Minutes after Auburn’s 56-17 dismantling of South Carolina in the 2010 Southeastern Conference championship game, flabbergasted Tigers coach Gene Chizik searched for words to describe the person sitting next to him.
Auburn quarterback Cam Newton had just torched the Gamecocks for four passing touchdowns and two rushing scores, and he would win the Heisman Trophy the next week in a landslide.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Chizik said. “It’s running the ball. It’s throwing the ball. Usually great quarterbacks do one or the other better, but what God has blessed Cameron with is the ability to be really, really good at both.”
Five weeks later, Chizik was holding up the BCS title trophy in Glendale, Ariz. Alongside him this time was tailback Michael Dyer, the game’s offensive MVP.
Newton and Dyer were members of Auburn’s 2010 signing class, which needed no time to impact the SEC and was not alone in that regard. Tailback Marcus Lattimore led South Carolina to its first East Division title, versatile Trey Burton had six touchdowns in a game for Florida, and cornerback Tyrann Mathieu aided LSU’s stout defense with 57 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and two interceptions.