The 30 best college football quarterbacks of the 21st century

• Heisman Trophy winner (2010)
• Consensus All-American (2010)
• Walter Camp Award (2010), Maxwell Award (2010), Davey O’Brien Award (2010)
• 2X BCS National Champion (2008, 2010)

Originally a 4-star recruit by the Florida Gators, Cam Newton’s early college football career seemed to point more towards disaster than it did towards becoming one of the sport’s all-time greats. He was a little-used backup as both a freshman and sophomore in Gainesville behind Tim Tebow, thus affording him little opportunity to prove himself.

Even worse, Newton was arrested on felony charges stemming from a stolen laptop of a fellow student in 2008, which ultimately led to his transfer. He landed at Blinn College, a junior college in Texas, for the next season, winning a Juco National Championship. His performance there ultimately piqued the interest of the Auburn Tigers, where he landed for the 2010 season.

Newton earned the starting job at Auburn and rightfully so. Furthermore, the physically imposing signal-caller completely dominated everyone in sight after he took the job. Newton threw for 2,854 yards on just 280 attempts and threw 30 touchdowns to just seven interceptions on the year. Oh, and let’s not forget that he also rushed for 1,473 yards and 20 touchdowns on the year, and also added a touchdown reception to his credit.

For his unreal efforts that season, Newton was able to capture the Heisman. Moreover, his production helped lead Auburn to a 14-0 season as they topped Oregon in the BCS National Championship Game.

In truth, Newton’s place in history is hard to peg given that it was just one year of being a starter. However, given that how great that one year was and just how memorable he was — for better or worse — I have to give him his due and put him at No. 4.