Cam Newton wins the Heisman

You are looking at three fourths of the "Mount Rushmore" now of Auburn football players.  I think Tracy Rocker would be the last face but there is no doubt that these three men are there.  Also like in the picture Cam Newton might stand tallest.  My game one review was titled "A Star is Born" and certainly one was born that day but I had no idea he would become Auburn's third Heisman Trophy winner.  He certainly deserved it as he was the best player in the nation by far this season and has also cemented himself as one of the greatest players in college football history.  He became the only player in SEC history to throw for over 2000 yards and rush for over a thousand yards.  He became the leading rushing quarterback in SEC history but won his toughest games of the year by his passing.  He matched Tim Tebow's unbelievable feat of scoring 20 touchdowns both running and passing.  Finally, he has led his team to an undefeated season and an SEC championship.  We will never see another player like Cam Newton again.

Like Cam I have to give a lot of credit to his almost all senior incredible offensive line.  He would still be a great player behind a lesser line but nowhere near this good.  I also have to give a lot of credit to coach Gus Malzahn who has helped Cam reach his full potential and brought him along almost perfectly.  It is one of the greatest offensive coaching jobs I have ever seen.  Credit also has to go to a superb support cast of very talented players like Darvin Adams, Ontario McCalebb, Terrell Zachary, Mike Dyer, etc...  I still do not think I would say this is the best team in Auburn history but I will say this is the best offense in Auburn history led by maybe the greatest player in Auburn history.

I cannot say anyone is more talented than Bo Jackson but I will agree with Coach Dye who said as a quarterback Cam can influence the game more than Bo.  Each Heisman winner has an incredible story.  As I have said many times, I think everyone should real David Housel's book "Saturdays to Remember" and especially the Pat Sullivan games.  You would then get a true feel for how great a player Sullivan was.  Auburn was down-and-out for most of the decade of the 1960s.  Sullivan brought them back and led the first truly great Auburn passing offense.  Sullivan rallied the Auburn freshmen team from down 27-0 to Bama and became the last quarterback to lead Auburn to a win by more than 10 points over Bama, crushing them and Bear Bryant 49-26 in 1969.  Again, Auburn has not beaten Bama by more than 10 points since.  Sullivan only lost five regular season games in three years.  He also brought Auburn back from 17-0 to Bama in 1970 and beat Archie Manning in the famous "Battle of the Quarterbacks" in the Gator Bowl that year.  Finally in 1971 Sullivan led Auburn to an undefeated season coming into the Bama game and a win over a top five undefeated Georgia team to clinch the Heisman Trophy.  Unfortunately the wishbone offense at Bama and Oklahoma ended his career on a sour note.

Bo Jackson was the player that put it all together for Pat Dye as he built the foundation for the current Auburn football program.  Bo helped topple Bama and their ten year streak over Auburn.  He helped lead Auburn to their first SEC title since 1957 and basically the national title as well in 1983.  He then fought through injuries and adversity and kept Auburn at a high level and won the Heisman Trophy in 1985.  His career like Sullivan's also ended on a sour note after clinching the Heisman Trophy against Georgia.

Cam Newton while he has not put the time in the program that Sullivan and Jackson did has so far avoided that sour ending note that Sullivan and Jackson endured.  Let us hope he can continue that one more game.  However the whole ordeal with his father may have been one of the toughest things any Auburn player has ever endured.  There are violent horrible men who are not reviled like Cecil Newton.  The guy made a big mistake but did he deserve this?  Anybody who loves sports and has a son that plays sports at a high level will understand the punishment Cecil paid to not see his son accept the Heisman Trophy.  I thought the whole ESPN broadcast was bush league and a player from the "sacred cow" schools would not have been treated like Cam was.  For goodness sake, Mark Ingram committed NCAA violations and actually received illegal benefits (unlike Cam or his dad) and his father is a felon sitting in jail yet he was not treated anything like Cam has been treated.  The media is the most hypocritical two-faced self-righteous institution in the world.  For the record, one more time for the mediots who simply cannot get this through their heads...  Cam Newton and his dad have been THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATED and they did not receive ANY EXTRA BENEFITS.  That is the difference between Cam Newton and pretty much every NCAA case he is being compared to.  TALKING about extra benefits and actually GETTING extra benefits are two different things. 

Cam's speech was termed by most as "awkward" but with all that he has been through and the pressure he was under I think he did fine.  It was not as inspirational as Bo's or as eloquent as Sullivan's but I think it was just as sincere.  I will never forget Cam Newton.  I am very thankful I was able to go to the LSU and Georgia games this year at Jordan Hare and see him play in person.  This has been a season unlike any other and he was the biggest part of it.  "Refuse 2 Lose".  War Cam Eagle.