As of right now, Cam has been exonerated by the NCAA. Like any court of law, Cam has been innocent until proven guilty even though the press (me included) has been pretty hard on him. He has been found innocent in the pay for play scandal that was orchestrated by his father, Cecil, and agent Kenny Rogers. The NCAA feels, at this point, that Cam and Auburn knew nothing about this financial ploy. I don’t think it’s over. But, as of right now, Cam should be the leading candidate for the Heisman. And, assuming he and Auburn can beat South Carolina–which is not in the bag by any means–he will probably win it.
I don’t want to say a lot about it because I want to talk about the game, a huge game with an intriguing matchup between two very good teams. The bottom line is Cam has been cleared to play and Auburn is cleared by the NCAA as well. The investigation is not over, and there are questions about Cam’s character from his past cheating incidents at Florida and the laptop scandal, so I’m not sure he’s out of the woods yet. But right now, he can concentrate on the South Carolina game. The off field incidents have not seemed to affect him at all on the field. He might be playing better than ever. He may be the best compartmentalizer since Bill Clinton, though Cam has not been found guilty of anything.
Ready to talk some football, but I understand that this is not over. The NCAA did not find any evidence that Cam was involved with his father’s scheme to profit from his son playing football at Mississippi State or maybe Auburn.
We’ll talk football tomorrow. I may have some more today. For right now, the Cam Newton situation is taking a hiatus and we can concentrate on whether Auburn will be passing the ball more on SC’s defense rather than running, whether South Carolina will load up the box to stop Cam, Dyer and McCalebb, how they will try to stop Cam and his receivers from getting chunks of yardage against them through the air, whether Marcus Lattimore can get it done on the ground and if the Auburn secondary can slow down Stephen Garcia, Alshon Jeffery and the Gamecock’s aerial attack.
Should be an awesome game. The Cam Newton pay for play situation is not over with, but for right now, we can talk about the SEC title game.