Tuesday, November 16, 2010

FBI interviews key figures in Cam case

John Bond, the former Mississippi State quarterback and erstwhile whistle-blower in the Cameron Newton scandal, has talked to the FBI, his attorney has told media outlets.

Mash here for details from ESPN.

Also Monday, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports that the FBI was also to have interviewed Kenny Rogers. Rogers is Bonds' former teammate and the alleged go-between carrying the money demands from the Rev. Cecil Newton to MSU. Newton is the father of the star Auburn quarterback. MSU officials say they paid no money and turned over information about the situation to the SEC office.

After finishing a year in junior college, Cam Newton reportedly was headed to Mississippi State. One report said he called two of the school's recruiters and told them he would sign with Auburn instead "because the money is too much."

The NCAA is investigating. Newton doesn't play again until the Iron Bowl, the annual matchup with Alabama, which will be the Friday after Thanksgiving in Tuscaloosa. Auburn says he is fully eligible.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can almost excuse the cheating part, but Auburn show it's true colors to the world last week with their thug behavior.
Cheap shots, intentional unnecessary fouls only seen in the WWE, and celebrating getting ejected like they won the lottery.
Have some class. Too bad the SEC won't take the corrective action and send a message that no one is bigger than the game (Fairley).

Anonymous said...

To the coward posting as anonymous 8:17 - Yeah, some more ought to be done about them Auburn thugs. That was the first time in football history anyone committed an unnecessary personal foul? Why isn't the entire Auburn team in federal prison????????????

Translation: Get over yourself. There are always extra fisticuffs during a major rivalry game. Georgia-Auburn have played more times than any other rivals in the South. 'Bama is Auburn's most hated rival, but Georgia is a clear #2. I'm not sure where Auburn ranks on the UGA hate list among them, Ga Tech and Florida, but there is definitely no love there. And what about the very blatant attempt by the 2 UGA players to injure Fairley the play after Fairley knocked Murray out of the game? Was there no thuggery in that?

Bottom line, those were not the first instances of rivals trying to hurt each other, and it won't be the last.

Anonymous said...

MG - Did ya see the USA Today article about Chizik's contract? There are some academic and athletic achievement levels that, if reached, give Chizik a $1.5 million bonus. If there are any NCAA violations during the period of the achievements, the bonus is null and void.

What should that say? It should say that Chizik would stand to lose a ton of cash if he played a player who could possibly be found guilty of NCAA violations.

This gives me even stronger confidence that our compliance office has found no reason why Newton would be declared ineligible, and along with that, more confident that Bond and Rogers are just two Mafia wannabes that are trying to make a name, and pile of cash, for themselves.

And since the Newtons turned their bank records over months ago, don't you think that if there was any suspicion of impropriety that espn.com would have said something by now? In my mind, the case against Newton is falling apart rather than building.

Michael said...

J, Did see the story about GC's contract.

The part I still don't understand is why, of all cases of alleged NCAA violations, the FBI picks this one.

Could it be that there's some yet-to-be-revealed connection to either the current and massive public corruption case involving Alabama gambling magnate Milton McGregor OR the demise of Colonial Bank and AU trustee Bobby Lowder.

Just feels like there's something bigger going on that we do not understand -- yet.