Published: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 7:46 AM     Updated: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 8:32 AM

By Charles Goldberg/Auburn Bureau, The Birmingham News, Press-Register, and The Huntsville Times
This is the newspaper version of a story on Cam Newton’s immediate plans. Details have been added since Wednesday’s Internet version:
Cam Newton: Headed to Auburn celebration, the NFL (Birmingham News / Hal Yeager)AUBURN — Cam Newton says he wants to be remembered as a player who gave it his all, and the Heisman Trophy winner says his accomplishments will stand at Auburn without reservation.
Despite the NCAA looking into his recruitment, Newton said Wednesday there won’t be any reason to attach an asterisk to his name after setting SEC and school records while leading the Tigers to the BCS national championship.
“No sir, not at all,” Newton said during a teleconference after he won the Manning Award, a trophy presented to the top quarterback in the nation after the bowl season.
Newton, who is skipping his senior year to enter the NFL draft, said his legacy at Auburn should go something like this:
“Here’s a young man that was very resilient, and left it all out there on the field. I tried to be the best. Any athlete that is a competitor doesn’t play the game just to play the game. I played … to try to be the best.”
Auburn fans can salute Newton and his teammates again at 1 p.m. Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium when the university honors the national championship team.
Newton led the SEC in rushing, was second in the nation in passing efficiency, accounted for 51 touchdowns, and was the spark that carried the Tigers to a 22-19 win over Oregon in the BCS title game and a 14-0 finish.
“I’m not sure anyone has had as great a year as you had,” said Archie Manning, the patriarch of the family the award honors.
Newton ticked off some of the past winners of the award, “the Matt Leinarts, the Tim Tebows, the Colt McCoys, the Matt Ryans — those are excellent quarterbacks. I hope I can be half of what those guys have accomplished in the NFL. My fingers are crossed.”
ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. predicted Wednesday that Newton could be the 10th overall pick in the draft, going to Washington. He said Newton’s teammate, defensive tackle Nick Fairley, could be the No. 1 overall pick, going to Carolina.  

Newton said he’s working toward his NFL career by training in the mornings and interviewing potential agents at night. He said he hopes to have an agent by tonight or Friday morning.
Newton is considering a handful of agents, including heavyweights Joel Segal, Bus Cook, Eugene Parker and Jimmy Sexton, who represents many SEC coaches and who teamed with agent Pat Dye Jr. last fall. Dye, the son of the former Auburn coach, has represented players longer than Sexton.
Sexton recently added Alabama junior receiver Julio Jones to his stable of clients.
“This process is not just a process that has to be made by my terms,” Newton said. “It’s something I have to sit down with my family about, close friends and the people that I have the most respect for, who I know have my best interest.”

Newton said the people who have had his best interest helped him through the season.

“I’m a firm believer in the faith of God, and the Bible says God won’t put too much on a person than that person can bear. Obviously this season, I’ve been tested not only on the field but off the field. For me, to play as well as I did, there were a lot of things that come into play … my teammates, my supporting cast off the field, my family, and also my coaches.”

Texas hired offensive line coach Stacy Searels away from Georgia on Thursday to take over the same position on the Longhorns’ staff.

The announcement came a day after Searels and his wife flew on a private plane from Athens to Austin.

“Georgia was a very tough place to leave, but Texas is one of those few places that I knew if they called, I had to look into it,” Searels said in a statement. “At the end of the day, the opportunity here was just too much to pass up.”

Now Georgia coach Mark Richt has an opening on his staff with signing day just 12 days away on Feb. 2. Georgia has five non-binding offensive line commitments, including offensive tackle Zach DeBell from Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Richt, running backs coach Bryan McClendon and inside linebackers coach Warren Belin visited DeBell at his house Thursday for at least two hours, he said.

DeBell said Richt expects to hire Searels’ replacement “soon” – before signing day.

“I just hopes he picks as good of a coach as the last one,” DeBell said. “I’m still committed to Georgia, but the door is cracked open. The door is not all the way closed.”

DeBell said some schools e-mailed him since Searels’ traveled to Texas on Wednesday.

He did not want to name them, but DeBell picked Georgia over Tennessee and South Carolina in July

Searels was Georgia’s offensive line coach for four seasons. He was given the title of running game coordinator in 2009.

Georgia Fan Cave at GeorgiaDawgHouse.com

“When you’re in this profession, you want to coach at the highest level,” Searels said. “From afar, I had always been interested in The University of Texas because I thought it was one of the premier jobs in the country. You can win a championship, you have great leadership, great players, a great pool of talent to recruit from, and I think there’s no reason you can’t win and win big at Texas, and I want to be a part of that.”

DeBell called Searels’ decision to leave “disappointing, but I totally understand why he left. I understand and I respect it.”

Texas coach Mack Brown said he had admired Searels’ work for many years when he coached previously at LSU and Appalachian State. He said he received strong recommendations about Searels from former Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and Arthur Johnson, who is leaving Georgia as associate athletic director to return to Texas to work as an administrator with the football program.

“I am really excited about Stacy joining our staff,” Brown said.

“When coach Brown called, I was thrilled to hear from him,” Searels said. “His record speaks for itself, but he’s coached at some places where I’ve coached. He was at Appalachian State, and I spent seven years there, so I’ve heard stories about coach Brown for years. I knew he was a great coach.

“I’ve watched him throughout his career, and I’ve seen what he’s done here at Texas,” Searels continued. “In visiting with him, he’s got a great plan for this program. He’s a great leader, and I think he’s going to get everybody focused and going in the right direction, and the future’s going to be bright. I’m so happy he asked me to be a part of this, and I’m ready to get started.”

Searels was tied for the third-highest-paid assistant on the Georgia staff, earning $290,000, behind only coordinators Todd Grantham and Mike Bobo. That doesn’t include a bowl bonus this year worth $19,400. A retention bonus of $45,000 would have kicked in if he stayed through February 2012.

Georgia’s offensive line was viewed as having underperformed during stretches of Searels’ time at Georgia. The Bulldogs finished 10th in the Southeastern Conference in rushing this year despite having a veteran offensive line.

This is the first change on Richt’s coaching staff since the end of the Bulldogs’ 6-7 season. Richt announced a shakeup atop his strength and conditioning program prior to the Liberty Bowl when he named Joe Tereshinski as director.

“Probably the biggest thing to overcome is leaving the players,” Searels said. “You build a relationship with them, they’re good kids, they work hard, they’re outstanding people, and I love every one of them. That was the hardest thing – to leave them. I can’t say enough good things about Georgia. I think they have a bright future, and it was awesome to work there.”

NOTE: Eight Georgia football players have been invited to take part in the NFL scouting combine next month. Offensive linemen Clint Boling and Josh Davis, fullback Shaun Chapas, receiver A.J. Green, defensive end Demarcus Dobbs, linebackers Justin Houston and Akeem Dent and cornerback Vance Cuff will work out and interview with representatives from NFL teams in Indianapolis. The combine is Feb. 23 to March 1.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Friday, January 21, 2011

AUBURN — Auburn junior quarterback Cam Newton will forgo his senior season and make himself eligible for the 2011 National Football League Draft.

The 2010 Heisman Trophy winner, Newton helped lead Auburn to a perfect 14-0 record and the BCS National Championship. He rushed for 1,473 yards and 20 touchdowns while passing for 2,854 yards and 30 scores.

“This decision was difficult for me and my family,” Newton said. “After talking to Coach Chizik and Coach Malzahn, I think it is best that I make that next step in my career and forgo my senior season and enter the NFL Draft. It was a very hard decision for me, especially after coming off the great season we had at Auburn. I’m blessed to have been around an excellent environment and have great teammates, coaches and support from the Auburn family.

“It’s been a blessing for me to be a part of something so great,” Newton said. “Any time you win games it’s a big deal, but for this school to win a BCS National Championship, what a way to make people happy. Auburn is a special place that I can call home.”

Newton broke numerous Auburn single-season records, including rushing touchdowns (20), passing touchdowns (30), touchdowns responsible for (51), total offense (4,327) and rushing yards by a quarterback (1,473).

“We appreciate Cameron’s many contributions to Auburn and the outstanding leader that he was for our football team,” Auburn head coach Gene Chizik said. “He had one of the greatest individual seasons ever by an Auburn player and was a key part of our championship run. Cam will always be a member of the Auburn family and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

A native of College Park, Ga., Newton was named the Walter Camp and Associated Press National Player of the Year, won the Maxwell Award as the nation’s top player and the Dave O’Brien Award as the country’s top quarterback.

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Auburn running back Michael Dyer never heard any whistle, so he just kept running – past the tackler who thought he had him down and deep into Oregon territory.

Dyer broke stride, then took off on a once-in-a-lifetime run in the final minutes, setting up a short field goal on the last play that led No. 1 Auburn over the No. 2 Ducks 22-19 in the BCS championship game Monday night.

The freshman running back upstaged Auburn’s Heisman-winning quarterback Cam Newton with a 37-yard run, in which he appeared down but wasn’t – his knee never hit the ground – as he rolled over defender Eddie Pleasant to put the Tigers in scoring position.

Three plays later, Dyer ran 16 yards to push the ball to the 1 and set up Wes Byrum’s 19-yard field goal with no time left. It was his sixth career game-winning field goal – the one that capped off a perfect, 14-0 season, brought the title back to Auburn for the first time since 1957 and left the Southeastern Conference on top for the fifth straight year.

“Fifty-three years, baby,” coach Gene Chizik said to the cheering crowd. “This is for you. War Eagle!”

A classic sequence to close out a wild finish – five crazy minutes of football that made up for the first 55, which were more of a bruising battle than the offensive masterpiece everyone had predicted.

The craziness began when Casey Matthews, son of the 1980s NFL linebacker Clay, knocked the ball from Newton’s hands while he was trying to ice a 19-11 lead.

Oregon’s offense, shut down by Nick Fairley & Co. for most of the night, moved 45 yards over the next 2:17 and Darron Thomas threw a shovel pass to LaMichael James for a touchdown. Thomas hit Jeff Maehl for the tying 2-point conversion with 2:33 left and the game was down to one possession.

And that possession will be remembered for one incredible play.

Dyer, who chose jersey No. 5 because that’s how old his brother was when their father died in a car accident, took the handoff from Newton and ran off right tackle for what looked like a 6- or 7-yard gain. Nothing routine about this one, though. He never heard a whistle, wasn’t sure his knee hit the ground, so he popped up and kept going.
Almost everyone on the field had stopped playing, but the referee never blew the play dead. Dyer made it to the Oregon 23. An official’s review ensued and the replay showed that, indeed, his knee had never touched the turf.

“I was going out there, trying to make a play. I just kept my feet moving,” he said.

In a statement released after the game, referee Bill LeMonnier said he was confident of the call: “The ruling on the field was there was nothing other than the foot that touched the ground,” he explained.

The freshman finished with 143 yards and was chosen Offensive Player of the Game – no small feat considering he had Newton playing well on the same offense.
Newton threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 64 yards, most in short, punishing bites.

It was a good performance, but not spectacular – par for the course in a game that was projected as a possible 60-55 shootout by Steve Spurrier and a 74-point touchdown-fest by the oddsmakers who set the over-under.

Wearing white jerseys, green pants and DayGlo shoes and socks, the Ducks got only 49 yards rushing from James. An offense that had been held under 37 points only once all year managed just the two touchdowns. The last one came on a simple shovel pass from Thomas, who finished with 363 yards – 81 of which came on a long pass to Maehl that set up the first touchdown.

Oregon was held below 37 points for only the second time all season and the fast-paced offense that turned most opponents into mush in the second half had trouble wearing down Auburn.

Fairley, Auburn’s 298-pound defensive tackle, did the most damage. He lived up to his reputation as a game-changer for better, with three tackles for loss, including a sack – and for worse, when he got a 15-yard penalty for shoving James’ face into the turf after the whistle.

Newton was a game-changer as always, keeping Auburn ahead in this tight game, the final outing in a season shadowed by an NCAA investigation into his failed recruitment by Mississippi State. The governing body cleared him to play before the SEC championship but said his father, Cecil, solicited money from the Bulldogs.

Cecil, not in the stands Monday night, missed a heck of a finish.

And the end of a memorable season for Auburn, the school that has loads of tradition – the Tiger Walk, the War Eagle yell and a case full of Heisman and other big-time individual trophies – but not nearly as many titles to go with it. Bad luck in the polls doomed their one-loss season in 1983, probation kept them from capitalizing on a perfect record in 1993 and the vagaries of the BCS left them on the outside in 2004, maybe the most painful of all the snubs.

So, really, this one is for all the Bos and Beasleys and Terrys and Tracys in the Auburn family who came close but couldn’t close the deal. And it fashions a nice symmetry with that team up the road – Alabama – which took home the Heisman and the same crystal championship trophy one short year ago.

Tide fans, of course, will remind you that it still has five more AP titles than the Tigers. But this celebration is going on at Toomer’s Corner in Auburn, where the traditional toilet-papering of the area was going on in full force in the bitter cold as Monday night turned into Tuesday morning.

“Winning a championship for the Auburn family, I can’t really describe it right now,” Chizik said. “To try would probably cheapen it.”

At Auburn, the words “War Eagle” would almost surely suffice.