On Thursday night, Cam Newton won the Walter Camp Player of the Year award for being the best college football player for the 2010 season. With the Heisman Trophy presentation coming up tomorrow night, there are two ways to look at the award.
This could be the precursor to the Heisman Trophy presentation to Cam Newton, that he is more than deserving of, for being the best player on the field for any team in 2010. On the other side of the fence, this could be the NCAA acknowledging Cam Newton's amazing season but not allowing him to win the Heisman based on all of the off the field allegations that have not been proven to be true yet. The story so far states that Newton'w father, who has already said he will not attend the Heisman Trophy presentation to not be a distraction, was shopping Cam around to agents without Newton's knowledge of the incidents. In an attempt to prevent what happened with Reggie Bush, the Heisman Trust and the voters may not want to have a similar situation occur with Cam Newton winning the Heisman only to have to vacate it if later found guilty of any misconduct.
Running The Numbers
Regardless of the alleged off the field incidents, Cam Newton defines the Heisman Trophy this season as being the best player on the field, as shown by his achievement of the Walter Camp Award.
Cam has 2,589 passing yards and 28 touchdowns this season. Although he has the least amount of passing yards between the three quarterbacks in the running for the Heisman, Newton has thrown the same amount of touchdowns as Andrew Luck and only has 5 less than Kellen Moore. Cam also has the highest passer rating of the three (188.2)
What Newton does have over both quarterbacks is his 1409 rushing yards (only 273 yards less than full-time running back LaMichael James) and 20 rushing touchdowns (only 1 less than James). Giving Cam Newton a total of 3,998 combined yards and 48 touchdowns. The man is two drives short of 4,000+ total yards and 50 touchdowns (which by the way, he will finish with both after the BCS national championship because bowl game stats count in college).
If Cam Newton doesn't win the Heisman trophy with his posted numbers against his three opponents in the race, then we will all know that the voters and Heisman Trust did not base anything on his performance and simply did not want to make the same mistake they made with Reggie Bush. This kid has not been found of any wrongdoing and allegations alone should not effect the voters decisions. All I can say is, Cam Newton for Heisman!
Well congrats to him, great news!