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NFL draft prospect Cam Newton, right, looks to throw a pass as trainer George Whitfield, Jr., left, looks on during a football workout Thursday in San Diego.
AP PHOTO
SAN DIEGO — Enjoying the San Diego sunshine and saying that he’s “shooting for greatness,” Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton gave the media a glimpse of the workouts he’s going through daily as he prepares for the NFL combine and draft.
Wearing gray shorts, a black long-sleeve T-shirt and orange cleats, Newton did agility drills and then threw passes to a handful of receivers for nearly 45 minutes at a suburban high school on Thursday.
Newton has been in San Diego since late January, working six days a week with quarterbacks coach George Whitfield Jr. and receiving advice from Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon.
While his passes looked crisp, there’s a lot for Newton to work on. Chief among them is taking snaps from under center. He often took snaps in the shotgun formation as he ran the spread offense at Auburn, which he led to the BCS national title.
He said he’s working on “the whole grand scheme of playing quarterback in the NFL. A lot of times I probably can count on one hand the times I took a snap from under center in one game. But now it depends what scheme you go into, but at the same time you have to be able to get a snap from under center and be fluent at it. That’s one of the first things we tried to tackle.”
Asked if he was surprised some people don’t think his skills won’t translate to the NFL, he replied: “That’s the competitor that I am. I won’t be surprised — I’m making that leap right now — until I’m a Super Bowl champion. That’s what I’m going for from Day One, reaching for greatness. The supporting cast that I have is pushing me to be great, I’m pushing myself to be great and I demand greatness for myself. So coming in the door, working out every single day, I’m shooting for greatness.”
Whitfield said the session was “a snapshot of his training. He’s been working really hard at this. He is an excitable kid. He’s been pumped for this.”
Whitfield worked with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during his four-game suspension.
While Whitfield is Newton’s coach, Moon described his role as a mentor.
“But if I see something that I can help him improve on, I’m going to do that,” Moon said.
During the session, Moon picked up on something and told Newton.
Trent Dilfer, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback who’s now a TV analyst, gushed about Newton’s workout.
“I couldn’t be more impressed. For one, I think this whole thing is genius,” Dilfer said of the workout in front of the media. “People are knocking it. I think it’s brilliant.
“He is a special talent,” Dilfer said. “He’s uniquely gifted. To be this much of a puppy, I mean, he hasn’t played a lot of true quarterback in his life; to be this refined mechanically, you don’t see this very often. This is the top of the top of the top. That’s what you’re looking at.”