Newton Bomb

Major updates from New York Times/Pete Thamel:

BREAKING NEWS: We have on-record confirmation the NCAA is investigating the recruitment of Cameron Newton.

John Bond, a former Mississippi State quarterback said today that “a payment had to be made” for Newton to play there. Miss State declined.

Bond spoke to the NCAA and said “he acted entirely appropriately throughout this matter.” More later on NYTimes.com.

ESPN: Cash sought for Cam Newton
During the height of star quarterback Cameron Newton’s recruitment out of junior college last year, a man saying he represented Newton allegedly was soliciting a six-figure payment to secure his signature on a national letter-of-intent, ESPN.com has learned.
-———————————————————————————————————-

Damn. I wanted to like Cam Newton.

So a guy who transferred because he couldn’t start at Florida, and was playing at a JC, can command six figures?

He transferred from Florida because of a purloined laptop. Dude wanted to be a blogger.

Thought he transferred when Tebow came back. Stealing a laptop at Florida is just a way to get recognized by the coaching staff.

Did some quick digging. Hearing that OU’s recruitment of Newton came to an abrupt halt when Newton’s dad insisted that he go on the official visit to OU without Cam Newton coming along.

This sounds like it could be much ado about something.

https://twitter.com/andyhutchins/status/324833690779649

Auburn was my #2 team this year. Mierte.

Here’s our open thread, minus of course the three-years’ worth of accumulated audience:
http://crimsoncaravan.fantake.com/2010/11/04/dogging-cam-newton/

And here’s the ESPN story that broke it:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5765214

So, what does this mean?

Well, I can’t see Auburn suddenly revoking Newton’s eligibility, at least until there is something to question his recruitment on the Plains.

Yet — and hear this out — given the stage of the season, and what’s at stake, would you bench him?

Hell no.

At this point, you ride it all the way, and at least take a shot at a national title they’d have to take away from you. If they bench Newton as a precautionary measure, you’ve cost yourself the title.

This is it, folks. Forget the BCS Busters, this is BCS or Bust for Auburn.

If you read through all of the various articles and comments that have come out this afternoon, there’s a whole lot of circumstantial evidence pointing back at his dad: his dad was the one who chose Auburn (that was in the Sports Illustrated article a couple weeks back), his dad’s condemned church suddenly finding the money to start renovating last spring, NH’s comment above, his dad’s less that impressive denial (if you can even call it that).

My guess is that Cam himself might even be innocent, but that’s not going to matter in the end if any of this is true, especially if Auburn did indeed partake in the bidding.

Rejected options for the thread title:

Newton’s Second Law Violation

Cam Scam

Yeah, But Leibniz’s Recruiting Violations Were More Elegant

less THAN impressive denial

If you are Chizik I think you play him until your are told otherwise. What is the worst they do to you? Strip you of your victories? Newton is the Auburn offense and without him there is no way they beat Bama.

What are the odds of us getting a ‘tethered African-American prostitute’ tag on all posts of this ilk?

Brickhorn -

If Cam was in on it, how about ‘The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree’?

Yawwwnnnnnn…

All Cam – or Chizik – needs to do is call Reggie Bush’s people. Keep this out of the way for five or six years, and everybody’s golden…

Hmmmm…..I believe the Heisman ballots are already mailed out.

Somebody correct me if I’m wrong on this, but the street agent in this case works for “Elite Performance”. I believe that after our old friend Willie Lyles disbanded “MSL Recruiting” last year, his partner at MSL (Timmie something) went over to….(wait for it)….“Elite”.

I think I got that little sordid piece of street agent history correct. Awesome!

The First Law of Auburn Football:

Chizik + Auburn boosters + Trooper Taylor + Curtis Luper + pressure to compete with Saban = NCAA investigation.

“Caught in a webCam of deceit”

“Juice Newton”

Glass Joe,

If I am not mistaken Auburn was in the running for Lache Seastrunk who had ties to Lyles as well.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if AU could go undefeated again and still not win a (legit) championship (would be three in a row).

Auburn got official visits from THREE out-of-state, 5-star RBs (Seastrunk, Lattimore, and Dyer). Seastrunk shared handlers (Willie Lyles) with Trovon Reed, who also wound-up at Auburn.

We should’ve listened to Tuberville’s wife. The hiring of Chizik, Luper, and Trooper Taylor made this inevitable.

Somewhere Bobby Lauder is smiling.

“The Apple Not Falling Far From the Tree” and “Juice Newton” ftw.

Both speak to the gravity of this situation.

Remember ballerjunkie’s golden rule about SEC hoops recruiting. Anything over $85 k exceeds the gentleman’s agreement in the SEC.

You can tell the economy is really down when OU gets outbid for a player.

Can’t help but be impressed with Renaissance man Kenny Rogers – Grammy winner, chicken restaurant mogul, perfect game pitcher, and now agent.

Dan Wetzel bringing the heat.

Wetzel is on point

At some point does any of this impact Muschamp? I know they weren’t squeaky clean under Tuberville, but I was always under the impression that was booster-driven and not institutional.

Yeah, Wetzel nailed it.
As much as I love college football, or rather, the IDEA of college football, it is the most corrupt and hypocritical shit train outside of the No politics.

Nice one. Do you protest the protest as well?

I don’t get the point of Wetzel’s piece. Is he saying the whole system is so corrupt that there’s no point in enforcing any rules? Or is he saying that the rules should be enforced stricter?

I don’t feel sorry for the kid or school. There are rules. If he’s innocent, he’ll be fine. If he’s not, he didn’t have to break the rules.

Are kids taken advantage of? Sure. I used to wonder what VY thought when he looked into the stands and saw 10k kids wearing #10, and him not seeing a dime from it. That’s why I don’t fault him at all fo bolting to the NFL.

I wonder if Bo Jackson will still cast his Heisman ballot for ROI Newton.

The real question that nobody seems to be asking is: How did Blinn land him over Butler CC?!

I’m with W. Bombay. I wanted to like him, but we should have known better than to like an SEC kid if you put a premium on ethics. While I believe that all/most schools are dirty in some form or fashion, as KB points out, the SEC is a different kind of dirty. Most schools are the equivalent of a kid jacking his mom’s purse for a fiver so they can get curly fries with their #5 while the SEC goes for broke like De Niro in ‘Heat.’

I heard some d-bag on the radio saying, “See!? See!? This is why the NCAA should pay them!”

Okay, that’s an entirely different argument worth entertaining but to insinuate that paying them would clean up the sport is just plain naive. If the NCAA did pay them, that dollar figure would just be considered base pay and all the street agents, boosters, and church running fathers would be lining up to secure the “perks.” You’d have the same shit except the NCAA would be out some money. That’s not happening anytime soon.

Can somebody please get some dirt on Nick effing Saban. My life won’t be complete if he’s never caught.

Here’s my take on this story:

Cam Newton’s dad saw that one of his churches was in very serious risk of being condemned and closed down without immediate and expensive renovations. There was nowhere for the money for these renovations to come from. However, his son was a running, passing ATM with a high demand for his services from $EC schools. So he basically put a deal on the table through intermediaries. Donate X number of dollars anonymously to the church, and the church will use it for renovations and other church needs. In exchange, you get Cam’s signature. Thus, the NCAA will never actually be able to pin any wrongdoing on the Newton family, Auburn, or anyone else. Even with subpoena power that the NCAA doesn’t have, a donation to a religious non-profit organization is about as untraceable as it gets. You don’t even have to put your name on the donation.

Contrast this with the Reggie Bush situation. If not for Bush being a complete douchebag to Lloyd Lake, he’s still got his Heisman and USC is still clean as a whistle. But there were still receipts and records for business expenses, and the transactions were interpersonal.

Contrast further with OU’s situation with Big Red Sports and Imports. The payments from a booster were funneled through his business via payroll. Nothing is more easily traced once you get access to the records.

“Donate X number of dollars anonymously to the church, and the church will use it for renovations and other church needs.”

Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!

“Don’t ask no questions. Don’t ask how come, or or WHY come the preacher gotta have a nice car……Don’t ask no questions.”

I’m sure some of that cash went to shining up the cross, but I’ll bet there’s an Escalade somewhere in the vicinity too.

Nate, you guys haven’t purchased a human since JaMarkass McFarland, no?

OU is one of the programs that stops recruiting a kid when the street agent introduces himself. TAMU and UT also drop recruitments at that point. High minded ethics? Or a fear that these things will blow up ugly? Doesn’t really matter, but not every school recruits these kids.

I’m not talking about street agents pertaining to McFarland. I’m talking about family members who “had his best interest.”

The funniest part to me is that Urban Meyer convinced Mullen to report it to the SEC.

So, what’s the solution?
Just like politics, because of the money at stake, dirt seems to be an innate part of the package that is college football.
IS there a solution other than the utterly hypocritical lip-service paid to the “rules” and tut-tutting that now goes on?
The ethics dilemma is built into the whole system from the ground up at every level. It’s a continuous escalation from Pop Warner through elementary and secondary school that intensifies in college and leads to the, ironically, LEAST hypocritical final plateau—the NFL. Professional football owners may take advantage of the players in many ways, but the players have leverage and can fight back. Not so at any other level. The kids at pre-NFL levels are potentially beneficiaries of the system, but only a very few hit the jackpot. Others get scholarships and get degrees that actually help them. Very many are just flotsam and jetsam— victims.
One solution: Schools at any level should have no business being football factories. Ban football from schools. Set up for-profit businesses to recruit and train kids to go to the next level. In THAT situation, a little cash on the side for a good prospect is just part of the natural flow. Let it be, nakedly, what a poster above called it: Capitalism. Ethics dilemma is e-sol-ved. Business is for businesses, not for schools.

For my next trick, I will make Nancy Pelosi Queen of the Universe, Skittles will in actual fact rain from the heavens, Greg Davis will find another job, and Jessica Alba will call me “Daddy.”

Plausible deniability,

http://crimsoncaravan.fantake.com/2010/11/05/zions-glorious-summit/

“Very many are just flotsam and jetsam– victims.”

Jesus H. Cry me a fucking river. I feel terrible for the third stringer at SMU that was the victim of a $100,000 education. You paint it so well.

Maybe, if they’re not good enough to make it to the NFL they should drop out rather than continue to be victimized.

“For my next trick, I will make Nancy Pelosi Queen of the Universe, Skittles will in actual fact rain from the heavens……”

If they’re banning Happy Meals in SF, Skittles can’t be far behind.

OU’s recruiting of Cam Newton apparently ended after the Sun Bowl. After Landry dropped 400+ on Stanford, Cam reportedly called them up and said “looks like you’ve got your quarterback.” (to which most OU fans say, thanks a fucking lot, Landry)

So, a$ide from the promi$e$ that allbarn was giving him, there was also the primadonna notion of not wanting to compete for playing time. Not that most in the OU camp didn’t feel that he would have beaten out Landry in his first week on campus, but he wouldn’t have been just given the job carte blanche like he would have at Miss State or allbarn. Other than a new evangelical mess hall and an Escalade, it appears that’s what he wanted, too.

I feel a mini-parody of Dusty Springfield coming on:

The quarterback they didn’t have before
Was the son of a preacher man.

The quarterback that Auburn paid for
Was the son of a preacher man.

Now he runs, now he runs, yes he does …

I’m not talking about street agents pertaining to McFarland. I’m talking about family members who "had his best interest."

You’re still wrong. Read my first comment. When Newton’s dad injected himself into the situation, OU dropped off the radar. Stoops is very strict about that.

UT started losing McFarland because Jackie Shipp was persistent and played the race card to perfection on Tolleson. Meanwhile, UT’s coaches stopping answering momma McFarland’s calls. After that, they had a booster get nailed by Mack Brown & Co. committing potentially serious NCAA violations involving McFarland’s family. To Mack Brown’s credit, he cut ties and cut losses as soon as he was made aware. Go back and read the articles from UT itself, and it was Texas that backed out of McFarland’s recruiting. UT hasn’t backed off on other players when they had other schools throwing money into the picture (See: Rasco, Jermauria), so, if that was the case, why did they back out this time?

Nate,

I’m not saying they offer all kids money. They had more incentive to go after McFarland (keeping him away from UT) than Newton (with Jones and Bell in the fold).

McFarland’s recruitment had all the makings of a payoff. The Shipp and the race card business doesn’t hold much water with me. Have you seen UT’s staff, save for the HC and coordinators?

“UT hasn’t backed off on other players when they had other schools throwing money into the picture (See: Rasco, Jermauria), so, if that was the case, why did they back out this time?”

We didn’t pursue Shaun Lewis last year who was said to be tied to Lyles. We never entered the Trent Richardson sweepstakes even though he was orgasmically calling our name.
We didn’t play games with Seastrunk.

As was said earlier, there is a gentleman’s agreement in the SEC for a ceiling on basketball players. Is there anything like that for football? Did he violate that and hence draw the Eye of Sodor?

TTR – interesting comment that A&M, OU and UT do not deal with street agents. This is, of course, true – and one of the things A&M will have to deal with in the SEC someday.

Is it possible that money going to a church is one of the ways Baylor is laundering the money they pay? Since it’s a private institution, there is no easy way to examine their books. But I always wondered how they got around whatever internal oversight they certainly must have. Donations directly to impoverished black Baptist churches might escape too much scrutiny and seal the deal.

Sounds like Scam Newton’s dad is a Community Organizer.

“I’m not talking about street agents pertaining to McFarland. I’m talking about family members who ‘had his best interest.’ "

Family members can be, and often are, street agents willing to whore out their own children. I’ve seen it done way too often.

IRS agents won’t be too far behind the curve on this one either. Sans charitable intent, that ‘donation’ is earned income for services performed.

Damnable underground economy is killing this country.

Ag, that was my point exactly. However, Uncle Cleofis doesn’t have the same stigma that a Will Lyles type does. If lil ol magnusbleu knows what Lyles is up then you can bet that the NCAA does as well.

Cut out the professional middleman and the price goes down. Plus you get the coverage of a lower profile. In my opinion of course.

If anyone wants to have photoshop fun with “Bishop” Newton’s “Church”, that could be humerous. Im passing this on to the farkmasters at SoonerFans.com to get busy with.

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2010/1104/ncf_e_zion14_600.jpg

You think it’s untaxed income that is killing this country? Ha.

@Ag_in_TX

Thanks for passing along the blank.

Already found this one in the wild: http://crimsoncaravan.fantake.com/2010/11/05/zions-glorious-summit/

Fucking stop it.

Is Nate really trying to peddle the ‘anonymous UT booster offered a loan to a family friend’ line of BS from the Evans article re: McFarland?

I like how the rest of the SEC power players are crowing over this as if their schools weren’t just as guilty of dealing with (and paying) street agents. What was that SEC going rate to street agents for a 4 * recruit’s LOI again? Last I heard it was $200,000. Seems to me like Auburn got a deal only paying 250K for a guy who could immediately step in and be the best player in the entire SEC.

Nate,

I’m from Lufkin, I knew McFarland’s mom, and I know plenty of people who were very close to the JF situation when it was going down. Some of what you say is on point pertaining to his recruitment, but trust me, there was a lot more going on than you seem willing to believe. I’m not going into specifics on a public board but one thing I will say is that it will be tough for OU to get another kid out of Lufkin as long as Outlaw is there. After the whole Mcfarland deal was done he said to one of my closest friends “I don’t ever want those sons of bitches (OU coaches) on my campus again.”

What was the number on Trent Richardson?

"I don’t feel sorry for the kid or school. There are rules. If he’s innocent, he’ll be fine. If he’s not, he didn’t have to break the rules.

“Are kids taken advantage of? Sure.”

What Wetzel is saying is that the details don’t really matter — you have to trace the hypocrisy to the source. It’s the schools that got together as a cartel through the NCAA to make unenforceable rules that make it seem as though the uniforms that we cheer for are filled with students who just happen to be amazing athletes on the side. They put on those uniforms on Saturday afternoon because they just finished their reading for biology class and are looking for something fun to do.

Taylor, I’m surprised that you among all of us, given your extensive recounting of recruiting violations, would fall back on, oh, it’s the athlete’s fault he broke the rules, when the schools are the ones who designed the system to keep any cash from escaping to pay for the talent that is required.

I fully acknowledge my own hypocrisy in preferring the college games to the pro games, but I think that still would be true if the college-age athletes who drive this machine got even a fraction of their value in cash (as opposed to the non-cash benefits that are permitted) and the remainder don’t. And the pros are happy with the system because they don’t have to invest in the 18-year-olds who were maxed out in order to collect on the ones who developed.

t1climb1,

Interesting – I heard another 5A head coach in Tarrant County utter those same exact words last February right after recruiting season ended. And Stoops and company used to be most welcome at this particular school.

Is Celina in Tarrant County?

Although I guess it’s not 5A so nevermind.

Celina is due north of Plano, so that would be Collin County.

@hodad — there are idiot fans of all stripes. But I, as a Bama guy, am not dancing a jig over this. (And it’s not because I think we bidded on Cam.)

The disturbing fallout from this, other than the crass nature of the alleged shopping, is the potential to ignite a flurry of accusations from fans and boosters as a way to get revenge on someone else.

If Newton gets screwed out of the Heisman and the national championship because he or his family is shady and greedy, then that’s okay.

But if Newton gets screwed out of a Heisman and a BCS title shot because of an unfounded innuendo that has stowed away on a tangential accusation, then we’ll see a lot more of this in the future.

Want to make sure that ____ _______ doesn’t beat you on the field in two weeks? Leak some shit about him, and see if there’s enough public distrust to synthesize an artificial and unwarranted benching. That is where all of this is headed.

Vulcan’s scenario, while I think it too smart by half, would be prevented if the money could come over the table.

It’s not like the NCAA is immune to it, as MLB has subsidized the college football careers of many players, including, IIRC, multiple Heisman winners.

It might be argued that paid players would be given extra chances to fail, compared to those who weren’t, but how long have we discussed Mack Brown’s penchant for playing upperclassmen who didn’t get the job done (and were unlikely to have been bought )?

Here, let me help you with filling in the blanks.

Trent Richardson.

And yes I don’t want to make sure he doesn’t beat me.

Bob, as I stated earlier, the over the table money is the base pay. Don’t you think the under the table money or offerings in this case would still be used to sway commitments?

What’s better than some money? More money.

Leak some shit about him, and see if there’s enough public distrust to synthesize an artificial and unwarranted benching. That is where all of this is headed.

Vulcan, you really think any program in the country is going to bench their Heisman caliber player, especially when they are in the thick of a BCS berth, because of unfounded rumors? Uhh, no. Rest assured if Newton gets benched or any player in the future in similar circumstances, it’s because the school found enough proof that they have no choice. I wouldn’t worry about your scenario playing out at all.

Want to make sure that ____ _______ doesn’t beat you on the field in two weeks? Leak some shit about him, and see if there’s enough public distrust to synthesize an artificial and unwarranted benching. That is where all of this is headed.

We’ve been doing that to OU during the first week of October since WWII.

They’re not going to bench him unless they see a video of him running away with a bag with a dollar sign on it, and even then they’ll ask if it’s the only copy of the tape.

In lieu of such damning evidence Auburn will ride him all the way to the end and let the chips fall where they may. These chances don’t come around very often.

Celina doesn’t generate enough D1 talent to be cared too much about. The school I speak of generates lots of D1 talent, including an OU starter right now. Tough pipeline to have close down for Stoops & Co.

Yes, let’s be sure to note that Scam Newton, "Reverend’ daddy, and Auburn are innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. Shouldn’t take the Heisman from him unless certain proof is provided.

A very noble position for Bama fans to take. Nothing to do with, ya know, the unfathomable possibility that the now imprisoned daddy of a certain questionable very, very recent Heisman winner could ever be capable of the same thing. Surely not.

magnus, my feeling on the money is that it really doesn’t matter how much comes over the table, as long as that’s the deciding factor. The reason is, if you want to play high-stakes football (or basketball, for that matter), you should have the budget to pay for it.

Texas would still get players. So would OU, Nebraska, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, etc. In basketball, UNC, KU, Duke, UK… it would not be a surprise for these powers to continue to get players. (And, I have to make clear that I’m not accusing any of the listed schools of breaking rules… just that people would expect things not to change for them.)

Where I would maintain rules is in areas that aren’t related to money, such as Sampson’s illegal phone calls (assuming there are contact rules at all). If you can do something without spending much that gives the kid an impression that you love him more than schools that obey the rules, that’s really unfair.

And LSUfreek comes through again.

Leopardic —

Mark Ingram’s ties to Saban go back long before little Mark was able to shake a tackle. Is there something else?

Recruiting in college football (and basketball) = steroids in MLB.

The powers that be publicly decry their presence — and don’t a damn thing about it until scared into it by way of anti-trust issues.

The NCAA – and the D-1 powers will decry stories like this,but they sure as hell don’t want to pay the players (with the workers comp and insurance issues) but they won’t do anything definitive about it until there is a major scandal, either through an agent-runner, or point-shaving.

A college bookie persuading a player of players to get a slice of the huge money pie that is being denied them by “just not covering the point spread” is coming IMO.

Or the Title IX factor that would raise the cost exponentially.

Auburn is absolutely denying they had any contact with Rogers. This can be true, and yet not absolve them of guilt. Obviously, athletic departments don’t have a line item on their ledgers for paying street agents $200k. That money, when paid, comes from a booster. That way, there is no connection between the program and the player- the transaction (if one exists) is between the booster(s) and agent.

Now, rogue boosters don’t spend this money willy-nilly. there are discussions with a coach to confirm a player is wanted that badly, and that the booster will be recognized somehow for his contribution.

There’s only one way to get to the bottom of this, and that’s for the NCAA to do what makes it so unpopular- question the athlete about his relationship with the alleged street agent, ask for documentation, and suspend him if he balks at answering. It worked with Dez Bryant (in the final outcome, he signed with the agent tied to Deion Sanders, the one he claimed he had no ties to- IOW, he was guilty).

Sodor is the mythical island from the Thomas the Train series. Given how little will come of this, however, the reference probably remains appropriate.

The kwanzaa candles slayed me on the 4th loop.

And baby Cam with the laptop. Missed that one the first few times. Comedy moves fast, yo.

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