The right name got called last night at the Heisman Trophy Presentation. That name was Auburn quarterback Cam Newton's.
If you have been following sports for the past few months, you've heard the rumors. In early November, Mississippi State University claimed that Cam's father Cecil Newton wanted $100,000 to $180,000 from the university to get his son to transfer and become a MSU Bulldog. After these rumors - and that is currently all they are right now, rumors - stories sprouted up from all over the place, one about the time he was arrested when a stolen laptop was found in his possession while he was at the University of Florida, which he claimed he bought (charges were later dropped after he completed an intervention program for first offenders), and then another story about how he was caught cheating three times at Florida and was facing expulsion from the school, before transferring to Blinn College, a junior college in Texas, back in January 2009. Everywhere there were stories claiming that Cam Newton did this, Cam Newton did that, all of the hatred coming at this 21 year old kid, as if he had killed somebody.
It's a problem we face in society a lot today. If someone starts to do well in life, we don't try to find the good things about them, we too often try to find the bad, waiting for people to slip up so that we can focus on one mistake as opposed to all of the smart decisions that person has made. Tabloid magazines, tabloid television shows, newspapers are always watching and waiting for a slip-up that will make big news. Cam Newton certainly seems to be no angel whether or not the allegations against him and his father are proved true, but that does not mean he needs to be treated like a pariah.
Thankfully, the Heisman voters agreed. Newton received 729 first place votes (78.7% of all first place votes), and his 2,263 points were more than twice the amount of runner-up Andrew Luck's point total, the 11th largest difference in the history of the award.
The 6'6" 250 pound Newton had 3,998 total yards this year, and 49 total touchdowns (28 passing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzjcvJGWx_M&feature=related), 20 rushing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOi2hj_sjyY) and of course you can't forget about the 1 receiving TD, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpGLwwAP2e8) and despite the fact that he's ranked 15th in rushing, among both quarterbacks AND running backs, his arm is as good as his legs, as he led college football in passing efficiency this year. The man who alone outscored entire offenses this year, Newton led his Auburn Tigers to a 12-0 record, the #1 spot in the rankings currently, and a national championship bid. If that doesn't spell out top player, I'm not sure what does.
And isn't that what the Heisman trophy is for? The top player in college football? You constantly hear people spewing all of these arguments that college award winners need to be outstanding citizens as well as athletes and that is all fine and dandy, but the main reason we have this award is so that the best college football player in the country can be recognized. Not the good football players who have the best GPAs and do the most community service; we have Academic All-Americans, Lowe's Senior CLASS Awards and numerous other awards with great sponsors for those guys. There is one qualification for winning the Heisman Trophy: being the best college football player in football, plain and simple.
Of course, there is the argument that it needs to be won fairly. It is a valid point. The NCAA rules and regulations - which at this rate will soon be penalizing things like talking to strangers and not looking both ways before you cross the street - are laid out and whether players know them all or not, they have to follow them, or else they cannot be an NCAA athlete. But, the important thing to remember here, is that there have only been allegations against Cam Newton, no proof or evidence of any wrongdoing in taking money from MSU yet. When the Heisman voters cast their ballot, they needed to see Cam Newton as an eligible NCAA athlete, who has done no wrongs to prevent him from being eligible.
So yeah, the stories about Cam Newton might be true. Right now there is certainly no way of knowing. The only evidence is that college recruiting tends to be a dirty, dirty business and it is unlikely that Mississippi State would make up such a terrible, damning story just to ruin this young man's reputation, and that is not much evidence at all. Therefore, voting based off of speculation like this, does not make sense when you could vote based off of the cold hard fact that Newton was the best college football player this year.
Maybe one day all of the college sports purists will get their way, and the Mississippi State story will be proved true, but until that day comes, Cam Newton will deservedly be known as the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner.
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