The Year of the Black Quarterback

Heisman-Winner Cameron Newton Helps Lead an Elite Group of Black Passers to New Heights

By DARREN EVERSON and BEN COHEN
WSJ

When Cameron Newton and Darron Thomas square off in college football's upcoming national-title game, everyone will be talking about the two quarterbacks' fleet feet, their accurate arms and their leadership abilities.

The one thing no one is discussing: They're both black.

As the Jan. 10 national-title showdown between Mr. Newton's Auburn Tigers and Mr. Thomas's Oregon Ducks approaches, it's gone virtually unmentioned how black quarterbacks have been the story of the 2010 season. Major-college teams have long had black quarterbacks, of course—Cornelius Greene of Ohio State, Dennis Franklin of Michigan and numerous others operated conservative, run-based offenses back in the 1970s. But never has the achievement level of black quarterbacks been so high.

Mr. Newton, a junior, won the Heisman Trophy, the sport's most-valuable-player award, in a landslide earlier this month. He's both the game's most feared runner—he's 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds—and its top-rated passer. Mr. Thomas, a redshirt sophomore in his first season as a starter, led the highest-scoring offense in major-college football (49 points per game).

It's hardly just them. In the six major conferences—the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10 and Southeastern—six black quarterbacks were named first- or second-team all-conference. That's half of the spots. (A seventh, Michigan's Denard Robinson, was named Big Ten offensive player of the year.) This occurred even though black quarterbacks held less than a third of the 65 starting quarterback positions.

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