Former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond told ESPN.com a teammate of Bond’s at Mississippi State in the early 1980s contacted him soon after Newton’s official visit to Mississippi State during the Ole Miss game in December, and said he was representing Newton.
“He said it would take some cash to get Cam,” Bond said. “I called our athletic director, Greg Byrne, and he took it from there. That was pretty much it.”
Multiple sources told ESPN.com that Mississippi State called the SEC office with Bond’s information shortly after he brought it to the attention of the school.
Bond said the former teammate told him other schools had already offered $200,000, but since Newton really liked Mississippi State and had a relationship with head coach Dan Mullen dating to when both were at Florida, Mississippi State could get him for $180,000.
“I have no agenda other than protecting Mississippi State,” Bond said. “We’ve done what we were supposed to do from the very beginning. Mississippi State has done nothing wrong, and I’ve done nothing wrong. It’s been handed off to the NCAA, and it’s in their hands now. I don’t know what happened at Auburn. I don’t know why he went to Auburn. That’s not my concern. My concern is Mississippi State and making sure this doesn’t cause us any trouble.”
