Quarterback Cameron Newton, the No. 1 junior college recruit in the country, committed to Auburn on Thursday night with plans to enroll in school in the next week.Auburn's three recruiting Web sites — AuburnSports.com, Inside the Auburn Tigers and AuburnUndercover.com — first reported the news Thursday night.
The 6-foot-6, 245-pound Newton, who was once Tim Tebow’s backup at Florida, becomes an instant candidate to succeed Chris Todd as the Tigers’ starting quarterback in 2010.
A five-star recruit according to Rivals, Newton picked Auburn over Mississippi State and Oklahoma.
The dual threat led Blinn (Texas) Community College to the junior college national title this season, throwing for 2,833 yards and 22 touchdowns and adding another 655 yards and 16 scores on the ground.
Because he’ll enroll in January, he can participate in spring drills, an important step in competing for the starting quarterback job.
The Tigers’ other candidates include current juniors Neil Caudle and Kodi Burns, redshirt freshman Barrett Trotter and true freshmen Clint Moseley and Tyrik Rollison. Of those players, only Burns, who switched to wide receiver this season, has started a college game at quarterback.
Newton signed with Florida in 2007 and served as Tebow’s backup for two years. He was suspended last fall after being arrested and charged with stealing another student’s laptop and eventually chose to leave the program last January. Those charges were dropped earlier this month after he completed a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders, according to the Associated Press.
Because he earned a medical redshirt his sophomore year, he’ll have two years to play two at Auburn.
He is the fifth recruit who plans to enroll in January, joining two high schoolers — defensive end Craig Sanders and linebacker Jessel Curry — and two other junior college transfers — offensive tackles Roszell Gayden and Brandon Mosley.
All five will count back against last year’s signing class. The Tigers have 22 other current commitments for 2010.
12 comments:
I'm concerned about what this may do to team chemistry. I know Newton is a talent not to be passed up, I just hope Caudle, Burns, Rollison, et el will not react negatively.
I think competition is healthy. None of those guys have ever been guaranteed a spot. That's just how college football works.
What Andy said... times two
I agree...you don't pass up the #1 JUCO player who plays a position you're looking to fill because you're worried about what it might do to team chemistry.
Bottom line is team chemistry is always great when you're winning.
Happy New Year to you all!
I hope you’re (all of you) right. I still remember how the QB battle two seasons ago split the team. Additionally, with Malzhan as the chief recruiter of Newton, the other QB’s are bound to feel a lack of support. Plus, with only a few signing opening left, and we still have desperate needs for OL’s, DL’s, and DB’s. I would have been more than satisfied to let Malzhan develop one of the 4/5 QB’s already on scholarship and use the opening for a position where we have no depth.
i'm confident after how this year played out, that Chiz and staff will not allow there to be any splits in the team. However, I do believe Trotter and/or Rollison will transfer out.
BTW Andy, you might wanna verify but Newton was kicked off the team by UF. He chose to leave when Tebow announced he was coming back for his senior year.
There's also his side to the laptop issue, check out this article.
http://tinyurl.com/newtonstory
James....I don't understand this attitude that soon as one of our numerous QBs has to face some competition, that he or they will transfer. Is this the attitude of this generation of athletes? One thing you can be pretty sure of is that Coach Gus knows what he has on campus now and unless he thought Newton was a step up, he would tell Chiz to find another OL.
James, you are correct. He was not kicked off the team. He was suspended for the laptop incident and chose to leave the team last January.
Joe:
It wasn't the QB battle that split the team 2 years ago, it was the coaching battle. Poor decision-making on the part of TT cost that team.
Burns is done at QB, so next year looks like Newton and Caudle #1 and #2, with 3 young guys backing them up (pure speculation on my part, one of the young guns could win the job). One thing the coaching staff made clear this year, positions and playing time go to the player who do the best in practices.
Competition is NEVER a bad thing. It's only bad when there isn't fair competition because coaches play favorites.
Cam Newton would NOT have been pursued by AU if Gus thought he had a QB to WIN in ten. We will be "bent for leather" next year. Make no mistake about it.
It will be great to watch Auburn Tigers,i have bought tickets from
http://ticketfront.com/event/Auburn_Tigers-tickets looking forward to it.
Newton has turned into the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy after another stellar 4 touchdown performance. If Auburn can continue to win big games in the SEC and stay in the title hunt, he should have a good chance of winning.
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