This will be fun to follow...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5765214

quote:

---

"He said it would take some cash to get Cam," Bond said. "I called our athletic director, Greg Byrne, and he took it from there. That was pretty much it."

---

I know what he meant by that, but seeing as how we're talking about the SEC, it's just as easy to read it the other way.

i cant believe OU got out bid but then again the sec is on whole other level...

OU didn't have a starting spot for Newton to walk into. You don't pay that kind of money for a guy to sit on the bench. Even the Sooners know this.

quote:

---

Cam Newton was bought by Auburn

---

No proof of that. Auburn has stated that Cam is eligible. If Cam is ruled ineligible in the future, then Auburn would have to forfeit all the games he played in. For the season they are having, I doubt they risk playing him if they knew he was ineligible.....or they plan to bury all the witnesses.

That must have been a lot of those Chizik commerative coins!

At least Auburn is getting their money's worth.

quote:

---

For the season they are having, I doubt they risk playing him if they knew he was ineligible.....or they plan to bury all the witnesses.

---

I think we can all spot the flaw in this logic.

quote:

---

For the season they are having, I doubt they risk playing him if they knew he was ineligible.....or they plan to bury all the witnesses.

---

Or since he's played every game so far, they're "all in" with him. Might as well ride it out and take their chances on the NCAA actually finding something concrete.

My point was this...

quote:

---

* By playing Newton, Auburn officials have shown that they clearly believe no one associated with the Tiger athletic department paid or promised to pay anything to Rogers or the Newton family. Auburn has risked a season of forfeitures by putting the young man on the field. They wouldn’t have done that if they believed his eligibility was in any real jeopardy. (They’ll look awfully stupid if they were wrong.)

---

However, there's always this..

quote:

---

...it’s impossible for Auburn to track the phone records of all the former Tiger players and current Tiger boosters. Rogers called his former teammate Bond when it came to Mississippi State. He didn’t call the president of the university. It’s likely that if Rogers did solicit cash from Auburn, he approached an interested party outside the Tiger athletic department. If someone acting on behalf of Auburn made a payment for Newton, then AU and its quarterback are still in for a serious spanking from the NCAA.

---

http://www.mrsec.com/2010/11/morning-newton-night-the-latest-on-auburns-qb/

Great gif from LSUfreek

I think the more immediate issue is whether or not Newton had some kind of pseudo-agent to broker the deal. Not so much what Auburn did.

Newton could still be punished this season. Probably not Auburn until an NCAA investigation is complete.

Agree with W. If there is any link established between Rogers and Newton, Newton is toast and so will AU eventually as at a minimum they'll end up forfeiting games - whether they ever paid him or not.

[This message has been edited by Danny Duberstein (edited 11/5/2010 1:00p).]

Of course, this could be a bunch of smoke from a guy who may have been spurned by the Newton family. If you look at people Newton may have ticked off with his decision to go to Auburn over MSU, the guy making the accusations is right up there on the list.

One thing the Newtons have going for them is that their lifestyle hasn't changed...unlike the Bush situation there are no new cars, nice houses, etc...even the dad's church that was in dire need of repair wasn't benefited from any sort of contribution.

quote:

---

By playing Newton, Auburn officials have shown that they clearly believe no one associated with the Tiger athletic department paid or promised to pay anything to Rogers or the Newton family.

---

this makes so little gd sense that it literally angers me

85, the church somehow came up with $50,000 for renovations in 2009 to bring the building up to code. No one is saying where that money came from.

In fact churches are excellent ways to, uh, direct or funnel money to individuals. And of course Newton does have a checkered past. Plus one way to rationalize doing something wrong is to let the church benefit as well.

At this point who knows what exactly happened, but it's definitely a plausible scenario.

quote:

---

this makes so little gd sense that it literally angers me

---

+1

Another great one from LSUFreek.

yep, the church being the beneficiary of some cash for the renovations is certainly plausible. Not to be a skeptical ass, but Newton certainly did himself no favors by leaving Florida under the circumstances he did. Maybe it's not fair, but when you have done something shady in the past and another potentially shady act comes into question, you have yourself to thank for giving it legs.