Cam Newton Appears at Mizzou's Practice: Fall Camp Notebook 8/17

Cam Newton appearing at a Mizzou fall camp practice could not have been on many bingo cards ahead of fall camp, but here we are. The 2015 NFL Most Valuable Player was spotted tossing around a few balls at practice Monday.

Here’s Cam Newton zipping an underhand ball at #Mizzou’s practice.

Newton and transfer wideout Cayden Lee have a close relationship. pic.twitter.com/284w3EOGNX
— Killian Wright (@byKillianWright) August 17, 2026

Newton has a close relationship with transfer wideout Cayden Lee, who said Newton helped him decide to commit to Missouri in the latest portal cycle.

“We have a really good relationship,” Lee said of Newton. “He’s just been an amazing mentor to me, just helping me just make this decision. I was on the phone with him several, several times. He was just like, ‘What are all the options? What are the different plays?’ and kind of just helped me weigh out the pros and cons, and he felt like this was a good decision for me.”

During the six periods the media were allowed to view, Newton was not seen working with quarterbacks or receivers, instead hovering between the fields and tossing a ball around with what appeared to be a few staff members.

Notebook, observations of practice

Newton was the only guest appearance, as scouts from the Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers and what looked to be the New York Giants were observing from the sidelines. The Dolphins and Steelers have had scouts at prior practices. The Dolphins selected Kevin Coleman Jr. in the 2025 NFL Draft, while the Steelers picked up Daylan Carnell in the days following, but did release him later on in the offseason.

Special Teams

There was some strong wind blowing while the Tigers' kickers opened practice. Blake Craig went 2-for-3 on field goals, missing the furthest one out, although there was a helicopter flying directly overhead at the time of Craig's miss.

Brunno Reus went 1-for-2, missing his furthest kick, and Oliver Robbins missed his lone attempt. During previous periods in which the media viewed kicks, all three had been pretty consistent, although Eli Drinkwitz did speak on the need for Craig's consistency over the weekend.

"We got to get consistency out of Blake," Drinkwitz said Saturday. "You know, today was not his most consistent day kicking field goals, which is surprising because he's had two really good days before. So this is something we got to work on."

Craig is back to full strength after missing nearly the entire 2025 season with a torn ACL, and his presence will be key to Missouri's success.

Spotted fielding kick returns were the usual crew: DaMarion Fowlkes, Naeshaun Montgomery, Donovan Olugbode, Cayden Lee, Shaun Terry, Devyon Hill-Lomax, Preston Hatfield and Xai'Shaun Edwards.

There were a couple more bodies in the group, each of which were difficult to identify due to the viewing angle. Hill-Lomax, a three-star freshman wideout, is the only one I haven't noticed taking kicks before.

Skill Positions

The quarterbacks were working on some shuffle movement in the pocket with quarterbacks coach Garrett Riley attempting to simulate pressure from behind. After that, they worked on short throws to wideouts who had to break through contact immediately after the catch.

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