Can someone shed some light on this idea that Newton is dumb?

[rayzor]

I have a question that maybe some of you know the answer to. I just may have missed it since I’ve been out of the country a lot. Why did Cam go the JUCO route after the Florida incidents? From what I’ve seen over the years, a very talented player usually only goes JUCO if they don’t have the grades or test scores to be accepted at the school they choose. Go JUCO; build up college credit, then come to play out their final two years at their chosen school. The questions of his intelligence that I have seen from the talking heads, (again only a few since I wasn’t in the US much) usually bring this up saying if he had the grades he would have been picked up by a big school who didn’t care as much about the problems off the field. Just haven’t heard, with his talent, why he had to spend two years at Blinn if he had the intelligence to match.

He only went to Blinn one year. He would tell you it was because he loves playing football and was tired of sitting on the sidelines watching. If he transferred to another D-I school he would have had to sit out another year. He claims that he just wanted to play football. According to his people he passed all his classes and finished out his last semester at Florida.

sums it up well. if he wanted to play football as opposed to sitting a year, he had to go the juco route. not much more to it than that. he left florida because he needed a new start. can't hate on the kid for wanting to remove yourself from a situation that started out rough....at least i can't hate on him for it, having done that myself.

turns out blinn was the best place for him. they actually did a lot for him in helping him grow up and developing his leadership skills.

[carolinarolls]

90% of the people of this board never heard of the guy until the beginning of last year's college season and sportscenter showed the highlights.

then he wins the heisman and the natty and gets drafted number one overall to the Panthers.

When you look back you see the things most documented which unfortunately were not all that beneficial to his rep. On the surface he looks like a knucklehead kid, possibly a head case looking for PT wherever he can get it, and definitely like a highly recruited QB who can't cut the grades in the $EC (???). Oh, and whose Dad shopped him for cash.

When you look deeper we see a dedicated worker who has overcome some dumb mistakes and a LOT of criticism.

I kinda feel bad for the kid. He seems nice but I don't know him. I never will. The only thing important to me is that he seems dedicated to quieting his critics which is a plus for all Panther fans.

Anyone trying to tear him down or build him up based on race is a POS plain and simple. Anyone who feels a need to bring up race on every subject is by definition a racist.

[MHS831]

I have lately been hearing and reading mulitple comments(not on here) that attack Newton's inteligence and not just his football smarts either.

I have heard people call the kid stupid with things like "he probably couldn't count the money he got at Auburn" and other things. I know most of them are just sheer stupidity coming from divison rivals, read the comments on any NFCS blog post about Cam on espn and you'll see that.

What disturbs me is the ammount of these comments I'm hearing from Panther fans on the street.

Where are they getting this idea that Cam has no brain.

:cam:

u mad?

Starters: "Intelligence has 2 Ls"

Cam has made some dumb decisions. Cam often struggles with subject-verb agreement when he speaks. His offense at Auburn is considered simplistic on many levels. High schools run it. He claims it was not simple. Compared to what?

I do not think Cam is dumb, nor do I think he has any professors worrying about their job security. Now, we all have done dumb things and butchered the language. Cam is very scrutinized, and as many people building him up are trying to break him down.

Having said that, his intelligence as measured on the wonderlic was average. Whether or not you think he is dumb or not is based on a person's expertise in the area of ignorance and bias.

[Udogg]

I usually would think the race card wasn't a valid argument. But I stopped at the gas station yesterday to hear some "panthers" fans talking about Cam and one guy said "I can't believe we drafted that dumb N*****!" So take it for what it's worth. The majority of people aren't racist but that doesn't mean some aren't either.

Heard something similar at the Home Depot yesterday. Maybe it was national racism day or something.

[rayzor]

When you look deeper we see a dedicated worker who has overcome some dumb mistakes and a LOT of criticism.

I kinda feel bad for the kid. He seems nice but I don't know him. I never will. The only thing important to me is that he seems dedicated to quieting his critics which is a plus for all Panther fans.

agreed 100%.

[firemoose]

He only went to Blinn one year. He would tell you it was because he loves playing football and was tired of sitting on the sidelines watching. If he transferred to another D-I school he would have had to sit out another year. He claims that he just wanted to play football. According to his people he passed all his classes and finished out his last semester at Florida.

Thanks for this. I was deployed during the Florida stuff so I didn't see much of it. I knew if he went to another FBS program he would have to sit but if he went FCS he wouldn't. Was just curious why he chose JUCO since FCS, while referred to by many on here as JV or high school football is still D-1 and, for the most part, above JUCO. The reference to the two years was really meant to a player coming out of high school who didn't have the grades, not to Newton. I've seen that happen before but just wasn't sure about Cam seeing as he came from Florida.

[CatMan72]

I don't think Newton is "dumb" or a genius... I think he's of pretty average intelligence. For a QB a 24 on the Wonderlic is average and Newton scored a 21, so he's pretty close to average intelligence according to the Wonderlic.

I consider myself pretty intelligent and I did lots of dumb stuff when I was 20 and 21 years old. Fortunately, the things you do when you're 20 and 21 don't necessarily define you for the rest of your life. Some people grow up, others don't... I think Cam has grown up, he talks about his time at Blinn as a humbling experience coming from being part of one of the premier programs in all of NCAA football.

On top of everything else, there seems to be very little correlation between a QB's Wonderlic score and his ability to play QB in the NFL. McNabb, Farve, Marino and McNair all scored poorly on the Wonderlic while guys like Alex Smith and Matt Leinart scored high.

I don't know how smart or dumb Cam is, but I'm not convinced it really matters. When the bullets are flying, I would take a "dumb" guy like McNair or Farve over a "smart" guy like Leinart or A. Smith any day.

[firemoose]

I don't think Newton is "dumb" or a genius... I think he's of pretty average intelligence. For a QB a 24 on the Wonderlic is average and Newton scored a 21, so he's pretty close to average intelligence according to the Wonderlic.

I consider myself pretty intelligent and I did lots of dumb stuff when I was 20 and 21 years old. Fortunately, the things you do when you're 20 and 21 don't necessarily define you for the rest of your life. Some people grow up, others don't... I think Cam has grown up, he talks about his time at Blinn as a humbling experience coming from being part of one of the premier programs in all of NCAA football.

On top of everything else, there seems to be very little correlation between a QB's Wonderlic score and his ability to play QB in the NFL. McNabb, Farve, Marino and McNair all scored poorly on the Wonderlic while guys like Alex Smith and Matt Leinart scored high.

I don't know how smart or dumb Cam is, but I'm not convinced it really matters. When the bullets are flying, I would take a "dumb" guy like McNair or Farve over a "smart" guy like Leinart or A. Smith any day.

I don't have pie or SWAG to give so I'll just say "This^"

[rayzor]

I don't think Newton is "dumb" or a genius... I think he's of pretty average intelligence. For a QB a 24 on the Wonderlic is average and Newton scored a 21, so he's pretty close to average intelligence according to the Wonderlic.

I consider myself pretty intelligent and I did lots of dumb stuff when I was 20 and 21 years old. Fortunately, the things you do when you're 20 and 21 don't necessarily define you for the rest of your life. Some people grow up, others don't... I think Cam has grown up, he talks about his time at Blinn as a humbling experience coming from being part of one of the premier programs in all of NCAA football.

On top of everything else, there seems to be very little correlation between a QB's Wonderlic score and his ability to play QB in the NFL. McNabb, Farve, Marino and McNair all scored poorly on the Wonderlic while guys like Alex Smith and Matt Leinart scored high.

I don't know how smart or dumb Cam is, but I'm not convinced it really matters. When the bullets are flying, I would take a "dumb" guy like McNair or Farve over a "smart" guy like Leinart or A. Smith any day.

true. winners find a way to do it.

i'd never consider big ben to be all that brilliant of an individual at all. probably could say he's dumber than newton with the amount of idiotic decisions he's made over the years, but when that guy is leading that offense, there are few who can pull off what he can. he's not a polished QB like peyton, but the guy finds ways to win. makes me think of that other QB the steelers had who won a lot but is pretty much a moron...terry bradshaw. you can come up with arguments about how they aren't/weren't great QBs, but i seriously doubt the lombardi would have been won all those times without them. thats not to say they won it by themselves. that just means that they were key in winning.

[LowDownBrown]

Cam is from Georgia. Erryone tawk dat way dere. Just go to a Falcons game.

[Katweiser]

One thing Id like to point out.... Buying the stolen lap top was the dumb thing to do, not throwing it out of the window. Seriously, consider if you were 19 years old and the cops were at your door and you were in possesion of a stolen laptop and your goal was to not get caught with it. You've got less than a minute to consider and weigh all of your options, what do you do?? If he got caught going with any other option, it would have come across as just as stupid or more so...

I think the whole premise of throwing the laptop out of the window = stupidity storys are like sh*t sprinkles on a bullsh*t sundae.....All they really do is just pretty up the drama of it all....

[rayzor]

One thing Id like to point out.... Buying the stolen lap top was the dumb thing to do, not throwing it out of the window. Seriously, consider if you were 19 years old and the cops were at your door and you were in possesion of a stolen laptop and your goal was to not get caught with it. You've got less than a minute to consider and weigh all of your options, what do you do?? If he got caught going with any other option, it would have come across as just as stupid or more so...

I think the whole premise of throwing the laptop out of the window = stupidity storys are like sh*t sprinkles on a bullsh*t sundae.....All they really do is just pretty up the drama of it all....

nah...that was dumb as well.

[ncmonzta]

Cam is from Georgia. Erryone tawk dat way dere. Just go to a Falcons game.

I lived there a few years ago and my youngest son was born in Decatur. I got us the hell out of there before he could grow up and start calling people "shawty". No offence ATLiens:cam: Now I'm in Holly Springs and my oldest can't stop saying "dude" and "owned". Now I'm thinking about going back to the ATL, now shawty doesn't sound so bad.

[Montsta]

I don't think the Auburn offense was simplistic because Cam couldn't handle it if it were complex. I think it was the way it was because when you have an athlete that is so head-and-shoulders above the competition athletically, that you can call '36' and gain 17 yards on it, why complicate things?

It's like when you coach pop warner and there is a kid on your team who is just way bigger and faster than the other kids. Sure, you'll throw some other plays out there to get all the kids some playing time, but when you're down a score late, you just have the big kid run over everyone up the gut for a TD.

Cam has some interesting word choices come out of his mouth sometimes, but I don't really think that has anything to do with his football acumen. Just because he hasn't been asked to really do a lot of complex wordy plays doesn't mean he's not able to IMO. Him making plays and being in the center of the huddle getting guys pumped up, that's what I like to see from him.