Cam Newton reflects ahead of 'surreal' Auburn jersey retirement: ‘Hard work still pays’

It’s a monumental weekend for Cam Newton and Auburn football. The Tigers will retire their former quarterback’s iconic No. 2 jersey during Saturday’s matchup against Georgia — a well-deserved honor for one of the more electrifying players in college football history.

Newton joined ESPN’s First Take on Friday. There, he opened up about the emotions behind having his number immortalized at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“What a time to be alive for me,” Newton said. “Man, I’m grateful. This is a surreal moment for me, and I just want this to be a testament and a testimony for athletes to realize that hard work still pays,” Newton said. “When it came to the game of football, I never cheated. I did everything that the people I needed to listen to told me to do, and I just wanted to execute.

“I’m still that child at heart who, at times, just wants to make my mom and dad proud — and this is something that hopefully I can get their approval from. So thank you to Auburn. This is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I’m just happy that my kids could be there to witness it — for them to see it and to think, ‘My dad’s pretty cool too.’ So yeah, it’s awesome.”

Newton’s time at Auburn may have lasted just one season, but it stands as one of the greatest in college football history. He accounted for 4,327 total yards and 50 touchdowns, carrying the Tigers to a perfect season and a BCS National Championship victory over Oregon in 2010.

That same year, Newton swept college football’s major awards — the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award, Manning Award, and Davey O’Brien Award — and was named a unanimous First-Team All-American and the College Football Player of the Year. His impact was immediate and unforgettable.

Fellow ESPN analyst Ryan Clark put Newton’s legacy into perspective on First Take as well, offering an emotional tribute that captured what the quarterback meant to Auburn and to the sport as a whole during his time on the field.

“I want to be serious about this. Cam Newton changed his life that year at Auburn. Cam Newton changed that entire organization. Pat Sullivan, Bo Jackson and Cam Newton have statues at Jordan-Hare, and they deserve them,” Clark said.

“I remember walking up to that stadium, and there was something tangible about the way he changed that school. There’s a run against LSU that made me hate Cam for at least five minutes, and then for the next few years of his life, I admired him. Patrick Peterson is out there. Tyrann Mathieu is out there. He’s running past them. He’s running through them. And I said, ‘That dude was different.’

“Then I watched him go to Alabama, be down in the Iron Bowl and bring his team back. There was leadership, there was toughness, there was a mentality that showed you what winners are. … Man, you should be so proud of what you accomplished. I know your kids are little, so they don’t really know who Daddy was, but at some point they’re going to turn on YouTube and realize they don’t make many who look like him and do what he did. Man, congratulations to you, bro — you truly are Superman.”

Although Newton’s Auburn tenure was brief, his impact remains timeless. On Saturday, as his No. 2 is immortalized, the Tigers — and the college football world — will celebrate a legend who for sure changed the game.