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Governing body of college sports determines his father broke rules, but without Auburn QB’s knowledge.
NCAA says Cam Newton is eligibly to play the SEC title game.
AP FILE PHOTO
AUBURN, Ala. — The NCAA has determined that the father of Auburn quarterback Cam Newton broke rules by shopping his son to Mississippi State, but that the overwhelming Heisman Trophy favorite apparently didn’t know about it.
The college sports governing body said Wednesday that Newton is eligible to play for the second-ranked Tigers in the Southeastern Conference championship game against South Carolina on Saturday.
The NCAA had concluded on Monday that a violation of Newton’s amateur status had occurred. A day later, Auburn declared Newton ineligible and requested his eligibility be reinstated.
The Heisman front-runner now has been cleared to compete without conditions with his team a win away from playing for a BCS title.
“Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn was aware of this activity, which led to his reinstatement,” Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs, said in a news release.
“From a student-athlete reinstatement perspective, Auburn University met its obligation under NCAA bylaw 14.11.1. Under this threshold, the student-athlete has not participated while ineligible.”
The NCAA won’t say its case is closed on Newton. However, its statement notes that reinstatement likely occurs “prior to the close of an investigation.”
It’s at least a temporary alleviation of fears that Auburn’s 12 wins so far — and any titles won — would wind up being vacated if the NCAA found that Newton had been ineligible because of violations committed before signing with the Tigers last New Year’s Eve.
The NCAA became involved over the summer in the pay-for-play scheme that was discussed during Newton’s recruitment. Two Mississippi State boosters have accused Cecil Newton and former Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers of trying to get up to $180,000 for Cam Newton to play for the Bulldogs while he was being recruited out of junior college last year.
The NCAA said Wednesday that Auburn and NCAA enforcement staff agreed that Newton’s father and an owner of a scouting service worked together on the scam. The NCAA did not name Rogers.
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