Auburn Tigers coach Gene Chizik was on 790 The Zone's Barnhart & Durham show this week to talk Cam Newton's NFL Draft prospects and pro future, Auburn's QB situation, Nick Fairley, and HATERS. It will not astound you to learn Chizik thinks Newton will be an excellent pro quarterback despite the concerns of "so called experts":
Well you know what there's one thing I know about Cameron Newton. He's as mentally tough as they come and the shots he's taking are probably from people exactly like you said they don't know Cam. I was very blessed to be around this young man every day for one year. There's a lot of so called ‘experts' out there, but I know this the experts I know are GM's and head coaches. Those are the guys I've spoke to.
The other guys that are so called ‘experts' if they were they would be GM's and head coaches, but they're not. I don't know what they have to say, but more than likely it's probably one man's opinion who hasn't spent more than 48 hours around Cameron because if you did you would know who he is, you would know what he is all about, and I say that as a guy who's lived it with him.
Again, I couldn't recommend him any higher, not only just a phenomenal athlete, I mean what he did speaks for itself on the field, but off the field you know I can vouch for this being a great young man and he's going to have a great career in the NFL.
Newton is currently the likely No. 1 pick. We'll find out for sure in just a few hours.
The first round of the 2011 NFL Draft starts at 8 p.m. (ET) on Thursday, April 28, and SB Nation has everything you need to prepare: NFL mock drafts, draft projections, scouting reports, the full NFL draft schedule and more. Check it out at SB Nation's NFL Draft page and our NFL Draft blog, Mocking the Draft.