Former Howard quarterback Caylin Newton has finally announced that he will follow in the footsteps of his older brother and spend his remaining eligibility as a grad student at Auburn. Newton graduated from Howard this month and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Newton tweeted his decision Friday evening, nearly seven months after he made a similar announcement that he would be transferring from Howard. Newton's brother Cam, of course, had one of the all-time great individual seasons in program (and college football) history in 2010 when he scored 51 total touchdowns, won the Heisman Trophy and led the Tigers to a BCS national championship.
Caylin will be immediately eligible to play, though Auburn already has an established starter in Bo Nix. The sophomore had his ups-and-downs in 2019 but still threw for more than 2,500 yards and 16 touchdowns while adding another seven scores on the ground on his way to being named the SEC's Freshman of the Year.
Newton entered the transfer portal midway through last season, though he preserved his a redshirt season by only participating in four games. That was just enough to keep an extra season under the NCAA's recent redshirt modifications. Howard was 1-5 when Newton announced he would be transferring with its only win coming against Delaware State.
Newton does have a history of success, though. He is best known for helping Howard upset UNLV 43-40 as a true freshman in Week 1 of the 2017 season. It was the biggest upset in the history of college football by point spread, as the Bison were 45-point road dogs. He was later named the 2017 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Rookie of the Year and the 2018 MEAC Offensive Player of the Year.
