he barely makes a move at all in the rankings (meanwhile he gets bumped up to 5-star status on Scout). Newton is a great player with awesome potential, but c'mon....how can you be a 5-star when you couldn't even earn an offer from Auburn after MULTIPLE attempts?"

[IndyTiger 3]

Are you talking athleticism or academics? Didn't they both drop out due to academics?

Neither made any noise even when they were on the team....albeit with Greg Smith it was because he was horribly overweight and Raven Gray for whatever reason never really healed from that knee injury he had.

The fact remains. 5* HS recruit > 5* JUCO recruit every single time. Look at the list of "4*" JUCO kids going to San Diego State, Iowa State, etc. With all due respect to those programs, are those guys really 4-star talents? There are several JUCO's every year that get rated 4* by Rivals who dont even end up picking up any halfway decent offers.

Rivals has a mancrush on Cameron Newton BTW so it wasn't surprising that they're go with the 5* ranking again. His 5* ranking out of HS was laughable considering he couldn't even get an Auburn offer. We picked Kodi Burns over Newton, which makes for a pretty good laugh.

We did pick Burns over Newton out of HS, but after watching his JUCO film he has a much better looking ball than Kodi ever will. It's a tight spiral and he can get it down the field in a hurry. He could improve his motion a little, but he looks like a better passer than Kodi is right now. I thought the same thing you did, until I looked at his film a little, he could improve a little on the touch passes, but other than that he looks like he can make every throw.

Who cares if he throws a tighter spiral? If he throws everything one hundred miles per hour like Kodi, it won't mean anything.

Newton can make an impact here, no doubt. He has the size and speed to give us a true dual threat QB. If we can reign his arm in a bit he'll be fine, of course we said the same thing about Kodi. He would give us a player that is ready to go now that will keep defenses honest. His arm strength means he can throw on the run so they wouldn't even be able to sell out if we stretched the field and it appeared to be a run. The only person that should be concerned about this move is Caudle. If we bring in Newton, Caudle is as good as done for next year. Rollison in all likelihood wouldn't have been starting next year anyway. Having a guy with a similar skillset to Tyrik in front of him could mean worlds to Tyrik's future at Auburn (provided Meta isn't right and that his days are #'d). Due to his off-field problems, Newton has had the opportunity to grow as a man. If he took that opportunity he could be a great mentor for Tyrik if he is truly having serious issues.

I don't see a huge downside to brining him in other than for Neil Caudle. If we had a true go-to-guy at the helm next year I'd say steer clear. As it stands, I think it's the right move.

Yes, I'm aware I said in an earlier post I didn't think he'd be at AU.

The problem with Burns is not him throwing it too hard on every pass. He is very inaccurate because he doesn't have a good consistent throwing motion. When he did slow it down and throw slower he couldn't hit anything. Think the swing passes out in the flat. They weren't thrown too hard, they just weren't on target. He was letting balls sail and that wasn't because he was throwing too hard. A nice tight spiral is a good sign actually. Does it mean everything? No of course not, but it is a good start and further than where Kodi was. Watch this video Cam has good timing with his receivers and hits them in stride in some pretty decent coverage on a lot of passes. This video shows he can make a lot more throws than Burns ever could. He also shows the ability to read the field and go to a someone other than the first read. I know he does a pump to one side of the field and goes back to the opposite side to find the open receiver.

[TigerDevil 3]

We can speculate all we want but the bottom line is, the coaches see something in him. This kid is talented but I think CGC would let him know his error for margin is pretty slim. We need competition at QB. Our coaches are working hard to bring elite talent to AU and I put my faith in them. And he would count toward last year's class.

[metafour 4,973]

quote by meta four from 2007:

"Perfect example? Look at Cameron Newton last year. This is the big athletic QB that wanted to go to AU badly. He went to pretty much all of our camps trying to earn an offer and NEVER got one, he just didn't perform to expectations and we decided that he wasn't a fit for our offense because he was such a raw passer. All throughout this time-period Rivals had Newton as a high 3-star and eventually brought him up to low 4-star status I believe. There was some hype but it wasn't that great. Other schools caught on eventually as Newton possessed a huge frame, great athleticism, and a big arm. He gets an offer from Florida (where Newton's athletic ability pretty much fits in perfectly with the spread offense) and all of a sudden the hype on him goes up big time. He gets invited to the Offense/Defense All Star game (Kodi Burns was there too, the guy we chose over Newton) and has a pretty good game. Rivals promotes him to 5-star status. Kodi Burns, who possess pretty much the same athletic ability, an arm just as strong, and is an even better passer (albeit about 3 inches shorter) has a pretty good game as well playing for the weaker losing team...he barely makes a move at all in the rankings (meanwhile he gets bumped up to 5-star status on Scout). Newton is a great player with awesome potential, but c'mon....how can you be a 5-star when you couldn't even earn an offer from Auburn after MULTIPLE attempts?"

Yup.

Newton idolized Jason Campbell and nadly wanted to come to Auburn. He tried to get an offer several times but never showed enough in camp to get one, mostly because he was horribly raw and had terrible accuracy. He didn't get an offer from Florida until well after we passed on him, at which point his meteoric jump up the rankings began. Should have been a lot 4-star at best.

[metafour 4,973]

We did pick Burns over Newton out of HS, but after watching his JUCO film he has a much better looking ball than Kodi ever will. It's a tight spiral and he can get it down the field in a hurry. He could improve his motion a little, but he looks like a better passer than Kodi is right now. I thought the same thing you did, until I looked at his film a little, he could improve a little on the touch passes, but other than that he looks like he can make every throw.

I've seen his JUCO film and while he does look fairly impressive you have to take into account the level of competition...his receivers were running around wide open most of the time. Terrelle Pryor looked great throwing the ball in HS too.

I think he can put up numbers in this offense as he is easily more talented than Todd, but I'm just trying to curb the new posts that make him out to be a "5 star STUD" who would be the best QB we ever signed? No way.

[IndyTiger 3]

We did pick Burns over Newton out of HS, but after watching his JUCO film he has a much better looking ball than Kodi ever will. It's a tight spiral and he can get it down the field in a hurry. He could improve his motion a little, but he looks like a better passer than Kodi is right now. I thought the same thing you did, until I looked at his film a little, he could improve a little on the touch passes, but other than that he looks like he can make every throw.

I've seen his JUCO film and while he does look fairly impressive you have to take into account the level of competition...his receivers were running around wide open most of the time. Terrelle Pryor looked great throwing the ball in HS too.

I think he can put up numbers in this offense as he is easily more talented than Todd, but I'm just trying to curb the new posts that make him out to be a "5 star STUD" who would be the best QB we ever signed? No way.

Oh I definitely agree and it doesn't hurt to have Dexter Ransom catching passes. He looks like he has matured as a passer and overall player though and it will be interesting to see how well it translates to the next level. He most certainly has more potential than Chris Todd in this offense and it could be fun to watch.

[metafour 4,973]

With him being an early entry I'd give him a a set time frame where he has to show that he is the best QB on the roster. If he doesn't meet it then I'd move him to TE. Gator fans who said he sucked as a QB have also said that he's a first round pick if he plays TE with his physical tools.

[WarEagle'04 4]

We did pick Burns over Newton out of HS, but after watching his JUCO film he has a much better looking ball than Kodi ever will. It's a tight spiral and he can get it down the field in a hurry. He could improve his motion a little, but he looks like a better passer than Kodi is right now. I thought the same thing you did, until I looked at his film a little, he could improve a little on the touch passes, but other than that he looks like he can make every throw.

I've seen his JUCO film and while he does look fairly impressive you have to take into account the level of competition...his receivers were running around wide open most of the time. Terrelle Pryor looked great throwing the ball in HS too.

I think he can put up numbers in this offense as he is easily more talented than Todd, but I'm just trying to curb the new posts that make him out to be a "5 star STUD" who would be the best QB we ever signed? No way.

I think alot of the recent praise for Newton on here comes from the scepticism of Caudle and Co. Honestly, how may people think Caudle or Tyrik can come out and truly compete next year? I am not bashing them, but Caulde hasn't shown anything as of yet, and Tyrik obviously needs to get his head on his shoulders with his recent screw up. This guy has more college experience than both, and if the coaches are interested in him...maybe its worth a shot. Just my thoughts. Take it or leave it.

[TigerDevil 3]

I will take it. I'd give anything to have a QB with an aggressive attitude and a lil' cockiness about his game.