Caylin Newton, Cameron's younger brother, made his first collegiate appearance for Howard University as its quarterback at UNLV on Sept. 2, 2017. That was also the first game as Bison coach for Mike London.
Howard, an FCS school from the MEAC (a league with 11 historically Black colleges), had received a large guarantee to play in Las Vegas. The Bison won 43-40 as 45-point underdogs, with Newton accounting for 330 yards.
"That was the last time Bison athletics were in the national spotlight," said Chuck Whitlock, a 2015 Howard graduate. "Then we lost our coach a year later. London went to William & Mary."
Now Caylin Newton is a graduate transfer to Auburn — his brother's school for one semester and a national championship — with two years of eligibility remaining.
Which is OK, since on Friday morning, an upset much larger than being 45-point underdogs in football fell in Howard's favor:
Makur Maker, a 6-foot-11, Kenyan-born, much-traveled prep player in Canada and the U.S., made a commitment as a five-star basketball recruit to attend Howard in Washington, D.C.
"I'm ecstatic," Whitlock said. "We've heard about big recruits making visits to Howard, but the idea of getting one of those players — beating out schools like Kentucky — didn't seem possible.
"Now, I'm just hoping we can get the pandemic under control, so we can have a season."
