Former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton has revealed shocking details about the 'pay for play' scandal that occurred during his one season with the Tigers.
During an interview with Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay , Newton shared details about the scandal that almost ended his historic Heisman season at Auburn. He opened up about how Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen resented Newton for his decision to sign with the Tigers over the Bulldogs.
“If you really go back and you know the reports, two sources said that Cam Newton and his father took money to go to Auburn,” Newton said . “Those two sources were Dan Mullen and his wife Megan. How do we get to that? I’ll tell you. The day I was going to commit to Auburn out of junior college, it was neck and neck... Mississippi State and Auburn. When I went to Auburn, as my mental was solely focused on success. I was trying to play catchup (at Florida) … When I went to Auburn, they mentioned that they will have 22 seniors coming back.
“Mississippi State probably only had three to four. These are all different things as a 20-year-old college player and a 16- or 17-year-old kid. You don’t think that’s a big thing, but it really is. My whole determining factor was that I wanted to go to a school that could get me to a BCS game.”
Newton pointed to an awkward encounter with Mullen and his wife after Auburn defeated Mississippi State in Week 2 of the 2010 season. He noted that the accusations were reported by the NCAA only two weeks after the Tigers defeated the Bulldogs.
“So fast forward to the success going on at Auburn,” Newton continued. “At the end of the game, I looked at him, and I wanted to shake his hand and say, ‘Coach, man, I appreciate you, man, Thank you.' And it was a little iffy though. We spoke; condolences, man, and good luck for the rest of the year. The report came two weeks after that, and if you remember, it was two sources. It was Dan Mullen and his wife that created all this ruckus. Cam and his dad, they took money."
Mullen served as the offensive coordinator at Florida, where Newton started his career before transferring to Blinn College.
“I was having an out-of-body experience,” Newton said. “I surprised myself with the measure of focus that I had to go through, and still, that’s what brought my family closer. Because even though I know, even though I knew, still to this day, nobody took money from them. That was just a grenade thrown into the crowd [from a] bitter person. He didn’t come to my school. So he had to have [taken] some money to go to that school because we had already had a relationship.
“But I was thinking to myself, you didn’t play me while I was at Florida. These are all things that I’m saying, like, I’ve seen your true self, right? I didn’t want to get burned twice.”
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