"Like a hot knife going through butter": CFB analyst names Cam Newton 'best player to ever step foot in the SEC'
Former Auburn Tiger Cam Newton's college football career was incredibly strong. Among the four years Newton played in college, it will be his final season that will go down in the history books.
That season will be Newton's legacy, and some have described what he did that year as one of the greatest performances of all time.
A college football analyst who shares this thought is Smoke Dixon. On Thursday, Dixon said on 247sports Unfiltered:
"Flat out bar none, he (Cam Newton) is the greatest player to step foot in the SEC."
Newton started his college football career with the Florida Gators, where he was touted to be the replacement quarterback for Tim Tebow. However, Newton was involved with some legal issues during his time in Florida and transferred from the Gators to Blinn, a small junior college.
After one season with Blinn, Newton made his return to the SEC as the quarterback for the Auburn Tigers. Here, Newton would dominate the entire college football landscape.
During the 2010 season, Newton finished with 4,327 yards (2,854 passing, 1,473 rushing) and scored 51 touchdowns. Both of these are SEC and NCAA season records that still have not been beaten.
These records and Newton's performances in general massively helped the Tigers. Auburn won the SEC with ease, defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks 56-17 in the championship game to have an undefeated regular season.
This gave them an appearance in the National Championship game against the Oregon Ducks. Newton threw for 265 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Tigers won their second-ever championship.
For his performances that year, Newton unanimously won the Heisman Trophy. However, the Tigers would never be able to return to their highs of 2010.
Why was Cam Newton so strong at Auburn?
Cam Newton was dominant in 2010 and was not playing against easy opposition during the season. So why was he so dominant?
Smoke Dixon said:
"Cam was the offense on that team... he was able to run through the SEC like a hot knife going through butter"
In the 2009 season, Auburn finished with an 8-5 record and had an offense that had some high points, but was generally let down by the defense.
The team was mostly the same in 2010, but with the notable arrival of Newton. He was the Tigers' offense that year, taking full advantage of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn's brand of attacking football that thrived on speed and a lack of huddles to give the defense less time to react to any changes.
This style suited Newton's attacking style of quarterback play and allowed him to enter the record books as one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the SEC and college football.
Do you think that Cam Newton is one of the best college football quarterbacks of all time?