Time to push the Heisman back to Bush (Free the Reggie 1)
By George Somerville
Former USC running back Reggie Bush was sanctioned for receiving payments during his college career outside of NCAA guidelines, and subsequently returned his Heisman award as a result. Following recent news that student athletes can now profit from the use of their names, image and likeness , George sets out the case why Bush should get his Heisman trophy returned:
Ok, full disclosure; my early recollections of college football are that of the fantastic 2005 USC Trojans powerhouse under Pete Carroll, with Matt Leinart at quarterback and the swashbuckling Reggie Bush at running back. There were other superstars in this team such as Clay Matthews and Brian Cushing who would go on to stellar NFL careers. But ask anyone about this team and the names of Leinart and Bush will jump out at you.
I was hooked on college football.
Today in my man cave I have a signed Reggie Bush jersey and a USC helmet with his career statistics penned by the great man himself.
But before I spell out exactly why Reggie Bush – in my opinion – was the best ball carrier the college game has ever seen, let me tell you why you are reading this today of all days.
Well, because this week – on Thursday 1st July to be precise – student athletes are able to earn financially from their name, image and likeness (NIL). Well, in some states anyway. And one of those states is California.
Best Of The Best
And that brings me back to Reggie Bush and the Trojans of Southern California.
For in 2005, Reggie Bush was the dominant offensive player in college football. Let me spell out just how dominant.
In 2005, Bush led the nation in all purpose yards with an average of 222.3 yards per game.
Yes, no need to rub your eyes in disbelief. They aren’t playing tricks. You read that correctly. 222 yards per game. On average.
He also averaged 133.85 rushing yards per game. He set the PAC-10 record for all purpose yards in a game with 513 yards in a game against Fresno State. In that season, Bush carried the ball for 1,740 yards from 200 carries with 16 touchdowns. Amazingly, Bush only started 14 times in 39 games for the Trojans, but finished 10th in NCAA Division 1 history with 6,541 all purpose yards during his relatively short career in college
On December 10th 2005, Reggie Bush received 784 first place votes to win the Heisman trophy in New York. Those 784 first placed votes were the second most first placed votes in Heisman history, behind only OJ Simpson’s 855 votes in 1968. The coincidence being that both players of course were star USC running backs.
In addition to the Heisman, Bush also received the Doak Walker and Walter Camp awards as well as the PAC-10’s offensive player of the year.
In 2005, Reggie Bush was THE man.
Turbulent Times
However, in 2006 reports surfaced that Bush’s family had received gifts from sports agents which were in breach of NCAA regulations. The case went to trial in 2010, and Bush and USC were subsequently found guilty of NCAA violations.
As a result, USC were forced to relinquish the last two wins of their 2004 season (including their win in the Orange Bowl) and the entirety of its fabulous 2005 season. The Trojans were banned from Bowl games in 2010 and 2011, and most importantly the Trojans lost 30 scholarships over 3 seasons. These scholarship restrictions took USC to near irrelevance, and it has been a long road back. Arguably the Trojans are only now in 2021 starting to make headway in recruiting – something Clay Helton gets little credit for, but that’s another story.
And finally, if all of the above wasn’t enough, the NCAA forced USC to disassociate itself from Reggie Bush, with NCAA infractions committee chairman Paul Dee quoted as saying
“High profile players merit high profile enforcement”.
A judge would later comment in a court case over damages that the NCAA conducted the USC investigation with “malice”.
Following the order to disassociate the school from Bush, USC removed all reference and memorabilia in relation to Bush’s career, and in the process returned the school’s copy of the Heisman trophy. Under extreme pressure which quickly followed, Reggie Bush returned his trophy to the committee. To this day the 2005 Heisman award remains without a winner.
Fast Forward To 2021
In 2020, ten years after the NCAA sanctions were handed out, USC declared that their disassociation with Bush had ended.
In an interview with the Athletic in 2020, Bush would say of the sanctions against the school that he
“felt like I died when I heard that there weren’t gonna be scholarships for kids because of me or because of something connected to me”.
Bush went on
“I’m still not over that. It’s just something you learn to live with”.
This week, deliberately timed for July 1st, Bush issued a statement which you can read in its entirety below. In the statement Bush sets out that his various approaches to both the NCAA and Heisman committee around the implementation of the NIL rights are yet to be acknowledged or receive a rely by either group. It should also be noted that Bush voluntarily handed back his Heisman. The NCAA sanctions did not stretch to the Heisman award.
It is of course no surprise that Bush’s quarterback, Matt Leinart immediately came out in support of Bush:
GIVE HIM HIS @HeismanTrophy BACK. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!! @ReggieBush brother for life ✌🏻
— Matt Leinart (@MattLeinartQB) July 1, 2021
However, it won’t come as any surprise that there are two schools of thought on this and that opinion is split.
In one camp, Bush, his family, coaches and representatives were found guilty of payments that were in violation of NCAA rules at that time. Therefore he cheated the rules and needed to be punished.
In the other camp, college football is littered with other similar – and quite frankly far more despicable – acts which have not been subject to the same heavy handed punishment that USC and Bush were given. But when a senior NCAA official says “high profile players merit high profile enforcement”, you know that things are not going to end well.
So did the punishment fit the crime?
The NCAA: Ulterior Motives
Bush’s greatest defence here is that he did not cheat in a way which gave him or his team a competitive advantage. There were no performance enhancing drugs or any bribing of officials. That doesn’t make it right, but the fact that the NCAA took until 2021 to recognise that student athlete’s should gain financial reward from their image rights is perhaps the most egregious act here.
Or perhaps the fact that in 2021 that NCAA is still paying tens of millions of dollars to fight against NIL rights is the real issue.
It is no great surprise that high profile members from the sport and media have spoken in Bush’s defence at the fact that the sanctions – with the benefit of hindsight – were ridiculous compared with the actual wrongdoing.
On ESPN’s Get Up, Paul Finebaum called the situation for what it is, saying
“Yes, he should get his Heisman back”
Finebaum elaborated
“Very rarely does the NCAA go back retrospectively – they’re not going to in this case. But the Heisman trust can, and it’s within their power to say “you know what… after further review, he deserves the Heisman trophy. I think it would send a tremendous message across the Country, if not the world that things have changed. And have they ever after yesterday”.
Since Bush’s statement, the Heisman Trust has ventured to make comment. And it isn’t great news for Bush.
In a statement, the Heisman Trust quoted their rules governing eligibility for the award and that
“the recipient must be in compliance with the bylaws defining an NCAA student athlete.”
The Heisman Trust went further saying that the NCAA must reinstate him before they can give him the award.
“Bush’s 2005 season records remain vacated by the NCAA and, as a result, under the rule set forth by the Heisman Trust and stated on the Heisman Ballot, he is not eligible to be awarded the 2005 Heisman Memorial Trophy. Should the NCAA reinstate Bush’s 2005 status, the Heisman Trust looks forward to welcoming him back to the Heisman family.“
So it’s back in the hands of the NCAA. Therefore, don’t expect comment or action any time soon.
As I said before, this is an organisation that continues to spend tens of millions of dollars defending its rights under NIL. Meaning Reggie Bush is probably the furthest thing from their minds just now. Except maybe – just maybe – public opinion might start to sway their view. THE NCAA is no fan of criticism.
So for what it’s worth.
GIVE REGGIE HIS HEISMAN BACK