In 50 years, there have only been two quarterbacks to ever win both a Super Bowl and NCAA Championship as a starter. This year, Cam Newton is hoping to be the third. He’s led the Carolina Panthers to a 15-1 regular season and an NFC Championship, with only one more game to play on his way to the history books: Super Bowl 50 against the Denver Broncos.
Cam Newton would join elite company with Super Bowl 50 win
He’s looking to make his mark in the history books.
The 26-year-old quarterback is following in the footsteps of football legends Joe Namath and Joe Montana. Namath won an NCAA title as the starting quarterback for Alabama in 1964 and followed that up four seasons later with a win in Super Bowl III. Montana led Notre Dame to an NCAA championship in 1977 and went on to win four professional titles in Super Bowls XVI, XIX, XXIII and XXIV.
“It’s crazy to even think about, but I don’t think I need to go in depth in how it would feel,” Newton said when asked about the possibility of joining such elite company. “Who wouldn’t want to be in that type of talk?”
Quarterback Troy Aikman was close to joining the list, but he was injured in the fourth game of Oklahoma’s NCAA title-winning season in 1985 and didn’t start for the final game of the year.
Cam Newton is right on cue, leading the Panthers to a Super Bowl just five seasons after leading Auburn to a national championship. He’s no stranger to winning titles and even boasts a JUCO national championship in 2009 on his way to BCS football.
Even if the Panthers fail to cap off their incredible 2015 season with a Super Bowl win, Newton will still land in a category of his own:
Cam Newton will become first to win Heisman, be primary QB for a nat’l championship team and start in Super Bowl. pic.twitter.com/7xPFB1ErGS
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 28, 2016
This will also be the first time in league history that two overall No. 1 draft picks will face off in a Super Bowl. Separated by 13 years, Peyton Manning was taken No. 1 in 1998 by the Indianapolis Colts, and Newton went first to the Panthers in the 2011 draft.
A Super Bowl MVP award would also vault Newton into football history’s elite. Only four Heisman winners have ever been named a Super Bowl MVP -- Roger Staubach, Jim Plunkett, Marcus Allen and Desmond Howard. It’s been nearly 20 years since it last happened, with Howard taking home the Super Bowl MVP award in the Green Bay Packers’ championship win against the New England Patriots in 1997.
As the frontrunner for the NFL MVP award handed out before the Super Bowl, Newton could do what only Marcus Allen has ever done: win a national championship, Super Bowl, Heisman, NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP.
Whether the Panthers win or lose on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara, Newton has already etched his name in the record books. But a Super Bowl ring would make him one of the most accoladed quarterbacks in NFL and college football history.
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