AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. JOHN NEWTON

On Monday afternoon, I had a phone interview with Dr. John Newton, father of Morgan; the following is a synopsis of our discussion. During the interview I found Dr. Newton to be very cordial, plain spoken, forward, and sincere of his feelings concerning the state of UK football and in regards to his son as well. I also want to publicly thank Dr. Newton for his time, and energy spent to make this discussion very positive and very cordial—Thank You Dr. Newton!

When asked about Morgan’s athletic talent, Dr. John replied that it was evident early on that Morgan was different (as early as kindergarten). He said that his son always displayed great hand/eye coordination that started with soccer and extended through baseball and basketball in his high school years.

As far, as Morgan’s strengths as a person and athlete, Dr. Newton said that Morgan brings a great calm to any situation and that he always maintains a great sense of focus both athletically and academically.

He also stated that Morgan’s future plans outside of football probably included some type of business or marketing especially International Business. Additionally, Morgan is very fluent in Spanish and might be able to use that skill in order to open future business opportunities.

It was particularly interesting in how Morgan came to UK. The decision was a multi-layered approach with family, coaches and teachers involved in the process. The criteria used to establish the process included audits which were used to determine the best fit. The criteria included: a pro style offense, a preferably SEC school (he wanted to go south), academics, and the fact that Morgan wanted to play early. When the audit sheets were made, family, teachers and coaches were told to eliminate 10 schools from the original 20. After the top 10 schools were selected, the same process was then reapplied to them at which time 7 schools stood out amongst the top 10. From there it was basically down to Florida, South Carolina, and UK, with the CATS coming out on top almost every time.

I then asked him how the family had supported Morgan during his 1st yr at UK. He told me that there were 2 obvious stages to this question. Before Morgan became a starter the support was towards reassuring Morgan that you do not always get everything that you want in life when you want it. Additionally, they reassured Morgan that he needed to continue to stay in the game mentally and that his time would come.

The 2nd stage, of supporting Morgan was from when he started getting playing time and how the focus had changed to “staying on top”, being focused on learning how to progress with the team, and to remember the things that were important to be successful.

As far as the Wildcat fanbase, John said that he was sympathetic to the cause. He understands the frustration of the fans, knows that it is a tremendous challenge, and wants the program to be successful. He did think that it was quite unrealistic that the fans wanted Morgan to be Peyton Manning and not understand that he was not at Spring Practice as a participant, and that it was going to take time for Morgan to progress as a starting QB just like everyone else that has played the position at the college level (again, he is very correct on this issue).

Newton also says that in order for his son to improve, he stated that has encouraged him to get in the film room on a consistent basis and know his opponents (at this point he used Florida as an example and stated that Morgan needs to get to learn Florida now, as in right now and not after the season starts which is a very astute observation! He then stated that Morgan must do the same for all the opponents that UK will face for the ’10 season). He also stated that Morgan needs to work on his quickness and spend time with the offense as a unit finding out which patterns the receivers like and working on throwing to them as well. He specifically brought up the fact that the offense must get to 100% perfection every single time IE blocking schemes, route running, etc and all at the same time (again, he obviously understands football).

Dr. Newton’s opinion of the program is very high. He thinks that recruiting is good and will get even better and that the 2009 class was a fantastic class especially by Kentucky standards. He spoke glowingly of Ridge Wilson, Qua Huzzie, and Dakotah Tyler and how it would be these type players that will move Kentucky towards being a powerhouse in college football.

It is obvious from the interview that the Newton family is very proud of Morgan (and they should be). Dr. Newton stated that Morgan has worked hard to get where he is and that he will continue to do so because Morgan takes great pride in being successful and will be in time at UK.

Finally, I asked what he thought about the upcoming ’10 season for Wildcat Football his response “I look for them to contend for and win the SEC Championship” Enough said!