Newton gets start Friday for Carolina

SPARTANBURG, S.C., Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Cam Newton, the NFL's No. 1 overall draft pick last spring, will start Friday at quarterback for the Carolina Panthers in an exhibition against Miami.

Newton is coming off a season in which he led Auburn to the BCS title and won the Heisman Trophy. Panthers Coach Ron Rivera said giving Newton the start Friday is part of a plan to rotate the team's quarterbacks in the pre-season.

Newton is expected to play the first quarter with the first-team offense and Jimmy Clausen would come in for the second quarter.

Clausen got the start in the Panthers' first pre-season game, a 20-10 win over the New York Giants. Newton saw playing time and completed 8-of-19 passes for 134 yards. The team's other quarterback, Derek Anderson, also played.

"We're doing like we did last week where Cam came in and played with that first group in the second quarter," Rivera said. "We want to make sure everybody gets an opportunity to play and work with the guys, and we feel it's important to keep that competition going."

Carolina hasn't announced who will be the starter when the regular season begins.

Rivera said, "Sometime next week we'd like to have a real good feel for what we're going to do as we go into the regular season."