Terry Godwin and Elijah Holyfield: From Cam Newton's 7v7 team to his NFL team

[Sir Purr]

Godwin remembers the first practice with Cam’s 7v7 squad like it was yesterday.


“We got into the locker room and his dad, Cecil, was talking to us. And I was like, ‘Man, I thought Cam was going to be here,’” Godwin said. “Then all the sudden you hear this loud voice coming down the hallway and this big man walks in the room and it’s him! He was always full of energy and ready to get after it.”


“It’s pretty crazy,” Holyfield added. “You never think about stuff like that when he’s coaching you – that I could play on his NFL team one day. And here it is.”


Godwin and Holyfield, like all the kids on the 7v7 team, were in awe of Newton.


But things have changed. This is the NFL. This is a production-based business. Newton wants the best for Godwin and Holyfield, who will have to scratch and claw for every opportunity, and that means they need to believe they belong here.


“Cam called me after I was drafted and we both couldn’t believe it,” Godwin said. “It never crossed my mind that me and this guy could one day be on the same team and I could be catching passes from Cam Newton.


“He congratulated me, but he told me he was going to push me when I got up there. He said, ‘There’s no more looking up to me. We’re teammates now.’”