Auburn’s Cam Newton is the best player to ever grace the Southeastern Conference. Heresy, I know, coming from the league of Herschel and Bo. And hypocritical, sure, one year after Superman left the building. But Newton has become something no one thought possible. A combination of all three. Gene Chizik has been fighting it all season. The Auburn coach gives in to hyperbole as often as Bill Belichick cracks a smile. However, after his quarterback threw for almost 300 first-half yards in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game, accounted for six touchdowns and generally looked like one of those Electric Football players that spins ’round and ’round but never goes down, he had this to say: “I can say this – well, we have one game left, so he can’t get too big of a head with one game left – but he’s probably the best football player I’ve ever seen,” Chizik said. Chizik saw first-hand Vince Young at his absolute best at Texas (before he became better at shoulder-pad tossing). He didn’t face Tim Tebow, but he must have seen the highlights. He was at Florida during the early 1980s, so he knew what Herschel and Bo could do.
“If you look over a 13-game span, I’ve never seen anything like it, to be honest with you,” Chizik said. “It’s running the ball. It’s throwing the ball.” Newton is the only SEC player to ever run for 1,000 yards and throw for 2,000 in a single season. He’s accounted for 49 touchdowns, good for second all-time. — Huntsville Times