Cam Newton: ‘I’m an African-American QB that scares people’

There’s no doubt which team Auburn grad Charles Barkley is picking in next Sunday’s Super Bowl 50 – the Carolina Panthers led by quarterback Cam Newton, this year’s MVP and former Auburn Heisman Trophy victor. “You could find Cam hanging out with the little kids, having a good time”. But when I said it then, ‘Oh, he’s immature, he’s young, he’s this, that, and the third.’ I felt a certain type of way then, I feel the same type of way now. Do you think some are starting to accept that this is who you are? What did you do?

“But there is a racial component, to be honest with you, Dan, and I hate that”.

While Newton has chose to bite his tongue on calling out those who question him, he did share a theory on why some question him. He came in his rookie year and had a dynamic year, NFL Rookie of the Year… he’s been in conversations every year for awards.

And, by the way, he’s black. “I said since day one, I’m an African-American quarterback that may scare a lot of people because they haven’t seen nothing that they can compare me to”. Football is what got me here, and the movie, it wasn’t me. And there I was, doing exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it, and when I look in the mirror, it’s me.

“People are going to judge, and have opinions on things I don’t have control over”, Newton said.

Newton has addressed critics of his on-field antics and their perception of him due to his race. Want and need are two big different words and that’s what I used in that text, along with other words and expletives before the need.

“I think he has always strived to have that separation”, Rivera said. “I’m kind of in the same boat. It really should be about your merit more than anything else, what you’ve accomplished and what you’ve done”.

“That’s who he is”, Rivera said. And he better be because in the 2-week buildup to the Super Bowl.

“I said that prior to me being in this (Super Bowl) situation”, Newton said. “If you aren’t enjoying yourself, don’t play the game -it’s that simple”.

“He’s got everything. He’s got a work ethic, he’s just a great competitor, he’s very coachable, he can run, he can make all the throws”.

“I think Cam is mature enough, he knows what he’s up against”.

While they may believe they have good reason to be, most people around the National Football League completely disagree. Last year, one woman wrote a letter to a local newspaper saying she was concerned Newton’s “chest puffs” and “pelvic thrusts” would corrupt her daughter. That’s what drives him.

“You figure in this time and day and age it would be more about who he is as an athlete and a person more than anything else”, he said.