And Cam Newton's father wanted schools to pay him $180,000 for the right to sign the quarterback to a scholarship.
Newton showed that it's possible to clean up one's reputation by doing the right things. While Auburn can now say Newton's time at the school was worth more than $100 million to the star athlete, Newton now has revealed something else he received from the university.
A degree.
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PEOPLE is reporting that the fifth-year NFL quarterback earned his bachelor's degree in Sociology from Auburn last month, four years after he left school to embark on his professional football career. He finished school by attending classes during the spring semesters since he joined the Carolina Panthers.
Newton told PEOPLE that he was intent on completing his education to please two people: himself and his mother.
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"It wasn't about money," he told PEOPLE. "I wanted to finish something I started. I value a lot of things in my life, including education. I now have a degree, and nobody can take that away from me. It was very important to me to become a college graduate - not for anyone else, but for myself."
He also promised his mother, Jackie
But if he's being honest, Newton did have another important motivation. When he left college for the NFL, he promised his mother, Jackie, that he would eventually finish his degree. "Everyone else has always been worried about the football side of things, but not my mother," he says. "My education was my mother's top priority. I've been blessed to have a family that supports me. It's a Biblical quote: iron sharpens iron. My mother has always been there to sharpen me."
Newton was suspended for one day on Nov. 30, 2010 in light of allegations that his father Cecil had asked Mississippi State to pay him in exchange for his son signing there to play football
An NCAA investigation released in 2011 revealed that Newton's father and ex-Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers sought anywhere from $120,000 to $180,000 from the school to sign Newton. A report said neither Cecil Newton nor Rogers asked money from any other school.
A source told ESPN that an "emotional" Cam Newton called a Mississippi State recruiter to apologize that he couldn't go to that school because Cecil had decided he was going to Auburn because "the money was too much."
How silly that whole episode seems now that Newton has just laid claim to his $103.8 million contract, an NFL-record $60 million of which is fully guaranteed. The quarterback who has a 31-33-1 record in the NFL, is scheduled to make $31 million in 2015, thanks to a $22.5 million signing bonus, a $7.5 million roster bonus and an actual $1 million salary.
He told PEOPLE he will focus more on his Cam Newton Foundation to help disadvantaged kids achieve their educational goals, now that he has completed his college degree requirements.
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