From Westlake High School to Florida to Blinn to Auburn to Carolina, if there’s one thing Cam Newton’s journey taught us it’s that the work won’t frighten him. As he says in the latest episode of Under Armour’s “Huddle Up” video series, success is a verb. It’s about his will, his desire, his heart, what he gives for the game.
“People are successful because of what the do,” Newton says. “Your actions make you successful.”
It started as a boy in Atlanta, doing the work when others weren’t looking, his father Cecil driving that mentality into him. In high school, Cam realized he couldn’t expect a Division I scholarship if he didn’t do Division I things. Now he knows he can’t expect to continue making Pro Bowls, can’t expect to win a Super Bowl unless he does the work.
The critics fuel him, too, the ones saying he can’t win the big game or he’s not a pocket passer or he won’t be the same after his ankle injury. He’ll answer them one workout at a time, one rep at a time.
He’s giving that attitude to his 7-on-7 All-Star team this summer, the same lessons about adversity that his father once taught him.
“Will,” Newton says, “is having a shared determination in your mind that you will not surrender. You will not give up.”
Follow the series at UA.com/HuddleUp, and join the conversation on Twitter via #HUDDLEUP.
