BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Did you see where Cam and Cecil Newton were in the news Tuesday for different reasons?

Cam for getting paid. Better late than never.

Cecil, again, because he tried to get paid too soon.

By the look of it, patience pays a whole lot better than impatience.

With the NFL lockout over and contract negotiations off to the races, the Charlotte Observer reported that the No. 1 overall draft pick out of Auburn is in line for a four-year, $22-million deal with the Panthers.

That's not Sam Bradford money, thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement. Just the same, Newton should be able to afford a bigger, better ride than the scooter he used at Auburn.

Meanwhile, Newton's father made headlines, too, when the NCAA announced that its Division I Amateurism Cabinet had proposed new legislation designed to close a loophole that Auburn slipped through en route to the BCS title.

FYI: From what we're told, as of Tuesday afternoon, Auburn had yet to receive either a Notice of Inquiry or a Notice of Allegations from an NCAA investigation still in search of closure.

Since the elder Newton's actions helped inspire the new NCAA proposal, it's only fair it should bear his name if it becomes actual legislation.

Call it the Cecil Newton rule.

(Quick aside: The NCAA has an Amateurism Cabinet? With all the money flying around major college football, over and under the table, amateurism doesn't need a cabinet. It barely needs a shelf.)

Kevin Scarbinsky is a columnist for The Birmingham News. His column is published on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

In case you and Gene Chizik have forgotten, the NCAA found one member of the Newton family guilty of breaking the rules last year. As much as some Auburn fans want to believe that Kenny Rogers tied down Cecil Newton and forced him to listen to Rogers' scheme to squeeze money out of Mississippi State, that's not the way the NCAA said things went down.

Remember the official ruling after Auburn declared Cam Newton ineligible the week of the SEC Championship Game and the NCAA reinstated him without conditions?

"According to the facts of the case agreed upon by Auburn University and the NCAA enforcement staff," the NCAA said, Cecil Newton and Rogers, a former Mississippi State player, "worked together to actively market (Cam Newton) as a part of a pay-for-play scenario" at State.

The trouble was, the NCAA had no specific rule to cover that set of established facts because Newton didn't go to State and there was no evidence that any money changed hands or that his dad solicited Auburn.

The new proposal attempts to cover that situation going forward. It applies to family members and other third parties that act like an agent and try to get paid.

Mike Rogers, Baylor's faculty athletics rep, is chairman of the Amateurism Cabinet. He told NCAA.org that the proposal is designed to cover "an industry of individuals," including runners, marketing reps, financial advisers and street agents.

"These third parties operate free of any governing body's jurisdiction, and, historically, they do not trigger the NCAA definition of agent," Rogers said. "For the NCAA to regulate these individuals, the cabinet believes the definition of an agent must be expanded."

It'll be up to the Division I Leadership Council, which will review the proposal next week, and the Division I Legislative Council, which can pass it as early as January, to decide if the new definition is too broad.

In the proposal, agents are defined as any individuals that:

"Represent or attempt to represent a prospective or current student-athlete in the marketing of his or her athletics ability or reputation for financial gain. Or ...

"Seek to obtain any type of financial gain or benefit from securing a prospect's enrollment at an institution or a student-athlete's potential earnings as a professional athlete."

The key phrases that would appear to cover what the NCAA said Cecil Newton did: "attempt to represent a prospect" and "seek to obtain financial gain" for his enrollment.

Jo Potuto, Nebraska's NCAA faculty rep and a former Infractions Committee member, told the AP the proposal "is broader than Cam Newton" because it applies to third parties beyond family members.

Good point, but around here, no player has left a deeper footprint than the former Auburn quarterback.

And no family member has stepped on a player's legacy more than his father.

Drop a civil comment below. Write Kevin at kscarbinsky@bhamnews.com. Follow him at www.Twitter.com/KevinScarbinsky.