Auburn to retire Cam Newton's jersey during Georgia game

Auburn to retire Cam Newton's jersey during Georgia game originally appeared on The Sporting News

Auburn University announced Monday morning that it will be retiring the No. 2 jersey of former Heisman winner Cam Newton.

Newton will be the fourth player in the school’s history to have his jersey retired. The other three are former Heisman winners Bo Jackson and Pat Sullivan, and former wide receiver Terry Beasley.

Newton not only won the Heisman but led the Tigers to a national championship that same year.

The ceremony will take place at halftime of the Georgia game, which will be held on October 11. It’s interesting to note that the school did not decide to retire his jersey during the Iron Bowl against Alabama. The Tigers host the Tide in their traditional rivalry matchup on Thanksgiving weekend. 

One of Newton’s biggest games and largest comebacks was the 2010 Iron Bowl when he brought the Tigers back from a 24-3 deficit to win, 28-27.

A lot of college football experts, including Bruce Feldman, say to this day that Newton was the best college player he’s ever seen. 

“As I wrote earlier this summer Cam Newton is the best college player I’ve ever seen in all my time covering the sport. 

I’ve never seen a player put an entire team on his back like he did in 2010, carrying the Tigers to the national title.”

Newton’s journey to Auburn became headline news. He started out at the University of Florida, left, and then attended junior college before ultimately enrolling at Auburn. Along the way, there were accusations of illegal payments and cheating by both Mississippi State and Auburn, who were both recruiting him at the time, but nothing came of it.

In his only year at Auburn, Newton passed for nearly 3,000 yards and ran for nearly 1500 yards. The most impressive stat that season was that Newton had 50 touchdowns, 30 passing, and 20 rushing.