Report: Newton’s cheating at UF led to transfer

By Adam Silverstein
November 9, 2010

The departure of now-Auburn Tigers quarterback Cameron Newton from the University of Florida in the spring of 2009 has always been somewhat of a mystery with different sides relaying their own version of the events. Did Newton decide to transfer because Heisman Trophy winning QB Tim Tebow returned for his senior season (as his family contends), because Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer chose QB John Brantley as Tebow’s heir apparent, or was he dismissed due to complications surrounding the theft of a laptop in Nov. 2008?

A report Tuesday from Thayer Evans of FOX Sports sheds light on the decision, revealing that Newton “had three different instances of academic cheating” at UF and even “faced potential expulsion from the university.”

A source told Evans that Newton cheated during a class his freshman year, turned in another student’s work after writing his name on it in the fall of 2008, and then purchased a paper off the Internet which he submitted as a replacement to the same professor who caught him for the previous indiscretion. The latter two occurrences of cheating allegedly came after Newton had been arrested for theft of the laptop.

“Newton was to appear for a hearing in front of Florida’s Student Conduct Committee during the spring semester of 2009, but instead transferred to Blinn College,” reports Evans. “The committee could have levied sanctions against Newton that included suspension and expulsion from the university.”

Less than a week ago, ESPN reported that Kenny Rogers, a man claiming to represent the Newton family, sought $180,000 from Mississippi State in exchange for Newton’s college commitment as he reentered Division I athletics after playing his transfer season at Blinn College. The NCAA has been looking into the allegations, brought to light by former MSU QB John Bond, since July.

Photo Credit: Getty Images
 

13 Comments

  1. Gatorbuc15 says:

    Bad things are starting to pile up on Cam’s doorstep.

  2. O-town Gator says:

    Again I have reason for doubt seeing this comes from a “source”; however, if indeed this was true Urban would have dismissed Newton from the team immediately – this would have been a violation of the core value Honesty meaning no lying or cheating.

  3. John S says:

    If true, that might explain the Blinn college choice. Makes you all the more grateful for Tebow and Wuerffel.

  4. Basshole says:

    Great, just more fodder for people to blame Cam’s mess on Meyer. I would think that this information is coming out due to the NCAA investigation, but AU fans will say it is just Meyer trying to ruin their great season.

  5. Mr2Bits says:

    Nice….doesn’t sound very smart. He should have paid someone to write his papers from the start. Thats the way to go.

  6. zurbo says:

    mr2bits is right on the money

  7. bostonr says:

    ha! [name deleted]. funny story. i was a grad assistant teaching a class at UF and ended up writing [name deleted] up for cheating. he and another player taking different sections of the course turned in identical papers. this was the year before anyone really knew who [name deleted] was. story ended up being that the other teammate had copied his paper off of a shared computer without [name deleted]’s knowledge. i was inclined to believe [name deleted] as he did exceedingly well in all other aspects of the course and was clearly in shock about the paper. i dropped filing the cheating for [name deleted]…which i feel very confident that it was the right decision. i don’t remember the other player, but i think he broke his arm on a goal line play the following season and disappeared. the truth about the way the university handles cheating (at least back then) was the professor had discretion on how it affected grade and it was filed with a warning in their personal file. second time was a possible suspension. third the student faced expulsion. so, it seems that it was fairly lenient. if cam got to the third strike on top of the laptop incident, he’s quite fortunate to be where he is now.

    • bostonr- FYI, I had to delete the name of the person you discussed in the above comment as it could be considered slander. Thank you for sharing (which is why I left your comment), but I hope you understand why I had to make the minimal edits.

  8. bostonr says:

    it’s fine with me. it’s your blog. i tried to make it quite clear that [name deleted] was innocent. slander would be a false statement, however.

    keep up the good work.

  9. Drew 4 Orange & Blue says:

    When your running away with the Heisman the spotlight gets really bright and in Cam’s case it’s finding more and more….without proof on the pay for play this will probably just cast a shadow on Auburn’s season and will just be fuel for all the rivals who will know he’s guilty….just like all our rivals know Pouncey took money before our bowl game regardless of no proof

  10. npgator says:

    I find it funny how some of these anti – Gator clowns blame Urban and Uf for this story! Remeber that the same people blame Urban Meyer for everything under the sun and as long as Florida is Florida this will continue. Just remeber that is can be lonely at the top.

  11. O-town Gator says:

    NP; it’s clear that somebody has it out for Urban and will stop at nothing short of doing all they can possibly do to bring him down.

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