“I’m not going to entertain something that took place not three months, not six months, not a year but two years ago,” he said Tuesday, when asked about the cheating allegations. Newton was right to insist those problems were in the past. Either way, he took responsibility for those problems, getting his grades up and taking part in a pretrial program that resulted in the theft charges being dropped. ![]() Newton said previously he left Florida and enrolled in Blinn Junior College, where he led the team to a national title in 2009, because Tebow was coming back for his senior year. The following spring, according to another report, he was facing possible academic expulsion after getting caught cheating three times. He got stalled in the quarterback queue behind Tim Tebow at Florida, then got caught in possession of a stolen laptop his freshman year. Newton is, by all accounts, a poised, gregarious kid who is making the most of his second chance. Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs called it “sad and unfortunate,” and there’s no arguing with that, no matter what happens from here on. Alabama coach Nick Saban cluelessly likened those agents to “pimps,” though the only distinction in some cases is whether the players get the benefits once they’re in school or before they arrive.Ĭoach Gene Chizik angrily pushed back at suggestions that Auburn gave Newton anything beyond a scholarship - “pure garbage,” he labeled them - and there’s no reason so far not to believe him. This season hadn’t even begun when word spread of NCAA investigations into “extra benefits” handed out by unscrupulous agents to players at North Carolina and four SEC schools. ![]() The Southeastern Conference is practically a testament to that. Win the former and people will tolerate plenty of the latter. So would their fans.Ĭhampionships are a lot rarer than recruiting violations. But if you hooked up the athletic directors at those schools to lie detectors - and for even more fun, the presidents who enable them - all of them would swear it was worth it. Universities that get caught red-handed may have to hand back trophies, take down some banners and delete a few pages from the media guide.
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