Last night on Fox Sports South and other FSN affiliates in the SEC footprint, embattled Auburn quarterback Cam Newton talked with former Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch, however, this was apparently before the news broke regarding pay for play allegations. The show did not shy away as the hosts all talked about the subject. Here’s the quotage.
SEC GRIDIRON LIVE: WEEK ELEVENExclusive Interview with Cam NewtonOur quarterback, Tim Couch, got a chance to spend some time with Auburn quarterback Cam Newton to discuss his amazing season on the football field thus farTim Couch – “Tell me a little bit about how you’re handling all of this – the expectations, all the media hype. How do you go about handling all of that?”Cam Newton – “For me I think I have a lot of people on my side that have my best interests (at heart). From the coaches to my family to my friends, everybody’s in it for me. They’re keeping me grounded on a day-to-day basis. They tell me what I need to focus on, not what the media’s expecting me to do.”Tim Couch – “Tell us about what you learned in junior college – how did that help you as a person, as a player?”Cam Newton – “God works in mysterious ways. I’m a competitive person and all I wanted to do since I stepped foot on any campus, from Blinn or Auburn, is to win football games. Some of them may be games that you win by a lot; some of them may be games that you win by a little. But that’s what you sign up for, especially in a conference like this.”Tim Couch – “Your teammates look for you week in and week out, no matter who you’re playing. They feel like they have a chance to win because you’re under center. Is that a lot of pressure on you or do you see it as just being your role on the football team?”Cam Newton – “I embrace my role as being one of the team leaders of this team and I realize where much is given much is required. That’s what the Bible says. I’m willing to do whatever is needed of me to do.”Tim Couch – “I remember when I was going through my Heisman deal and all that stuff, I was the kind of person who wanted to deflect everything to my teammates, I didn’t want all the attention on me. You seem to be a similar type of guy – how do you go about doing that?”Cam Newton – “I understand that with all my success there’s so many people working behind the scenes that don’t get the credit. I have a very mature offensive line and they’re my rock, so to speak. There are so many things that I could pin point and point out, people that are working behind the scenes that are making me get all the credit.”Tim Couch – “I’ve had people ask me if I was a defensive coordinator and I had to play against Cam Newton, what would I design to stop him? What would you do to stop Cam Newton?”Cam Newton – “I don’t want to sound arrogant by any means but that’s why I train as an athlete. I’m pretty sure I have an Achilles heel. I’m pretty sure I have a lot of flaws, but I try to minimize that as much as I can. That’s why I train all season so when it comes to game time it’s going to be hard for that defensive coordinator or that defender to point out my flaws.”They Said It:Who’s going to take the biggest hit in the Cam Newton controversy – Cam Newton, Auburn or the SEC?
- Tim Couch – “I think it’s a little bit of everybody. Cam is such a big name and he’s playing so well this year that it’s kind of a black eye for everybody – for the SEC, for Auburn. You never want to deal with this kind of stuff, especially when you’re having the type of season that Auburn and Cam Newton are having.”
- Randy Cross – “It’s going to start with Cam. It’s going to stick on him the most. Whether this is true or false, it will always be part of the reputation of Cam Newton.”
Does the controversy affect Cam’s Heisman campaign?
- Randy Cross – “It absolutely should not. It’s to identify the number one player in the country. It’s not about the voters. We may not know the facts in this for a year or so. How can you let that influence one way or the other how you vote now? I think it’s absolutely indefensible if you change your vote based on anything that’s gone on.”
- Tim Couch – “I don’t think you should let it affect your vote either, but I think it might just because of what happened with the Reggie Bush situation. No one wants to go through that again where they have to strip the Heisman from him with no one winning the award that year. But I agree, I don’t think you can let that factor in on your vote but some people might.”
Will the Cam Newton controversy affect the BCS rankings?
- Tim Couch – “It could. It’s kind of like the Heisman voters. With all that’s gone on this year, with all the suspensions we’ve had, with the debacle with the North Carolina team, with AJ Green being suspended, will that affect the way these guys vote not knowing if Cam is going to be eligible moving forward?”
- Randy Cross – “I’m going to have my popcorn sitting there Sunday night waiting to see what the vote totals are. It may not change one, two, three, but it may make two a lot further away from one and closer to three. We’ve already seen teams like Boise and TCU really be affected – they’ve won big and had their votes effected. Will this case affect some of these voters for the BCS?”
Tim Couch on Auburn quarterback Cam Newton
- “As a quarterback you’re only as good as the guys around you; the offensive line, those wide receivers. For Cam Newton, he has guys that can flat out go get the football for him. You see the time that he has to throw and guys like Darvin Adams and Terrell Zachery can make plays for Cam Newton down the field, big plays. And they’re physical guys; they can go up and catch the ball at its highest point.”
Tim Couch on South Carolina’s Offense
- “The first half they start the game out great, it’s the second half where they really struggle. They’re just turning the football over, playing sloppy. They just can’t finish a game. Especially that Kentucky game, they had a big lead at half time and Kentucky shut them out in that second half.”
Randy Cross on Georgia’s Offense
- “The can score a lot of points, they’ve been in the 30s lately, but they have to protect Aaron Murray. That’s the offensive line’s job.”
Tim Couch on Kentucky quarterback Mike Hartline
- “He’s having a great year and what he’s doing is getting the ball to his playmakers, Randall Cobb and Chris Matthews. With Derrick Locke returning from injury, that offense will be even more explosive against Vanderbilt this week.”
Randy Cross on Vanderbilt
- “One thing about Vandy is Vandy just does not go away, especially against Kentucky. Kentucky’s had some really good talent over the last four, five, six, seven years, but the last seven years this game comes down to 12 points or less between these two teams.”
Tim Couch on Tennessee
- “Tennessee needs to win out to become bowl eligible, not because they’re going to go to any type of great bowl game but because this is a young football team and that extra practice for bowl week will give this team a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Randy Cross on Ole Miss
- “Ole Miss is in a fairly similar position (to Tennessee). They need a couple of wins to be bowl eligible but you know one thing – Houston Nutt football teams know how to finish.”
Keys to the Alabama vs. Mississippi State gameRandy Cross on Mississippi State – “For Mississippi State you could go to offensive schemes or defensive schemes. I think after this bye week, after the services for Nick Bell in Birmingham this past weekend, I think this team is going to come back and be very, very emotional and play inspired football.”Tim Couch on Alabama – “For Alabama they need to stretch the football field. They have playmakers out there like Julio Jones and Mark Ingram. They’re not throwing the football down the field beyond those fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. They need to get to that to loosen the defense up, then maybe Mark Ingram could rush for more than 100 yards.”Buckle Up – Who needs to step up this week?
- Randy Cross – “I’m going to go with Bulldog quarterback Aaron Murray. We talked a little bit about the blitz coming from Auburn, you’re going to see a guy named Nick Fairley in the middle coming at you, you’re going to see a lot of blitz. Aaron, get away from there. Throw that ball down the field, scramble if you have to. It’s going to have to be a huge game out of Aaron Murray.”
- Tim Couch – “I’m going to take Cam Newton to buckle it up. All the stuff he’s dealt with off the field, he’s the leader of that football team, can he get his guys ready and focus them in on this game where they can wrap up the SEC West with a victory? It’s all on Cam Newton’s shoulders.”
Video Views:In the Trenches – Click here to view this week’s “In the Trenches” segment, where Tim Couch and Randy Cross discuss the Cam Newton controversy.Social Media Sound Off:JeanShortsAreCool on SECGridironLIVE.com’s live chat – “UF is gonna beat USC this weekend and beat AU in the SEC title game, so this whole Cam conspiracy is a moo point – it’s like a cow’s opinion – it doesn’t matter.”Ashley Miller on Facebook – “Auburn is focused and will rally around Cam! The Tigers make reservations in ATL for Dec. 4! War Eagle!”Greg Bryant on Facebook – “I think State will win the game, Bama does not have a lot to play for anymore and the players may have that in their heads. Go Dawgs!”SEC Gridiron LIVE airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET throughout the college football season to more than 22 million cable and satellite households on the FSN regional networks throughout the SEC territory – FOX Sports South, Sun Sports, FOX Sports Houston and FOX Sports Southwest. SEC Gridiron LIVE is hosted by Charles Davis with analysts Randy Cross and Tim Couch and social media host Kristina Akra.All season long, SEC fans can stay in touch with the SEC Gridiron LIVE team throughout the week at SECGridironLIVE.com and through the show’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
A lot more quotage than normal from SEC Gridiron Live, but I’m happy to post it.
