National Football League

Cam Newton earns college degree from Auburn

Published May. 10, 2015 7:33 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Robert Judin

Cam Newton led the Carolina Panthers to the playoffs last year in spite of finishing 7-8-1. Try not to focus so much on the fact the NFC South was awful, but more on the fact that Newton took his team to the postseason.

Newton has come a long way since his computer-stealing days at the University of Florida. He first went to Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, where he had a hard reboot before transferring to Auburn University before the 2010-11 season.

That 2010-11 season was the transformative year Newton needed. He took the Auburn Tigers to the national title game and won. He also took home the Heisman Trophy.

But even with the success he’s had in his football career, Newton hit another milestone recently that will go unnoticed by most and unappreciated by many. He earned his college diploma from Auburn this past weekend.

Since joining the Panthers, Newton has been working on completing his degree during the offseasons, but he chose not to walk across the stage in order to keep the attention on the other graduates.

“I’m not walking across the stage,” Newton told The Plainsman. “Number one, I don’t think walking really solidifies anything for me. I have pretty much conquered the main reason why I’m here, and all I really need is a degree. Plus, I don’t want to take away anything from the people already graduating. After seeing the response coming from class, I wouldn’t want to take anything away from another person’s (graduation day).“

It’s always nice to hear about an athlete going back to get his degree. It’s even better when he takes as much pride in it as Newton does.

“When I do get my diploma, I’m going to put it right above my mom’s door, so she knows her words were not in vain,” Newton said. “All my awards that mean the world to me are implanted (in her house), and this is no different. If anything, it’s going right along next to the Heisman.”

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