Allegations have come up that a former Mississippi State football player named Kenny Rogers allegedly solicited money from school officials in exchange for Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton’s signature on a Letter of Intent.
ESPN.com has the details:
“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. That was pretty much it.”
Sources told ESPN.com the former teammate is Kenny Rogers, who played at Mississippi State from 1982 to ’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.”
Bond said the former teammate told him other schools had already offered $200,000, but since Newton really liked Mississippi State and had a relationship with head coach Dan Mullen dating to when both were at Florida, Mississippi State could get him for $180,000.
Cecil Newton, who is Cameron’s father, denies the family had any involvement in the situation. In the story, Cecil is quoted as saying, “If Rogers tried to solicit money from Mississippi State, he did it on his own, without our knowledge.”
Newton has been the most talked-about player in college football this season but this is the first time that it’s for the wrong reasons. For what it’s worth, it doesn’t sound like Newton had anything to do with the solicitation, but no player wants to be investigated by the NCAA. And if he didn’t have anything to do with the situation, it’s sad that his name is being associated with a negative story like this.
Hopefully everyone (Newton, Mississippi State, Auburn) outside of Rogers is clean here and nothing more will come out of the situation for those who are innocent.
