Cam Newton: College Football's Junk Bond

You may recall in the movie The Wedding Singer, a particular scene where Julia (Drew Barrymore) refers to her fiance's line of work as being "in junk bonds." Offended, her fiance Glenn (Matthew Glave) insists that he is in the business of "high-yield bonds." Both are technically correct. Junk bonds or speculative-grade bonds are actually high-yield, but they are also high risk. In the realm of college football, Cam Newton is a prime example of a junk bond.

The high-yield aspect of Newton is obvious. He is arguably one of the greatest athletes of the past 20, if not more, years. I recall seeing highlights of him back when he was playing second string to Tim Tebow. And I thought to myself: "This guy could be just as good as Tebow!" I was wrong. Newton is better than Tebow.

At 6'6" and 250 pounds, Newton is built to be the perfect athlete. Dual-threat quarterbacks, in spite of their dual capability, still typically have some form of weakness in either running or passing. Newton doesn't. I could go on and on about his stats or his abilities, but I think the picture is quite clear: Cam Newton is one of the best players in college football.

But what about the risk? How could anyone go wrong with such a talented player? That's where Newton's history comes in.

Cameron Newton started his collegiate career at Florida in 2007. His obvious skill earned him the second string spot over fellow quarterback John Brantley while Tim Tebow was the starter for the Gators. While at Florida, Newton developed a relationship with offensive coordinator Dan Mullen, who would later become the head coach of Mississippi State.

But in the fall of 2008, Newton was arrested on felony charges of burglary, larceny and obstruction of justice after he was found to be in possession of a stolen laptop. When the police arrived to question him about it, Newton tossed the laptop out of his dorm window. According to his story, which was never proven nor corroborated, he had allegedly purchased the laptop from someone in a parking lot.

Article Author: Braden

Braden is a conservative blogger from Montgomery, AL. He specializes in politics, movies and music. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Information Systems from Faulkner University. Follow him on Twitter as @bradenpace.

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