Cam Newton 'Representative' Reportedly Sought Cash From Mississippi State During Recruitment

So remember how Cam "Cameron" Newton wanted to play for Dan Mullen when it came time for him to return to I-A ball, but left the decision up to his dad and ended up at Auburn? There may have been much, much more to that second round of recruiting than we've been led to believe, as ESPN.com is reporting an agent or agent-like substance claiming to represent Newton wanted $180,000 to send the juco wonder to Mississippi State, and boasted that other schools were offering $200,000:

Former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond told ESPN.com that a teammate of Bond's at Mississippi State in the early 1980s contacted him soon after Newton's official visit to Mississippi State during the Ole Miss game in December, and said he was representing Newton. "He said it would take some cash to get Cam," Bond said. "I called our athletic director, Greg Byrne, and he took it from there." [...] Sources told ESPN.com that the former teammate is Kenny Rogers, who played at Mississippi State from 1982-85. Rogers operates a Chicago-based company called Elite Football Preparation, which holds camps in Chicago, Alabama and Mississippi. A Lexis search for that business lists Kenneth Rogers as the contact and his title as "agent." A Birmingham News story from 2008 said Elite Football Preparation "matches high school athletes with college programs."

Is anyone surprised? The Chinese Zodiac designates 2010 as the year of the Tiger, but in college football this remains the season of giant bats. The starting quarterback of the No. 2 team in the country may very soon find himself ineligible, and his frontrunning program with him, and if you're batting an eye you haven't been paying attention.

(Oh, and we get to dispense with the tiresome rebranding and go back to calling him "Cam" now, right? It flows ever so smoother off the tongue.)