Former Auburn Tigers quarterback Cam Newton led Auburn to a national title in 2010 against the Oregon Ducks. They had a 14-0 overall record that season and an 8-0 SEC Conference record that season as well.
During the 2010 season, Auburn had a big deficit against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Iron Bowl before the Tigers stormed back and won the game. Newton that season won the Heisman Trophy. Where does he rank amongst the top college football players over the last 25 years?
Former Auburn Tigers Quarterback Cam Newton Ranks Number 1 In Top 25 College Football Players List Over Last 25 Years
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic created a big list of the top 25 players in the college football landscape over the last 25 years. A lot of quarterbacks made this list, but there was a major surprise at who was at the top. The former Tigers quarterback was ranked the number one college football player over the last 25 years. Feldman said,
“He was college football’s Superman. He spent only one year at Auburn, transferring from Blinn College in Texas after starting his career at Florida, but it was the most remarkable single season by a major college quarterback in the history of the sport — enough to put him atop this list.
The towering 6-5, 250-pound Newton ran through the hardest conference in college football, leading the Tigers to a 14-0 record. The most remarkable detail of Newton’s dominance that year was he led Gene Chizik’s Auburn squad — ranked No. 23 in the preseason — to a perfect record and did it shouldering a load unlike any other national champion QB we’ve ever seen. He didn’t have a single skill player drafted. Only tackles Brandon Mosley (fourth round) and Lee Ziemba (seventh round) were picked on the O-line. The entire starting defense had only two players drafted.
“He played with nobody,” Bucky Brooks said. “He was just a force of nature.”
In his first game with the Tigers, Newton set an Auburn QB rushing record with 171 yards against Arkansas State. He ran for over 170 yards in five of the Tigers’ first seven games. In the Iron Bowl against Alabama, Newton carried the Tigers to a 28-27 victory in Tuscaloosa after being in a 24-0 hole. In the SEC title game rout of South Carolina, he threw four touchdown passes and ran for two more, accounting for 408 yards.”
Before Newton arrived at Auburn, they had an 8-5 record. The year after he left the Tigers, they had an 8-5 record as well. Newton because of his performance was able to be the number one overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers.
His stats were as follows:
FBS career: 2,908 yards, 65.4%, 30 TDs, 7 INTs, 178.2 rating; 285 rushes, 1,586 yards, 24 TDs
Best season: 2010; 2,854 yards, 66.1%, 30 TDs, 7 INTs, 182.0 rating; 264 rushes, 1,473 yards, 20 TDs
It is interesting that the former Auburn quarterback was ranked number one on this list. Yes, he may have carried an average Tigers football team, but was he really better than Tim Tebow of the Florida Gators, Vince Young of the Texas Longhorns, or Joe Burrow of the LSU Tigers? That is up for debate for sure, but what isn’t debatable is that Newton was one of the top quarterbacks in college football over the last 25 years.
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