I would be remiss if I didn't give my take on the Cam Newton/Cecil Newton/Auburn/Mississippi State/Florida/Meyer/Mullen/Bond/SEC/everyone scandal that is gripping the southern college football world. Let's briefly go through this.
ESPN.com presents a story in which John Bond claims to have been contacted by a former teammate who was seeking to collect money for Cam Newton's signature on a letter of intent : basically that is just a story that may or may not have anything to do with Cam Newton, Auburn, or Mississippi State. Let the NCAA investigate and find an answer to the insinuation that Newton is being paid.
FoxSports.com reported that Cam Newton was caught cheating three times while at Florida and was on the verge of expulsion before he transferred to Blinn Junior College: this has nothing to do with anything other than trying to smear Cam Newton's reputation. The guy who wrote this story also wrote an article urging Heisman voters not to vote for Cam Newton because of these accusations.
ESPN.com reported last night that Mississippi State recruiters spoke to Cecil Newton and Cam Newton on separate occasions. Cecil allegedly said it would take more than a scholarship to get him to play at State. Cam allegedly said he wanted to come to State but it was too much money to pass up not to go to Auburn. This is big news, and as far as I'm concerned, it's the only story.
This rounds up everyone, throws them into a pit, a bell has rung, and it's an ugly fight. The referee is Mike Slive, but he's MIA, and so no one can stop this massive spilling of blood. He could stop all this with a public announcement but he seems to be lost on the golf course. Something stinks real bad, and it's coming from Birmingham, Alabama, in the direction of Slive's office.
A little background: Slive became commissioner of the SEC in 2002 and made it his #1 goal to get all SEC members off probation. Part of this initiative was to enact a Philip Fulmer rule by which coaches must follow a chain of command in reporting possible violations rather than reporting directly to the NCAA. So the coach tells the A.D. who reports it to the SEC office. If the SEC office deems it serious enough, it reports it to the NCAA.
There is reason to believe Mississippi State has taped recordings of what Cecil and Cam Newton said to the recruiters. The reason is why would you tell the media about these conversations unless they actually took place? Mississippi State brought all this to the attention of the SEC, and I would think they gave the tapes to the SEC as well.
So if the SEC was in possession of tapes with these conversations that would have thrown up red flags that you could see from China then why didn't Mike Slive say anything about it? If he presented them to Auburn, why in their right mind would Auburn have played him one snap this year without clearing his eligibility with the NCAA first? Unless Jay Jacobs is writing checks with the Auburn athletic department checkbook then my only conclusion has to be that Slive withheld the tapes from Auburn and tried to cover it up. Sweep it under the rug and keep his dream of no teams on probation alive.
Did Dan Mullen alert the media of this story? I don't know, but if what I've said in the previous two paragraphs is true then he certainly had reason to nudge some people in that direction. Perhaps after handing over all the information to the SEC and them doing nothing about it, getting beat by Newton and Auburn, and then watching Auburn ascend to the top of college football being undefeated and Cam Newton as the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy he felt justice had to be done. What Urban Meyer has to do with the whole thing I don't know.
I hope Cam Newton is innocent of all wrong-doing and that Auburn goes on to win the SEC and National Championship. But, I have a feeling that where there's smoke there's fire and Auburn may be in trouble. But what I really want to know is did Mike Slive withhold information from Auburn and the NCAA regarding what Mississippi State submitted to the SEC. I think that is a bigger scandal in all this than if Cam Newton accepted money. First I want to know that, then let's find out whether or not the Newton's did actually get money, how did Cecil Newton's church pay for those repairs, etc. My head's spinning, it's been one crazy ride. Hopefully, it will be sorted out in the next week or two.
JB
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