Cameron Newton learns a lot during spring drills
by Pat Dooley
April 15. 2007
The Orange team didn't lose, it just ran out of time.
Of course, it doesn't help when you're trying to make a comeback with a running clock in the second half.
It does help when you get consecutive possessions. But a late touchdown pass from Cameron Newton to Brandon James only meant heartbreak for the Orange against the Blue Saturday.
"We were trying to come back," Newton said. "We just didn't have enough time."
I'm kidding, of course, because nobody really cares who wins a spring game. All you're looking for are signs that players have improved or can handle game situations.
For this Orange and Blue game, all eyes were on Tim Tebow. A year ago he was a change of pace and now, as the starter, he's setting the pace.
But the other quarterback certainly caught a lot of eyes as well for a number of reasons.
There is his size. At 6-foot-5, 242 pounds he looks like a thinner version of JaMarcus Russell.
There was his inability to catch shotgun snaps. Four of them ended up on the ground in the first half.
And then there was his ability to turn things around in the second half.
"I was disappointed with Cameron in the first half," Urban Meyer said. "But he came back well in the second half and made some plays for his team. This was the first time he had been in front of this kind of crowd, so that's why we wanted to keep him in there."
There was no question that jitters were an issue early for Newton. So was the lack of playmakers on his side of the ball.
But once he settled down, he was impressive. Newton finished the game with 20 completions in 30 attempts for 275 yards and a touchdown.
And you left the spring game knowing that Florida is in pretty good shape at quarterback.
Because the freshman from College Park, Ga., is here.
An early enrollee, Newton has taken advantage of a spring practice that occurred while most of his classmates are still shooting spitballs at each other in high school. It worked for Tebow a year ago and it's clearly working for Newton this spring.
"You're a freshman before the freshmen," he said.
Just playing in front of more than 40,000 fans in the big house has to help.
"Otherwise," he said, "my first game would have been the first game."
He's an impressive young man in his demeanor and his stature. After he finished with interviews Saturday, he and Tebow shared a hearty handshake, a sign that they're working together to make this the best team it can be.
Newton will most likely play in 2007 for the Gators. This spring has been more than an introduction to his new school, new community and new coaches. It has been a valuable few months.
"This is the best thing I could have done," Newton said, "getting put in the fire like this."
It was during his junior year at Westlake High School that the idea first popped into Newton's head that going to school early might be a good idea.
"My dad told me that it was a popular thing that people were doing," Newton said. "I wanted to try to do it, but I really didn't think I could do it.
"It was hard. I had to take classes in the summer and take some online. There's a time limit. You have to be done in a certain number of days. It was kind of hectic."
But because he did the work, he's a college freshman instead of a high school senior. And already we've seen it pay dividends for Florida.
With junior college transfer Bryan Waggener sidelined with a broken foot for much of the spring, Meyer needed Newton to be on the Florida campus this spring.
But more than that, it has allowed Newton to learn and experience a semester of college, of football, of living on your own.
He gave himself a "low C" for his performance Saturday.
