Cam Newton’s journey from Atlanta to the heights of NFL stardom took him to several different pit stops along the way. Before he starred at Auburn University, he played at a junior college in Brenham, Texas. But before those places? A 17-year-old Cam Newton got his first authentic taste of the collegiate experience at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Newton, now 36, recalled his initial experience in college on an episode of T.I.’s “expediTIously with Tip T.I. Harris” podcast and considered the first time he had teammates that didn’t look like him was the first time he felt “equal” to them.
“That was the first time I was around Caucasians on a regular basis that we were in some way, shape, or form equal,” Newton explained. “Being in Atlanta, on the south side of Atlanta, the only time you experience or you come into contact with a Caucasian is because that Caucasian is in a senior position, a teacher, a coach, a officer.”
“So now I’m walking around white people as teammates. Like I don’t know how to interact with [them],” Newton continued, detailing the experience as “weird.”
“So, it be crazy to me when people be saying ‘This this person is racist’ or this that and the third,” Newton added. “I’m saying that person just don’t know because when you really talk to people and you start to say, ‘When was the first time you came into contact on a regular basis with a person that didn’t match your gender, your race, your ethnicity, your religion, all in the melting pot,’ you will be shocked at what you find.”
Newton’s time in Gainesville didn’t last long. He transferred from Florida in 2008 following a theft charge and later rose to college football superstardom while at Auburn in 2010. In his conversation with T.I., Newton explained why hitting rock bottom helped reshape his outlook on his future.
Newton’s openness about his upbringing and adolescence has come to light on multiple occasions recently. Last month, he sat down with T.D. Jakes’ for the longtime pastor’s iHeartPodcast “NXT Chapter,” and revealed his views on marriage sometimes get misconstrued.
“It’s always misunderstood about my thought process of marriage,” Newton says. “I think for me growing up in church, my expectations of what marriage looked like was pristine.” As he grew older, he learned more about adult matters and the reasons behind people’s divorces. “You start to realize, ‘Y’all values of marriage ain’t the same that I was used to.’”
