National Football League

Cam Newton to start vs. Dolphins

Published Aug. 17, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Top draft pick Cam Newton will start at quarterback for the Carolina Panthers in their second preseason game Friday.

Coach Ron Rivera said Wednesday that Jimmy Clausen, who started last week against the New York Giants, would get snaps with the first-team offense against the Miami Dolphins.

''It's pretty much following the line of what we had planned throughout training camp, and that's to go back and forth and back and forth with our guys,'' Rivera said. ''It's a good opportunity.''

Rivera said the first-team offense would play about a half.

''We'll do like we did last week where Cam came in and played with the first group in the second quarter,'' Rivera said. ''Again, we want to make sure everybody gets a chance to play and work with the guys to keep that competition going.''

Rivera said he would likely announce next week which player will start in the opener Sept. 11 against Arizona.

''People do want to read into it, but just know that we have a plan and we're sticking to it,'' Rivera said of Newton starting this week. ''As we go through the process sometime next week we'll have a real good feel for what we're going to do as we go into the regular season.''