Auburn has produced many outstanding football players over the years, but few have matched the accolades and impact of former quarterback.
Despite playing only one season in Auburn’s orange and blue, Newton made history by guiding the Tigers to their first national title since 1957, beating the Oregon Ducks in the 2010 BCS National Championship in Scottsdale, Arizona. During that unforgettable season, he claimed several top honors, including the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Award, the Davey O’Brien Award, and was named the AP College Football Player of the Year.
Following his historic college campaign, Newton was selected as the first overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers. Over his nine seasons with the team, he led them to a Super Bowl appearance in 2015 and earned both NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year honors that same season.
Thanks to his extraordinary performance at Auburn, Newton was recently ranked as the No. 1 college football player of all time by Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.
“Cam Newton was college football’s Superman,” Feldman wrote. “He played just one season at Auburn after transferring from Blinn College — where he landed after starting at Florida — but it was arguably the most impressive season ever by a major college quarterback.
“Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing 250 pounds, Newton dominated the toughest conference in the country and carried Auburn to a perfect 14-0 record. Perhaps most impressive was that he did so without a single skill-position teammate being drafted. Only two offensive linemen — Brandon Mosley and Lee Ziemba — were selected, and just two players from the starting defense were picked in the draft. Yet, Newton still led a preseason No. 23 team to a national title, bearing a workload unlike any other national championship quarterback in history.”