Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton suited up this past Saturday. He threw for 148 yards, and two touchdowns and ran for another 151 yards and two touchdowns against Georgia. Altogether, it was a pretty average day for arguably the best collegiate quarterback in the country.
Except it was a minor surprise that he was even playing at all. The reason? Not some mundane injury, but rather serious doubts about his eligibility as a college athlete. Newton, a relatively surprising success in his first year at quarterback for Auburn, carries, fairly or not, an already tarnished legacy.
He left Florida after his sophomore season, ostensibly because he wasn't going to get any playing time in 2009 with Tim Tebow returning. However, Newton had also been accused of buying a stolen laptop. He was cleared of any serious wrongdoing in the matter, and publicly acknowledged the stupidity of his actions. Still, this was enough for the ever−venomous media to accuse him — mostly unfairly — of running away from punishment.
He and his father, however, maintained that playing time was the sole reason for his transfer to Blinn Junior College, where he played for a year before going to Auburn. That claim came into serious doubt this week, when new allegations arose suggesting that Florida had considered expelling Newton for cheating. According to the source, Newton put his name on another student's paper without permission. When given a second chance to hand in the same assignment, he turned in a paper bought off of the Internet.
And those aren't even the most serious allegations that surfaced this week. Another source associated with Mississippi State alleged that Newton, along with his father, had sought "between $100,000 and $180,000" from Mississippi State during his second recruitment campaign in return for playing there. The most damning alleged comments include Cecil Newton, Cameron's father, saying his son's recruitment is "not gonna be free this time around," and Cameron himself emotionally telling a Mississippi State recruiter that his father had chosen Auburn for him rather than Mississippi State because "the money was too much."
Obviously, if true, these are pretty damning allegations. Not only would Newton have engaged in very severe academic fraud, he would have committed the cardinal sin of college athletics: the dreaded pay−for−play situation. If these allegations are found to be true by the NCAA, Newton would likely lose his college eligibility and Auburn would be forced to vacate any wins from games in which Newton participated.
Regardless of what Auburn does now, the potential repercussions for the program are huge. The punishment would likely be as severe as USC's punishment for its role in the Reggie Bush scandal — reduced scholarships, a bowl and coaches poll ban. So why was it still a gamble to let Newton play this week? Well, the NCAA has historically given lighter punishments to schools that are willing to self−police allegations of this sort. Maybe if Auburn sits Newton, the NCAA will go easy on them.
However, sitting Newton would render impotent one of the nation's most potent offenses — and Auburn's defense is just north of horrendous — effectively ruining realistic national championship expectations. If Auburn wins its next two games, it's virtually assured of going to the BCS title.
And so Auburn head coach Gene Chizik decided to let it ride on Saturday, knowing the future of the program, and very likely his own job, hang in the balance. And he was rewarded with over 300 total yards from his talented and obviously troubled quarterback, whose own off−the−field improprieties are the only thing stopping his on−field exploits from winning him a Heisman.
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Ethan Frigon is a senior majoring in economics. He can be reached at Ethan.Frigon@tufts.edu.
