Cam Newton saw firsthand how intense the Florida football locker room was during the program’s heyday under Urban Meyer, and Newton believes the Netflix documentary released in 2023 left far too much out.
Speaking about the doc Untold: Swamp Kings, as part of a wide-ranging interview on Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharpe, released Wednesday, Newton explained what he saw in Florida that the film hid away.
“I was so disappointed in the documentary because they left out so much,” Newton said. “Go talk to Percy (Harvin). Go talk to Charlie Strong. Go talk to Joe Haden. Ask them the real. They would have did that s*** for free, f*** all the Netflix deals.
“We want to tell the real story? That was a very toxic locker room, where we still had success, but damn, it was a combination of a lot of talent that was boiling over. And there was times where it was just unmanageable, and there was times where it was a thing of beauty. Where it was a competition every day, every practice. We competed.”
Newton was Tebow’s backup in 2007 and 2008 when the Gators won a national championship.
Newton believes the Untold doc glossed over quarterback Tim Tebow’s sharp edges. Tebow is one of the more beloved characters in college sports history, but Newton said he contributed to the high-strung competitive fire among Gators players, for better and worse.
“Even though Tim Tebow was a person I wanted to be better than, Tim Tebow made everybody better. Because he competed,” Newton said. “That energy that he had, that screaming, that ‘raw’ and the ‘argh,’ that’s something that I could connect with. And he connected with everybody else.”
The Untold Sports documentary series on Netflix is highly acclaimed. But while the subjects of the films open up and go deep into their lives, it is understood that the streamer likely pays the most.
The film was criticized upon its release for ignoring several instances of violence among players, including most notably, tight end Aaron Hernandez allegedly being involved in a murder while on the team.
Newton believes Netflix went to the wrong people from that Florida team if they wanted the truth about what it was like playing there.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.