By Roscoe Nance
Howard University quarterback Caylin Newton asks that he be excused for not being overjoyed with being named the 2018 MEAC Offensive Player of the Year.
It’s not that Newton is pooh-poohing the award and doesn’t appreciate the honor. But for him the ring is the thing, and the Bison fell short – and by a wide margin – in their quest to win the MEAC championship and the ring and the Celebration Bowl berth that come with it.
That renders all the individual honors that are coming his way virtually meaningless to him.
“It’s kind of bittersweet for me,” the sophomore signal-caller said. “It’s a lot of great athletes who come out of the MEAC (who have been Player of the Year). Obviously, you appreciate the individual accolades and achievements. But you would love to play in the championship game (the Celebration Bowl). I am happy for the award. I don’t take it for granted. I really appreciate the voters who voted for me and thought I was deserving of the award. But I would really enjoy a ring. No offense.”
As one of the four finalists for the Black College Hall of Fame Deacon Jones Player of the Year Award, Newton attended the Celebration Bowl, which was played in his hometown of Atlanta. He and the other finalists were recognized during halftime of MEAC champion North Carolina A&T State’s 24-22 victory over SWAC champion Alcorn State.
“For me, it was bittersweet,” he said. “People are praising me and saying ‘Congratulations on winning the award.’ Deep down, I’m pretty much hurt because I was at the Celebration Bowl. I was rooting for North Carolina A&T State to represent the MEAC well, and they did. But it was hard watching the game being a competitor knowing you want to be in the game. It’s a dream come true to play in that game.”
Newton took the MEAC by storm in 2017 and was named MEAC Rookie of the Year after passing for 2,432 yards and 13 touchdowns and racking up 3,185 total yards. He was even better by every statistical measure in 2018, as he threw for 2,629 yards and 22 touchdowns and gained 3,133 yards.
But the Bison’s 4-6 record paled in comparison to their 7-4 mark and third-place finish in the MEAC in 2017. That is the crux of Newton’s lack of enthusiasm about being named the conference’s top offensive player.
“It was a very disappointing season,” he said. “A lot of losses that we had were wins the year before. A lot of close games, we were able to come out on top. That wasn’t the case last year. That’s what hurt us, not winning those close games. That was the difference-maker in terms of going to the postseason and going home.”
The Bison’s motto for the 2018 season was We Want More following their 2017 turnaround campaign. Newton places the blame squarely on his own shoulders for them not achieving more, even though his statistics say clearly that he wasn’t to blame.
“I would say everything was on me,” he said. “You can always do more. Going into next year, trying to be a better leader will be one of the things I’ll be working on. When stuff hits the fan, somebody has to keep their cool and bring the team together and keep us focused, locked in and on the same page. I feel like there were a couple of times this season when the offense was separate from the defense, or somebody was waiting on the next guy to make a play. Everybody has to just put their head down and make the play, and we’re all good.”
Newton emerged as the MEAC’s top dual-threat quarterback in 2017, as opponents weren’t aware of his skills coming into the season and weren’t prepared to deal with him. It was a different story in 2018. Teams had a year’s worth of video on him to study and were able to gear their defenses to contain him. Newton adjusted to opponents’ adjustments, as his stats bear out, but still he isn’t pleased with himself.
“Obviously, teams didn’t know what to expect (in 2017),” he said. “We caught a lot of teams off-guard with our offense. This year, teams did know. We weren’t going to sneak up on anybody. As players, as coaches, we needed to adjust, like what works, communicating on the sidelines. We lacked that. That all came down to me… communicating with the receivers, why we’re not completing certain passes and making it happen. At the end of the day, results are what’s key.”
Because the team took a step backward in terms of its results, Newton says his season wasn’t superior to his 2017 performance, regardless of what the statistics might say.
“Personally, I don’t feel like I had a better year (than in 2017),” he said. “Coaches always throw out the question to me, ‘Are you a stat guy or are you a winner?’ I don’t feel like I had a better year because our record was worse than my first year. You don’t go into a season saying, ‘I’m gong to win this award’ or ‘I’m going to do this.’ That’s not really the goal going into a season. The goal is winning the championship. I didn’t have a better season because we didn’t win. A quarterback’s job is to make sure you get wins. I didn’t do that.”
Even though the Bison took a step backwards record-wise, Newton was nothing less than scintillating as he produced a highlight reel full of jaw-dropping performances. He had 532 total yards in the Bison’s season-opening loss to Ohio University, an FBS opponent that earned a berth in the Frisco Bowl after finishing third in the Mid-American Conference East Division with an 8-4 record.
It was the third-highest single-game total offense output in program history.
The contest that stands out in Newton’s mind is the Bison’s matchup with Bethune-Cookman in the Circle City Classic in Indianapolis. He threw for 301 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for an additional 40 yards. Those numbers pale in comparison to those he put up against Ohio University. But the Bison came away with a 41-35 victory, and that made all the difference to Newton.
“We played as a unit,” he said. “I really enjoyed that game. We played as a unit. We all had one. That was the one game we played as a total team. Not to be so negative. We had talent coming back, and me being a competitor I am, that why I feel the way I do.”
This time two years ago, neither Newton nor anyone else could have predicted that he would be in line for anytime.
“I always had big dreams,” he said. “But I was only attacking what was in front of me. When I came to Howard, I was third string. The only thing that was on my mind was getting on the field. Before that, I was thinking about winning championships and doing things other players haven’t done. Those are still some of my goals. But when I first got to Howard, I was only focused on getting on the field by any means necessary.”
Newton was so focused on getting on the field during preseason practice of his freshman year that he was receptive when the coaching staff considered moving him to the defensive secondary to take advantage of his athleticism.
“When you take care of what’s in front of you, everything else handles itself,” he said. “You’ll have All-Americans if you win; people will be up for awards if you win. I never worried about that.”
Newton was named the Bison’s starter just days ahead of Howard’s 2017 season opener. Howard was a 45-point underdog to UNLV, but he guided the Bison to a 43-40 victory in what the Associated Press described as the biggest upset ever in a college game with a point spread. Newton had 330 yards of total offense – 190 rushing and 140 passing.
Newton was feared more as a runner than a passer in 2017, and he worked in the offseason to develop his passing skills. He completed 51.3 percent of his pass attempts in 2018, compared to 50.5 percent a year ago, and he ran the ball 10 fewer times and gained almost 250 fewer yards.
“I really wanted to be more of a pocket passer and run when I need to run,” he said. “That worked to my benefit some and some not to my benefit and took away from me being a playmaker. In the first game of the season I threw for like over 400 yards. I was like, ‘Man, I can throw.’ My confidence was up sky high. My dad would always say, ‘Teams are going to scout. You can’t do the same thing game after game.’ He was right.
“You have to have patience in the game. You have to get a feel for the game. Is it going to be a passing game, or am I going to be a playmaker where I take off? Do I have just be a decoy where I hand the ball off and carry out my fake? That’s what I learned. I wouldn’t I got better at it, letting the game come to me. Being a playmaker, you always want to be the guy who makes the play. Sometimes you can hurt the team by trying to make the play.”
That’s the last thing Newton would ever want to do, because it wouldn’t contribute to winning, and that’s what he’s all about.