It’s about time: ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that the Heisman Trust will return Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy. The former New Orleans Saints running back won that trophy in 2005 after an outstanding three-year run with the USC Trojans, but was forced to forfeit it in 2010 after an NCAA investigation slammed the school for improper recruiting violations.
Thamel adds that an announcement from the Heisman Trust is coming on Wednesday, in which this unprecedented “reinstatement” of Bush’s trophy will be chalked up to “enormous changes in the college football landscape.” Name, image, and likeness (NIL) legislation has allowed today’s student-athletes to enjoy many of the benefits that Bush was blacklisted for, none of which had anything to do with his achievements on the football field in the first place.
Bush will receive the trophy he gave up, while USC will be given a replica to display on campus. He will receive all of the benefits that other Heisman Trophy winners enjoy like participation in future awards ceremonies and a ballot to vote on the winner each year. Maybe he’ll get a spot in the Heisman House commercial ad campaign, too.
He’s walked a difficult road to get here. Bush was cleared to return to USC’s campus after a decade of disassociation ended in 2020, and he’s since taken legal action to try and have his Heisman Trophy returned to him. College football superfans have bought billboards and other Heisman Trophy winners like Johnny Manziel have added their voices to the chorus calling for the Heisman Trust to reverse course. And all those efforts were not in vain. Now, Bush will finally have his place in college football history.
