National Football League

Newton talks good NFL game, has yet to play one

Published Feb. 24, 2011 8:00 p.m. ET

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Cam Newton has already anointed himself an ''entertainer and icon.'' He apparently considered adding ''Hall of Famer'' to his resume, too, before learning you actually have to play in the NFL to get in.

Say this much for Newton, though: One thing he won't need in the pros is a publicist.

Even before throwing a pass at the NFL combine, and right after making the ''icon'' remark to Sports Illustrated, Newton told Yahoo! Sports that one year playing quarterback at Auburn convinced him he was ready to take his talents to the next level.

''I don't want to sound arrogant,'' Newton said, ''but I did something in one year people couldn't do in their whole collegiate careers.''

True enough - and even more impressive when you consider he won a national title and the Heisman Trophy with NCAA investigators on his trail. So while Newton won't have to worry about getting his team on probation in the NFL, he'll hardly lack for challenges to occupy his time.

The easiest stretch begins this week at the combine in Indianapolis. The coaches lining up for interviews may not think much of Newton's confidence as a public speaker so far, but there's plenty in his attitude to admire.

Newton has volunteered to run the gamut of tests there with no exceptions. No ''pro day'' at Auburn for invited guests only, no limit on how many drills he runs, throws he makes or weightlifting reps in front of a full array of scouts. More telling, perhaps, Newton has promised to answer every question he gets.

The eligibility issues that dogged his every step at Auburn - the same ones that could still come back and take a bigger bite out of the school's reputation and his - won't matter to the pros.

They won't care that he left Florida under a cloud, righted himself during a one-year stint at Blinn Junior College, then wound up right back in the middle of the most contentious story of the last college football season. They won't care that his father, Cecil, tried to shop Newton to Mississippi State, asking $180,000 for his son's signature on a letter of intent, or even that Cam insisted the two never discussed the matter long after it made headlines across the country.

What they will care about, though, is the decision-making process behind all that. It's one thing for a college kid to get into trouble, learn a lesson and move on. It's another for a kid as poised as Newton to say the right things, then display a sense of entitlement that makes those words ring hollow.

If Newton is just confident, fine. There's no better quality in a 21-year-old who will soon inherit one of the toughest jobs in sports. There's no shortage of veteran defenders just drooling for the chance to knock every ounce of it out of him. Tom Brady was confident coming out of college, despite being a sixth-round pick; so was Peyton Manning, who went in the No. 1 draft slot that Newton covets.

Then again, confidence wasn't a problem for Ryan Leaf and Jamarcus Russell, either. But it becomes an occupational hazard in the NFL if it's not tempered by hard work and diligence. The NFL is brimming with cautionary tales about can't-miss prospects who were big, strong, fast and skilled enough - and believed it before they ever proved it on the field.

Just about every guy in the NFL is faster than the fastest player Newton ran away from in college, and every one of them hits harder than the ones who did catch him. Every defensive coordinator has two or three schemes Newton never dreamed about, let alone played against. If nothing else, Newton said he is willing to be tested.

''Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, you look at how good they are every year,'' Newton told Yahoo! Sports earlier this week. ''The question is how do they do it? Nothing you can point to but hard work. In the offseason. In the regular season.''

The preseason, too, it turns out. And here's hoping that being entertaining isn't the only thing Newton has been working hard on ahead of his pro debut.

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Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org