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Friday, November 12, 2010

Reports: Auburn expects quarterback Cam Newton to start Saturday against Georgia

Auburn expects quarterback Cam Newton to start Saturday against Georgia, the Birmingham News and AuburnUndercover.com reported this afternoon. No sources were named in the stories.

Newton's eligibility has come into question in the last week, when reports emerged that Cam's father, Cecil, allegedly sought $100,000 to $180,000 in order for his son to sign with Mississippi State during the recruiting process last year.

Auburn has not specifically been accused of wrongdoing. The NCAA is investigating the matter.

Auburn did not officially comment on Newton's status Friday. Asked if Newton is still eligible, school spokesman Kirk Sampson replied, "No comment."

The school has not commented publicly on Newton's status since Wednesday, when head coach Gene Chizik said during the SEC teleconference that the quarterback is eligible and would play against Georgia.

16 comments:

Steve Wetzel said...

How can he be expected to play when they will not moment if he is editable?

Anonymous said...

Cam is perfect. He does not need to be edited

Andy Bitter said...

Pobody's nerfect.

MikeP said...

Of course he's going to play. The NCAA has been on this since July and has found no wrong-doing. All this info that's just becoming public knowledge has been known to the SEC office, Auburn and the NCAA for months.

This whole mess is starting to remind me of another of journalism's proud moments, the Duke Lacrosse Team faux-pas. Remember how that one turned out?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, while this is not nearly as bad as the Duke Lacrosse thing was, it certainly has some disturbing similarities.

Anonymous said...

My mommy says stupid is as stupid does.

Anonymous said...

I would still feel better if they did comment that he was eligible instead of saying no comment. However it speaks for itself, the fact that he is playing.

Anonymous said...

Andy,

Regarding traffic to your site: Great two weeks or Greatest two weeks?

Andy Bitter said...

Super-greatest. Is that a word?

Anonymous said...

Pretty amazing how fast "news" flies on Twitter. It's nuts. And none of it with any logical parsing, either. Everybody RTing the "No Comment" as if it's damning evidence, and the FBI extortion angle as if it's targeted at Cam himself. /boggle

Marmot said...

Boy, this has been fun. I wish I knew what was happening in all the back room discussions. I have to believe that Auburn and the NCAA have been communicating and it hasn't just been Auburn saying "I don't care what you find, the kids going to play". If they didn't have the NCAA's blessing then Cam would be on the bench, right?

And I'll make a point I've made elsewhere. The NCAA can't get in the business of suspending every player that is found to have solicited illegal benefits from any school. The main reason is that any school could take out another school's players just by revealing proof that someone from that player's camp asked School A for illegal benefits during the recruiting process, even though none were given. Think about how that might play out.

tptoomers said...

Believe me I am an AU man, but calling all these reporters liars is only going to make them work harder to prove their not. I'm just sayin' we should all be carefule here. These ESPN guys are not going to say their sorry, or find other jobs. Acutally, take a minute and think about the full rammifications of that statement. Instead, these reporters may try to vindicate themselves by digging more, and I am hear to tell you folks, you dig enough in any program your going find something. It may not tomorrow or the next day, it may not even be Cam related, but I feel confident that we dont want to make enemies of the most powerful sports media outlet in the world and we sure dont want all our laundry aired. WDE.

MikeP said...

"Never start a fight with people that by ink by the barrel"?
Probably good advice, and no, ESPN and so forth will not admit they were in error, they'll simply dash off in another direction when they are proven wrong. Makes a reader appreciate Andy Bitter.

Auburn has the toughest, meanest compliance department in college athletics. Coach Barbee nearly walked off the job a month ago because of them.

It's the compliance dept, not the head coach that decides if an athlete can play in a game or not. If Cam is playing, it's because the compliance department gave their go ahead. The compliance dept's job is not to help Auburn win games. Their job is to keep Auburn out of trouble with the NCAA and the SEC. The guy that heads it came to Auburn after five years with the NCAA's enforcement division and he knows what he's doing.

I'm putting my faith in them, and in Auburn. That's a lot better than believing a proven liar in Kenny Rogers.

postermom said...

Does anyone know what the NCAA considers irrefutable evidence? Sworn testimony from one source? More than one? How do they gauge the sources' reliability? Does it take tangible evidence like a taped conversation or a letter?

And I don't know who comes up with the word verifications for these posts, but I'm about to have to type the name of a body part of a personal nature.

John Stubbs said...

Andy,

Have you been able to drum up any lawyers or anonymous NCAA sources that might be able to provide expectations on what kind of actions would be taken by NCAA if latest report about Cecil Newton is true?

That report makes sense. Cecil Newton has a lot of people calling him out and I bet he did ask for money without Cam's knowledge. If no money exchanges hands, how harsh can the consequences be?

I really don't think Auburn should be put on probation if they have no knowledge of Cecil's actions and found no abnormalities with financial records. Frankly, I think they should be in the clear going forward. Not sure if NCAA would make them vacate victories or anything.

Stuart Tomlinson said...

Andy, can you please confirm whether or not we know if Cecil solicited the money or whether he entertained a conversation in which Rogers offered money as incentive to get Cam to sign with MSU. To me, that's a pretty important point that no one has answered.