Auburn football coaches delivered in their desire to name a No. 1 quarterback soon after spring practice, tabbing the candidate who has been on campus the least amount of time.
Cam Newton, who led Blinn (Texas) Community College to the national championship last season and enrolled at Auburn in January, has been pegged ahead of senior Neil Caudle, sophomore Barrett Trotter and redshirt freshman Clint Moseley. Newton, a 6-foot-6, 247-pound junior from the Atlanta suburb of College Park, signed with Florida in 2007 and scored three touchdowns as a freshman before redshirting in ’08.
“We’re always looking for guys who obviously can be great managers of our offense, and we thought Cameron did a really, really nice job,” Tigers coach Gene Chizik said Thursday. “He was the only one who was new to the offense, but we just felt like the way he grasped the offense, the way he took charge of it and his leadership abilities really came out and spoke to us well in our 15 days of spring practice. He brings a little different element to the table when it comes to escapability, and he brings a little different element to the table when it comes to the run game.
“We felt like if we were to play tomorrow, he would give us the best chance to win.”
Newton was arrested in Gainesville in November 2008 by campus police, who claimed he stole a $1,700 laptop and tossed it out his dorm window when officers arrived. Charges were dropped when Newton completed an intervention program for first-time offenders.