Caylin Newton Hopes to Follow in Brother Cam's Footsteps at Auburn
It’s been nearly a decade since Cam Newton spent his one year on the campus of Auburn and led them to a national title. The fans of War Eagle watched as their quarterback, who transferred after two years at Florida, threw for 2,854 yards with 30 touchdowns and seven interceptions while adding 1,473 yards plus 20 scores on the ground, win the Heisman Trophy in 2010. He even added two catches for 42 yards and a score on the year as Auburn went 14-0 and eventually defeated Oregon 22-19 in the BCS National Championship Game. Newton then went first overall in the 2011 NFL Draft to the Carolina Panthers.
Fans of Auburn are hoping that lightning can strike twice in the same place.
Caylin Newton, the younger brother of Cam, announced on Friday that he was going to transfer to Auburn. He spent the last two seasons at Howard and is eligible to play immediately. Newton had announced his intention to transfer last October and to join a new program after graduating from the school this month. After redshirting last season, he still has two years of eligibility to work with at Auburn, giving him a little more flexibility than Cam had when he joined the program.
It’s clear that Caylin Newton has some work to do in the accuracy department as a quarterback. In his career, he has completed only 51 percent (354 of 694) of his passes for 5,876 yards with 41 touchdown passes and 32 interceptions. Newton also hasn’t been as effective as a runner as Cam was. He has run 380 times for 1,318 yards and 17 scores: only five of his touchdowns have come since his breakout freshman campaign. Newton was the Mid-East Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year in 2017 after he completed 50.6 percent of his passes for 2,432 yards with 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He added 166 carries for 753 yards and 12 scores on the ground that year. In 2018, he connected on 51.3 percent of his throws for 2,629 yards with 22 touchdowns and 17 picks while adding 156 carries for 504 yards and four scores in 10 games. For his efforts, he earned the MEAC Offensive Player of the Year.
Last season, Newton played in just four games before taking the redshirt to preserve a season of eligibility. He completed 65 of 127 passes for 815 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions while adding 58 carries for 61 yards and a score. How he will fit in with Auburn is something that is going to remain to be seen until the actual season begins. The Tigers have a quarterback in the fold already as Bo Nix, who took the starting job as a freshman last year, is back once again. Nix completed 217 of 377 passes for 2,542 yards with 16 touchdowns against six interceptions while adding 97 carries for 313 yards and seven scores on the ground. He led Auburn to a 9-4 record, highlighted by wins over Oregon in the final minute of his first college start, and Alabama in the Iron Bowl.
It will be interesting to see if Newton can live up to even a fraction of what his brother did playing for Auburn. The expectations and the hype are real. Seeing how he had his struggles playing in the FCS, it could be a major challenge to try and improve his game at the FBS level, let alone playing in a power conference like the SEC. Throw in that he’s going to have to beat out Nix in order to earn a starting job and the shadow that Cam Newton leaves looming over him and it’s going to be tough sledding. Newton will have to dig deep and show that he’s capable of making things happen or he’ll quickly fall into anonymity, if not obscurity, at Auburn.