If you’re an Auburn fan following the Newton saga, what has to be scary is the speed at which the next shoe drops. The regular news cycle can barely keep up – Barnhart’s column this morning didn’t even mention Schad’s allegations about what Cam and his dad were alleged to have said to MSU’s recruiters and much of the chatter today has been about the SEC’s response to Schad’s report.
Meanwhile, Kenny Rogers speaks.
Kenny Rogers, the former Mississippi State player who ESPN.com reported allegedly sought money to sign Cam Newton to a national letter of intent with Mississippi State, said Thursday that Newton’s father, Cecil, put a price tag on his son.
Rogers, in an interview with ESPN 103.3 in Dallas, was asked if Cecil Newton ever told him how much money it would take to get his son to play for Mississippi State. “Yes he did,” Rogers said. Asked how much, he said: “Anywhere between $100,000 and $180,000.”
Later in the interview, Rogers said he and Cecil Newton first talked after Cam Newton left Florida following the 2008 season. In the course of their conversations, he said Cecil Newton told him “it’s not gonna be free this time.”
Hmm… “this time”. I guess that’s good news about Florida.
Rogers is careful to state that he has no knowledge of Cecil Newton’s dealings with Auburn, but if the above is correct, Occam’s Razor suggests that it’s getting harder to conclude that Newton pushed his son towards the Plains out of the goodness of his heart. Who or what that has consequences for may be the next shoe to drop.
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UPDATE: Feel free to take it with a grain of salt, but if you’re wondering why Mr. Rogers has chosen to speak out about this, here you go.
… One of Rogers’ reasons for coming forward on radio today, he said, was because of reports saying he was the one seeking payment.
“No, I didn’t,” Rogers said, “and that was another reason I wanted to talk. … It made it look like the Newtons didn’t know anything about anything, but here I am just asking for money. That’s another reason, that’s another thing that had been bothering me.”
Note also in the interview that Rogers doesn’t refer to “recruiters”, but “coaches” hearing about Cecil Newton’s demands. You can bet the NCAA has.
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UPDATE #2: And just to be clear…
… NCAA spokesperson Stacey Osburn told The Birmingham News by email that “the solicitation of cash or benefits by a prospective student-athlete or another individual on his or her behalf is not allowed under NCAA rules.”
In other words, if the NCAA finds Kenny Rogers credible, Auburn’s magical season goes up in smoke.
Get The Picture 
Hahah, this is great.
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They’ve got reports coming out of every direction. If this were me, there would be NO WAY that I was able to sleep at night. I can’t see this not affecting Cam Newton, even if it’s totally false.
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Lets just hope it doesn’t piss him off.
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I’ll start with the caveat that Rogers is a confirmed liar. The NFLPA is on him about that. And he’s pulled a 180 on ESPN Dallas within a week.
That said, if John Bond and the MSU coaches confirm his story with the NCAA, then that would appear to be game, set, match. Here’s a choice quote from ESPN’s latest on this
“John Bond, the former Mississippi State quarterback and teammate of Rogers who told ESPN.com last week that a man seeking money to sign Cam Newton had approached him, told ESPN.com on Thursday: “My story hasn’t changed. I absolutely talked with Kenny Rogers, and there are phone records that will show that.” Bond said he’s scheduled to meet with the FBI on Tuesday and plans to turn over his phone records and anything else they ask for at that point. He said the FBI reached out to his attorney earlier this week wanting to talk with him about the Newton situation, in particular if kids were being shopped out to colleges. That meeting was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was postponed by the FBI until next Tuesday. ”
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5792707
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That really is the nub of it. And Auburn’s season gets screwed even if no one at the school knew or did anything wrong.
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Lay down with pigs, come up smelling like garbage.
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Yet Auburn remains all in, Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead. If they get us they get us. Meanwhile we get to endure the Wrath of Cam this week.
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I’m glad no one’s whining about this. Just as you say, they’re all in. They wanna finish 14-0 or 0-0.
Personally, I’d rather beat them with Cam. I won’t be upset if we lose and he’s found ineligible. Not like we’re working on a world beater season here
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Agreed 100%. Want to play them with Cam, win lose or draw.
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Also, as just mentioned on Finebaum, it’s the school’s job to declare him ineligible. Not the NCAA or SEC.
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That’s semantics to some extent. Here’s the way the NCAA describes it:
In other words, the school takes the risk if the player (or, in this case, the player’s rep) violated the NCAA regs and still plays.
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What do you think is going to happen?
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It starts with what the NCAA/FBI find out from the MSU people, doesn’t it? Rogers on his own has zero credibility.
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That’s the big IF right now. IF MSU confirms, then the shit storm ensues.
What about if Bond confirms? Or Bell?
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Let the games begin. Bell just corroborated Rogers’ story:
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There has to be a paper trail of some kind. First, there are telephone records. that would substantiate contact between Rogers and Bond, Rogers and Daddy Newton, etc. Then there are bank records that would substantiate the receipt of money by Daddy Newton, his church, his business, etc. If they can figure out where the money came from, there will be records proving that, too. Then there is Rogers himself. While maybe not the most credible witness, he gets more believable the more corroborating evidence comes to light. Also, this isn’t a criminal case you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
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You should have said, “Auburn’s miracle season gets thrown out the window.”
I’ll be here all night.
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It took me a second. 1
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How many major conference schools have had 3 undefeated seasons that did not result in a national title in the last 20 years? AU has an opportunity here.
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Ouch…
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Some people have commented negatively on this all not coming out until they were 9-0 but assuming this is true, I can see not wanting to cause a big to do and go public last January if your John Bond, because you don’t KNOW Auburn paid the Newton’s anything even though you know you were solicited but it would get harder and harder to keep your mouth shut the more the perpetrators prospered.
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$5 to anyone wearing a Kenny Rogers concert to the game…
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Be sure they are green in color…just to be sure the point gets across?
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Concern t-shirt… Stupid I-phone
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Damn! Where can I get one?
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I have thought all along this was much ado about nothing, that Auburn would not have been so stupid to have crossed any lines with a high-profile recruit like Newton. I am still not sure they (AU) did anything at all, but something changed today. I heard a definition of the NCAA rule that an athlete would be ineligible the moment an athlete, or a member of his family, mentioned or solicited money for their commitment.
That means IF Rogers is backed up by any member of the MSU coaching staff that they heard Cecil Newton say anything like he is reported to have said, it is game over. The MSU coaches will be questioned, and will not be able to dodge a truthful answer. That would DQ Newton, and Auburn, even if they gave zero to a member of Newton’s family. Not saying that is fair to AU if they didn’t know, and did not have any similar conversations, but that doesn’t seem to be unlikely to me, especially given the amount of smoke on this issue. Add to that the mysterious improvements at Rev Newton’s church, and it would be hard to not draw some sinister conclusions.
I still hope Newton is eligible, and hope he plays Saturday against UGA, but the anxiety of any Auburn fan has to be much higher tonight. (I do not know that NCAA rule, or it’s interpretation, to be true. Just stating that was the wording I heard this afternoon.)
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“I have thought all along this was much ado about nothing, that Auburn would not have been so stupid to have crossed any lines with a high-profile recruit like Newton”
I had thought the same thing til someone pointed out Chizik’s record at Iowa State and Awburn (pre Scam Newton).
With Kodi Burns, what would AU be this year? About the same as last I’d say. Which doesn’t set up for a fat raise from Bobby Lowder.
Colin Cowherd frequently points out how coaches know they are one bad season away from selling insurance so they’ll often do the inexplicable (see Childress, Brad).
I’m by no means convinced anything happened. But don’t color me shocked that a guy with a losing career record and no ties to the school (which is the 2nd best team in the most myopic state) might be tempted to cut a corner and keep makin that monthly mortgage payment.
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That is a pretty significant corner to cut. I really doubt Chizik had any knowledge of this, but if the rule is what I heard today, that is a moot point as to Cam Newton’s eligibility.
What Auburn knew, or participated in, may lighten the punishment on AU so they wouldn’t have to lose schollies or bowl games over the next few years, but they may have to forfeit games CN played in.
The worst part is this could have been known and ruled on in the Spring. Bad for CFB to be dealing with this in November with so much at stake.
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I felt bad for Auburn for just a minute, but then I considered what you just said: where would Auburn be without Cam? Probably not far from us. If this stuff proves true, it’ll be hard to feel bad for the Barners. For the sake of the league and innocent Auburn bystanders I hope it isn’t, but it’s hard to feel bad if it’s true, with Cam’s impressive rap sheet.
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“Innocent” Aubbies? No such animal.
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But does anyone actually see this thing getting resolved mid season? They had all this info preseason and still don’t have an answer. I wouldn’t be surprised if the NCAA lets the season play out and they’ll go back and vacate the wins (if the story is true).
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And here I was thinking Trooper Taylor was a great recruiter this whole time!
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this just gets curiouser and curiouser.
as a UGA fan, AU’s troubles with the NCAA have nothing to do with me. We’ll just have to be ready to dance with whoever shows up in urrrange on Saturday. Me, I think he plays. Why would they pull him now? Unless his mama drops a dime on him and the bishop, and she has it on videotape, I think they try to ride it out. Six more weeks and the Camburglar’s off to the NFL. It’s now or never for Agburn.
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He’ll play until they absolutely can’t play him. The games will be negated regardless, and it’s unlikely they can win without him. They’ll roll the dice and hope nothing is proven. When all of this plays out though I assume he’ll be deemed inelegible and their season vacated. If they find Auburn paid his dad, as I think likley, things will really get interesting.
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It would be weird to suspend your very best player for something that hasn’t been proven true. It would also be odd to suspend your best player for allegations that MIGHT come about. Even if he ends up being suspended for four games.
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If I had a hotshot son that was recruited by Miss St, Tenn, Oklahoma, and Auburn, I’d probably tell the State guys that “It’d take more than a scholarship to get my boy to go to your school” too.
Auburn has not been implicated in any way on this, but State is in a world of doo.
This was not the way things were supposed to be this year…AuBarn was supposed to be the serf to King Nick and his band of Merry Men…We just can’t have this going on,… Auburn on top, can we…? Nip it, Nip it in the bud, Andy!… Who benefits most from Cam Newton not playing, I ask you…could it be Urban Cryer and Saint Nick? I still say something smells in West Vance and Gainesville.
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“If I had a hotshot son that was recruited by Miss St, Tenn, Oklahoma, and Auburn…”
Well said.
My son would probably be a tight end at UGA.
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