An NCAA investigation into his father's alleged improper conduct hung over Cam Newton during the NFL draft process, but it didn't stop the Carolina Panthers from taking the quarterback No. 1 overall.
And, Cecil Newton said, it won't define him either. In fact, he's confident the NCAA's probe won't turn up anything past last year's ruling that he asked Mississippi State for a six-figure payment for his son's services in 2009.
"We really just want it to calm down, let the smoke settle, let the dust settle," Newton told *The Charlotte Observer* on Thursday. "The truth is out there. They have it in their files."
Asked if he requested money from Auburn, the school his son eventually attended, Newton said: "According to what the NCAA findings are, that's what we're going with."
Newton gave the rare interview in Bradenton, Fla., where he watched Cam work out in preparation for his first NFL season. Cam was cleared by the NCAA, which ruled he didn't know about his father's actions, and kept playing, leading Auburn to the BCS national championship last season.
Now the Newtons are waiting for the lingering NFL lockout to end so Cam can sign a contract that should be lucrative but not worth as much as past No. 1 deals. That's because the next collective bargaining agreement is expected to include a rookie wage scale that will prevent deals like the $50 million guaranteed that top pick Sam Bradford received from the St. Louis Rams last year.
"I just want Cam to get out here, get on board with his team, do the right things on and off the field, and the rest will take care of itself," Cecil Newton said. "He's played for so long for free that anything we make, man, is a blessing."
