Former Auburn QB Cam Newton weighs in on Netflix’s “Swamp Kings”
There was a time before coming to Auburn — where he helped pilot the Tigers to a national championship win in 2010 and won the Heisman Trophy in the same year — that Cam Newton was next in line to be the quarterback at the University of Florida.
Newton backed up Florida’s Tim Tebow during the 2007 and 2008 seasons before his time in Gainesville ended prematurely after being charged with burglary, larceny and obstruction of justice for being in possession of a stolen laptop.
Newton went on to have his charges dropped after completing a pre-trial diversion program and eventually enrolled at Blinn College, where he led the Buccaneers to a NJCAA national championship, before transferring to Auburn in 2010.
Nonetheless, Newton was a small piece of Florida’s national championship-winning team in 2008, but has yet to receive a championship ring from the Gators, who were recently featured in Netflix’s “Untold: Swamp Kings” — a documentary about the Florida football program through the years of 2006-09.
“I never received a national championship ring from the University of Florida,” Newton said in a TikTok video posted on Wednesday. “But that’s another conversation for a different day.”
Newton then proceeded to give his thoughts on the “Swamp Kings” documentary, in which he had one main gripe.
“Some of the things I did not like about the documentary was how they played Chris Leak, in my opinion,” Newton said. “They were saying things like, ‘We were just one quarterback away.’ Like bro, Chris Leak was that Mother F—er.
“Let’s not forget how pretty of a ball he threw, started as a freshman in the SEC from Independence High School out of Charlotte. Like, what are we talking about?”
Leak was the starting quarterback at Florida from 2003-06, passing for more than 11,200 yards, 88 touchdowns and 42 interceptions, while also leading the Gators to a national championship win in 2006.
Backing up Leak was Tebow, who took the reins of the Gators’ offense as a sophomore in 2007 and won the Heisman Trophy in that same year.
“Granted, Tebow was everything and some,” Newton added. “But bro, let’s not try to dim the lights of Chris Leak.”
In addition to the docuseries’ portrayal of Leak, Newton also wished watchers had the opportunity to hear from former Florida running back Percy Harvin, defensive back Joe Haden and offensive linemen Mike and Maurkice Pouncey.
“There was so much that they left off,” Newton said of “Swamp Kings. “But, other than that, it was a good documentary.”