Cam Newton won one national championship in his college football career. However, behind it was a huge story of proving skeptics wrong. Overshadowed by Tim Tebow during their stint with the Florida Gators, Newton faced a constant struggle. Then head coach Urban Meyer was not very optimistic about Newton, but the former quarterback used that snub as fuel.

“Urban Meyer told me I could not get a national championship ring even though I was on that team to get it,” Newton shared on the Ringer Tailgate podcast on September 3. “It was a vow to myself. If you didn’t want to give me one, I will go get my own. I was sharing a locker with an individual that they believed was better than me.

“I was sharing a locker with a person or sharing a locker room with an individual that they believed was better than me. Yes, he was great, but I didn’t believe he was better than me. And if sometimes you take even the most smallest chip to put on your shoulder to make you become a better version of yourself, do it. I played behind Tebow. I did not think that Tebow was better than me, but I had to prove it”

Newton spent two years at Florida backing up Tim Tebow before eventually transferring to Blinn, and then Auburn. He won a National Championship as the Tigers’ starting quarterback, and went on to win the 2010 Heisman Trophy. The Carolina Panthers drafted Newton as the first overall pick in the 2011 draft.

Before achieving all that greatness, however, Newton had set a bad reputation in Florida. Apart from his arrest in November 2008, the quarterback was seen as a “goofy” figure in the locker room, according to former cornerback Markihe Anderson.

“He wasn’t always putting his best foot forward [as a backup],” former Gators running back Brandon James told ESPN. “Guys would always speak to him, remind him to take things seriously — ‘You’re going to be special.’ It kind of clicked for him with the bumps in the road away from Florida, but he needed that time to develop.

Even Dan Mullen, who was the offensive coordinator at Florida from 2005-08, believed that Newton was more talented than Tebow. But Meyer refused to hand over the reins to Newton. 

“You better get the National Guard in front of your house if you are going to play Cam Newton over Tim Tebow, I’m going to make sure everybody knows where you live,” Mullen recalled Meyer saying.

It is very difficult to separate Newton and Tebow. Tebow had two national titles, while Newton won one. Both won the Heisman Trophy. However, Newton’s phenomenal final year at Auburn is often regarded as the best in college football history, in which the Tigers remained unbeaten. He also emerged as one of the best recruits in JUCO football during his time at Blinn.

“The first time I met him, I knew there was something special about him,” Blinn football coach Brad Franchione said. “The way he spoke, the way he looked you in the eye, the way he reached out and shook your hand. … I knew there was something special.”

Tebow was drafted 25th overall in the 2010 draft, a year before Newton. The latter’s journey to redemption is nothing short of extraordinary. However, Tebow believes that Newton was an opponent worthy of fighting.

“This is one of the most gifted young men I’ve ever been around,” Tebow said on First Take. “He’s also one of the most contagious young men I’ve ever been around. We had so much fun. He talks about me pushing him, but he pushed me to the nth degree in so many different ways with his joy, his love for life, how happy he was, his physical ability, his want to be great.”

Both quarterbacks went on to script their own legacies with their respective teams. But the fire in Newton refuses to be put out years later.