Cam Newton Names State With Best Pure Athletes

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Grant Bricker | Last updated Jul 26, 2025 4:58 PM ET

Auburn Tigers Heisman (2010) winner Cam Newton has ties to the state of Alabama from his college football days, but he knows where his true loyalties lie.

He was a member of the 2007 class and a native of Atlanta, Georgia, attending Westlake High School.

Many people think the best states for high school athletes are Texas, Florida, or California. On a recent episode of "4th&1 with Cam Newton," he chose his home state of Georgia, regardless of the position in football.

The discussion was in response to MaxPreps revealing that Georgia had 16 of the Top 100 High School Football Teams in the preseason rankings.

"When you talking about pure athlete, you know, in any sport, who's gonna always have a representative there?" Newton asked. "Georgia. …You wanna go get a good lineman? You may go to the Midwest, but our failsafe is Georgia. Man, you wanna go get a quarterback? Yeah, we may go to California. Yeah, we gonna go to Texas, maybe Florida, but you can go to Georgia."

Newton threw for 2,854 passing yards, 30 touchdowns and seven interceptions during his Heisman-winning season. On the ground, he rushed for 1,473 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Another Auburn quarterback was the topic of discussion with Greg McElroy on a recent episode of "Always College Football." McElroy predicted a rough transition for Oklahoma Sooners gunslinger Jackson Arnold at Auburn.

Arnold has had turnover problems in the past, throwing three interceptions and fumbling nine times in 2024.

While McElroy highlighted how difficult Auburn could be for Arnold, he also believed the Tigers would improve the most out of all the SEC teams.

Auburn's 2025 season starts against the Baylor Bears on August 29.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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