Cam Newton cleared to play (father broke rule)

[JonLP24]

INDIANAPOLIS -- Auburn quarterback Cam Newton is eligible to play in the SEC title game this weekend, though the NCAA says his father broke rules by shopping his son to another school.

The NCAA released its finding in a statement Wednesday. The college sports governing body had concluded on Monday that a violation of Newton's amateur status had occurred. Auburn declared Newton ineligible on Tuesday and requested his eligibility be reinstated.

Newton has been cleared to compete without conditions.

<snip>

"Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn was aware of this activity, which led to his reinstatement," said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs. "From a student-athlete reinstatement perspective, Auburn University met its obligation. ... Under this threshold, the student-athlete has not participated while ineligible."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5870788

[MadBadger]

1. I dont believe for a second that Cam Newton knew nothing about what his Dad was doing

But Whatever.

[JonLP24]

2. The column points to that loophole

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=5872192&sportCat=ncf

Basically what it says is third parties can shop a player around as much as they want without fear of real punishment. Just as long as the player knows nothing about, or can't prove the player knows nothing about it.

[Elwood P Dowd]

3. ESPN has an agenda, and I don't believe anything they say anymore.

This whole thing started with a sleazy agent and former Mississippi State player named Kenny Rogers. Not only was he pulling stunts with college recruits, he was misrepresenting himself as an employee of the NFL Players Association to NFL players. He and two former Mississippi
State teammates turned this into a he said/she said media circus. The NCAA has evidence that we and the new tabloid sports media do not possess.

Newton's recruitment out of high school and later out of junior college boiled down to 9 total teams. Of those 9 schools, 8 of them have told the NCAA there was absolutely nothing unusual about his or his father's actions during the process. Only Mississippi State reported anything, and that came from former Mississippi State players who were now either boosters or an agent in Rogers. Rogers claims the discussion about money happened on November 27, 2009. If that is the case, why did Mississippi State continue to recruit him for another month? When Newton signed with Auburn after that, Cecil Newton mentioned that he chose Auburn because "he didn't want his son to be a RENTED MULE at Mississippi State for 2 years". This was several months before any of the accusations were public. He also mentioned that Auburn had a better surrounding cast of talent. Another factor was Auburn was only 90 minutes from the Newton home.

Cecil Newton has admitted to the NCAA that there were discussions about money with one questionable character named Kenny Rogers. However, the discussions ended sometime after November 27, 2009 and Cecil and his son visited Auburn and Oklahoma. He chose Auburn about one month later (read the RENTED MULE comment). Kenny Rogers wanted to make some money off the Newtons, Mississippi State wanted a quarterback in the worse way, and Cam Newton's dad decided to get the hell out of this mess and looked at other options.

The NCAA had checked into this last summer. Only when someone leaked this to ESPN and NY Times reporters did it make national news after Cam Newton started getting national headlines. The NCAA found nothing then to declare Newton ineligible for this season, and they have nothing now. All they have is the he said/she said stuff involving Mississippi State. Mississippi State should be worried because they continued to recruit the kid for a month after their boosters and former players said Kenny Rogers, also a former Mississippi State player, said it would take some cash to get him to their school.

As for the loophole, there is also another twist. What if school A signs a player and school B says that player or his family approached them for extra benefits? Does the NCAA rule the player at school A ineligible based solely on the word of school B? Talking about opening a can of worms......Also, there are many examples of NCAA athletes or their Representatives asking for extra benefits at one school, and then the the NCAA allows them to play at another school. The Albert Means case is one example.

[TZ]

5. +1

The NCAA is a joke. I suspect if this wasn't THE Heisman front runner on an undefeated team I think there would me more done. They only come down hard on schools that aren't high profile- Unless it's years later like USC. I will NEVER forget Maryland basketball getting severe penalties because the coach gave a student a ride somewhere. Obviously that's much worse than shopping your kid around...:sarcasm:

[wilt the stilt]

6. NCAA ia completely a fraud

They decide who to punish. If one thinks that USC is the only school that pays players you one is surely naive. I remember a rant by the LSU coach(Dale Brown). He was stating that the blowhards were living high off the hog on the backs of these kids. Most of the players came from the ghetto and they see these people eating at gourmet restaurants while they don't have a dime on campus. Reminds of Dan Ackroyd in "trading Places" looking inside as those people are eating and he could only watch. The NCAA is full of shit.

[era veteran]

7. Too true

The players, at least at UK have full time jobs, basketball & class. They have no time for a part time job. If they come from a poor family what do they do for pocket money? This alone sets the stage for money infractions. They should give all players $400.00 or so a month . I think many years ago the NCAA had a laundry allowance, they should resurrect that. They make our University & city a lot of money. Just saying

[TZ]

8. Yeah, I don't think these kids need huge salaries

but for goodness sakes some kind of stipend to be able to eat and exist? Many academic scholarships do provide these type of stipends to their recipients.

[wilt the stilt]

10. too true

I just found out that UGA has a fellowship foundation scholarship for the top students- the pay is $20,000 per year.

[joeybee12]

9. Part of the problem is they simply don't have the resources to really investigate

anything...there is so mcuh rule-breaking going around and in an instance like this they can only react to what a third party (ESPN) has investigated.

[era veteran]

4. But it's the SEC they must cheat since they dominate