Jody Wright with Dan Mullen/Courtesy: Scout.com-via al.com
Because this has now become the "Neverending Story", there are a few people talking Cam Newton today. Because what would a college football day be without it?
However, the story is the biggest story of the moment...and it continues today.
There are a couple of nuggets from today: According to published reports, the FBI spent at least part of the day talking with Mississippi State booster and person who this all started with, Bond, John Bond.
Here is a wrapup of the day's events in this story from the Jackson Clarion-Ledger RIGHT HERE
The other interesting nugget: According to Al.com, the NCAA also spent part of the day speaking with Alabama graduate assistant Jody Wright. Why Wright you ask? Because he was Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen's administrative coaching assistant last season.
This is all very interesting and if I'm Mississippi State, I'd be a bit worried. Whether the Newton's get in trouble or not, it appears...at least on the surface that Mississippi State will. There were some things said that raised more than a few eyebrows and will probably come back to haunt them.
Blame it on impatience or whatever, but they should have waited to bring this up. Remember, the NCAA is a monolith and they don't do anything quickly. Unless it is in their best financial interest to do so.
This story will not wrap up until sometime in the spring. Mark our words. But it will wrap up. And there will be more than one person in trouble. It's just a matter of whom those people will be.
Kevin Scarbinsky's morning column raises some interesting questions about Miss State and their handling of the whole Cameron Newton-to-StarkVegas saga...
And it's the four-letter giving the rope...
Joe Schad's opening paragraph:
Two sources who recruit for Mississippi State said that Cecil Newton and his son, quarterback Cam Newton, admitted in separate phone conversations to a pay-for-play plan while Newton was being recruited late last year.
Only coaches can recruit- legally. If it isn't an MSU coach that is a Schad source, that's an NCAA violation.
Schad's Paragraph 3:
"... one of the recruiters said Cecil Newton told him it would take "more than a scholarship" to bring his son to Mississippi State, a request the source said the school would not meet. Cecil Newton also referred the recruiter to a third person that would provide more specifics, the source said."
From Scarbinsky:
The third person is unidentified, as are the specifics, but the implication is clear in the wake of last week's ESPN story that former Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers was allegedly representing the Newton family and asking for money for him to sign with State.
The implication is that Cecil Newton was working with Kenny Rogers to pimp Cam Newton to the highest bidder. God help the Rev. Newton if that's true.
Item last...
Schad's Paragraph 2:
"Mississippi State compliance officials relayed the alleged conversations to Southeastern Conference compliance officials in January, according to two other sources close to the football program."
SEC associate commissioner Greg Sankey, who oversees conference compliance, said the league received "specific information" regarding the Newton allegation in late July of this year.
"When we get information, we share it with the institution when it is involved," Sankey said.
So, Kevin Scarbinsky has just shot down the lead of Joe Schad's most recent efforts to advance the Cameron Newton story.
Now to ask: Who is withholding information ((or ignoring it))...??? Certainly the four-letter isn't implying that the SEC offices have misremembered when the MSU compliance officials gave them their initial information from investigating.
And, if the SEC had known something was fishy about Cameron Newton as far back as January, then why not pursue it...??? Let Auburn hang themselves...??? Or did Auburn ignore an initial shoulder poke by the conference office about Newton's eligibility and any questions surrounding it...???
AD Jay Jacobs and head coach Gene Chizik just went ahead and said: "To hell with all of you and what you say. We're playing the kid anyway for that all-important Arkansas State game."
And we now have four-letter reporters saying two separate tracks of information. Are we to believe the Schad track or the Forde-Low-Schlabach gambit...???
Or neither...
"This is a character assassination attempt," Cecil Newton told AuburnUndercover.com Tuesday. "Who stands to profit in the smearing and character assassination? Who is going to profit and why are they are going to profit? We sure don't. Any logical thinking individual should stand back and say 'what is really going on here?' "
"I think there is a group of people who have a hidden agenda and don't want to see him as a Heisman nominee, let alone the Heisman winner. All of a sudden, all this starts leaping out of the corner and out of the dark.
"I'm going to use every waking breath in my body to contradict that."
The HQ is showing this again, because frankly, it's too cool not to...
Auburn's Gene Chizik defends Cam Newton
We haven't seen solidarity like this since the dock workers strikes in Poland. There is no truth to the rumor that Lech Walesa is now going to be the Newton's attorney... ((HT: Youtube))
PM UPDATE: Dan Mullen was asked about the Schad-backing of his information in the Cameron Newton saga...
Mullen steered cleared of at least three questions about Newton.
"I'm much more concerned about beating Alabama," Mullen said.
Again on Newton, Mullen answered: "We deal with players on our program that are on our team. Nothing else. That's what we deal with at Mississippi State University."
So, then to follow Schad's identification of sources through logic, it was an MSU coach that told Schad that the academic issues at Florida were coming to the fore as a reason he left...
There are 14 individuals "listed" as coaches currently on the MSU staff. Five of those individuals have ties to schools that were, in one way or another, interested or active in the recruitment of Cameron Newton at one stage or another- three from the University of Florida, one from Auburn, and one from Oklahoma. The other nine coaches are in very short tenure runs, to date, with Mullen and the MSU staff.
Once again, make of the information whatever you like... Jus' puttin' it out there...
Here's Joe Schad's attempt at a late update on the four-letter's flagship news and information program late Tuesday night...
For those of you that don't want to watch the whole thing, the gist of the back-and-forth with SVP is: Two sources who recruit for Mississippi State said that both Cecil and Cam Newton, admitted in separate phone conversations that they would play wherever they could get paid the most for their services.
Mississippi State compliance officials relayed the alleged conversations to the SEC in January, according to two other Schad sources.
From Schad:
After Newton committed to Auburn, another source said an emotional Cam Newton phoned another recruiter to express regret that he wouldn't be going to Mississippi State, stating that his father Cecil had chosen Auburn for him because "the money was too much."
In other posts here at OSG, we have relayed the notion that Florida head coach Urban Meyer has denied being the leak of anything resembling an academic record from Newton's time at the University of Florida.
Sources close to OSG have conveyed that it is a violation of federal law to have those kinds of academic records and/or questions about same exposed to the public. Newton, it is said by some, was up on some sort of academic cheating charges at UF and was set to appear in front of a student-faculty review. He then withdrew from school and transferred to Blinn ((TX)) Junior College.
You know the rest...
Since Newton never did appear, the topic should be irrelevant and/or moot. Meyer may very well deny he was the leak, but it could very well lead to former individuals associated with Meyer who are at other jobs at present- and could still have very close ties to Gainesville.
Make your own conclusion there...
Our same sources relay that since those involved with the academic council on the Florida campus admitted that since the Newton issue never came up and the case never came before them- that can only mean one thing. Someone close to the athletic department, with direct knowledge of the allegation, would have to have been the person who sent material where they deemed fit.
Again, draw your own conclusion as to the "who"... the number of individuals there are very scant in number. And it's a safe bet the same individuals, or associates of those individuals, were the same ones that may have allowed the Newton situation to get out of control at the University of Florida- allowing Newton the opportunity to get in trouble more than once within the same class instead of ceasing the alleged behavior after one report of an academic violation.
TMZ's Sports wing is reporting that the FBI now wants to speak directly with John Bond to determine the answer to the following inquiry:
"We are interested in whether young men are being shopped to colleges."
You'll have to excuse them. The HQ thinks they're just catching up to the realities of college athletics...
Two journalistic issues before we go: Chris Low of the four-letter credits a recent Cecil Newton quote addressing the situation to a visit to the Paul Finebaum Radio Network... problem- it never happened...
It was a two or three-day old sound bite from the beginning of the fray...
The committee could have levied sanctions against Newton that included suspension and expulsion from the university.
“He knew that he was facing a bad outcome,” the source said.
But, once again, the HQ re-emphasizes the committee never saw it. So, technically, it never happened. It's an un-story...
As is 130-percent of all of this to date... although we do like the show of Solidarity by women's hoops coach Nell Fortner ((photo, thanks al.com)) during her media day.
"I think he has represented this university well,'' Fortner said. "At Auburn, this is our athletic family. It's our family, and it's time to step up and it's time for everybody else to start stepping up and say, 'Hey, man... I think this story, it has no legs, and it's just ridiculous that is has gone on this far. So that's my opinion, and I'm just ready to step up and say enough's enough."
Either this is one of the largest frauds perpetuated in recent memory that EVERYONE in Auburn is in on, or point your collective noses toward Starkville for your answers until further notice...
The more this story plays out, the more it just doesn't sound or feel right. The allegation...that Auburn Quarterback Cam Newton had someone shopping him around to SEC schools; the puzzle pieces don't fit.
We don't discount reports that alleged player recruiter Kenny Rogers (no, not the gambler) made a call to his old friend at Mississippi State, John Bond and that Newton came up. However, Rogers vehemently denies it.
As for Auburn, OSG Sources with knowledge of their internal investigation tell us "Auburn is not involved in any of this". "We have know reason to believe that there is any problem with Cam and his eligibility"
For some background on the the high standing the Newton family is held, read this story from AJC.com RIGHT HERE
The other strange twist here, Urban Meyer's name is being brought up as the "Source" for the original ESPN.com story. Allegedly, it came from a rumored conversation between Bond, Miss. St. Head Coach and Meyer disciple Dan Mullen and Meyer. Supposedly, Bond and Mullen made Meyer aware of the Rogers offer and told him they reported it to the SEC. Meyer...allegedly was furious and supposedly said he'd make sure the illegal recruiting got out in the media.
We don't buy that. We can't however rule it out. Why would Meyer do that? The only reason that makes any sense is if Florida got somehow to the SEC Championship game and faced Auburn that he wouldn't want to face Newton, but that doesn't make sense either...does it?
Here is some more background from AL.com RIGHT HERE
No, here is what we think happened. Rogers...for whatever reason made the call. We have no reason to believe that Bond is making that up. Rogers, we believe is a part of the sorted underbelly of college recruiting that we've discussed so frequently. He'll get his.
We think the victim in all of this is Newton. Could we be wrong? Sure. Would it be possible that he shopped himself to schools? Yeah. Do we think it happened this time? No. In fact. As of right now, no rules, at all...have been broken. There is no indication....anywhere that Mississippi State did anything wrong. There is no indication....anywhere....that Auburn did anything wrong. And there is no indication...anywhere that Cam Newton...or anyone in his family did anything wrong.
Here is some sound with Newton after Auburn's homecoming game against Chattanooga.....Again...much thanks to Al.com/The Birmingham News:
