Reggie Bush gets his 2005 Heisman Trophy back, as the Heisman Trust announced Wednesday the formal “restoration” of the trophy to Bush in light of what it calls a “huge change in the college football landscape.”
The Heisman Trust’s decision comes after Bush forfeited his Heisman Trophy in 2010 in the wake of significant NCAA sanctions against USC that included Bush receiving improper benefits during his Trojan career spanning from 2003 to 2005.
Under Wednesday’s decision, the Heisman Trust is returning the Heisman Trophy to Bush and a replica to USC. Bush will be re-invited to all future Heisman Trophy ceremonies beginning with the 2024 season.
Bush said in a statement to ESPN, “Personally, I am thrilled to reunite with my fellow Heisman winners and be a part of the prestigious legacy of the Heisman Trophy, and I am honored to return to the Heisman family. I am.” “I also look forward to working closely with the Heisman Trust to advance the organization’s values and mission.”
Bush received his Heisman Trophy at the end of the trust’s previously scheduled summit meeting outside Jacksonville, Florida, on Wednesday morning. Tim Henning, associate director of the Heisman Trust, told ESPN’s Cole Harvey there was a “celebratory atmosphere” as about 15 Heisman winners were in attendance at the meeting.
“The other winners were very excited to see him,” Henning said.
The decision to reinstate the Heisman Trophy was based on a “deliberative process” by the Heisman Trust to oversee major changes in college athletics in recent years. The trust cited “fundamental changes in college athletics”, in which rules have allowed “student athlete compensation” to “become an accepted practice and appears to be here to stay”.
“We are thrilled to welcome Reggie Bush to the Heisman family in honor of his collegiate accomplishments,” Michael Comerford, chairman of The Heisman Trophy Trust, said in a statement. “We considered the tremendous changes that have occurred in college athletics over the past several years when deciding that now is the right time for Reggie to reinstate the trophy. We are very pleased to welcome him back.”
As rules allowing athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness were implemented in 2021, Bush began lobbying to have his trophy returned. He released a statement in July 2021 that included criticism of the Heisman Trust, including Comerford not returning Bush’s calls.
There was a recent outpouring of support from Heisman winners calling for Bush to get the trophy returned. The most publicity came from former Texas A&M star Johnny Manziel, who said earlier this year that he would not attend the Heisman Trophy ceremony until Bush returned the trophy. USC’s Matt Leinart, Bush’s former teammate, and Notre Dame’s Tim Brown are both Heisman winners who have been publicly vocal about Bush’s trophy being returned.
Manziel reacted to Wednesday’s news on social mediaThank you to the Heisman Trust for “doing what is right and welcoming an iconic member of our history back into their fold.”
thanks to @HeismanTrophy To do what’s right and to welcome back an iconic member of our history. There were a lot of voices throughout this whole process that stood up for Reggie at the table, just because of the kind of person he is. I look forward to attending…
– Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) 24 April 2024
In making its decision, the Heisman Trust cited the 2021 Supreme Court decision against the NCAA in the Alston case, which the Trust said “called into question the validity of the NCAA’s amateurism model and opened the door to student athlete compensation.”
“Recognizing that compensation of student athletes is an accepted practice and appears to be here to stay, these fundamental changes in college athletics have led the Trust to decide that now is the right time to return the trophy to Bush, Who was unquestionably the most outstanding player in college football in 2005,” the Heisman Trophy Trust said.
USC now officially has eight Heisman Trophies, giving it the most of any school in the country, ahead of Ohio State, Oklahoma and Notre Dame with seven each.
“I am very happy for Reggie and the entire Trojan family,” USC President Carroll Folt said in a statement. “He won our hearts during his illustrious career and deserves to have the honor he has earned restored. We look forward to celebrating with him and his family and are proud to stand with him as an advocate.” Were capable.”
Bush forfeited the trophy in September 2010, marking the first time that college football’s top award was returned by a recipient. A few months earlier, in July, USC gave back a replica of Bush’s trophy in one of the earliest actions of former athletic director Pat Haden’s tenure.
USC’s sanctions from that investigation included the vacating the 2004 national title bowl championship series, the first time a major college football champion was stripped of the championship. The NCAA stripped USC of victories in 14 games Bush played, including a BCS title win over Oklahoma after the 2004 season. (Bush filed a defamation lawsuit against the NCAA in August 2023.)
USC athletic director Jane Cohen called the Heisman’s return “a momentous day for Reggie Bush and the entire USC community.”
Bush’s play on the field at USC made him one of the most outstanding college athletes of this century. He averaged 8.5 yards rushing per touch from scrimmage in his career, which included 1,740 yards rushing on 200 carries and 8.7 yards per carry in 2005.
He scored 42 career touchdowns over three seasons – 25 rushing, 13 receiving and four on special teams returns. Bush was selected No. 2 overall in the 2006 NFL Draft, and since then only one tailback has been selected that high in the draft: Saquon Barkley in 2018.
“What a historic day!” USC coach Lincoln Riley said in a statement. “Reggie’s reintroduction to the Heisman family is a special moment for everyone associated with USC football. We are thrilled that Reggie’s athletic achievements can be officially recognized as one of the greatest sports of all time For a long time, the Heisman and USC have been synonymous and it is extraordinary to be able to acknowledge all eight of our winners.”
Bush was so impressive for 2,890 all-purpose yards in 2005 that his 784 first-place votes are the fifth-most in Heisman Trophy history.
Nearly two decades after that unique season, Bush again has his Heisman Trophy.
