After a long fight, Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy is being returned

LOS ANGELES  – For the last few years, Reggie Bush has been a phantom around the caverns of the Coliseum, one of his alma mater’s greatest alumni praised and revered verbally but always tangibly kept a Heisman’s arm-length away.

That was the reality, because there was no choice. In 2010, Bush was stripped of his 2005 Heisman Trophy after the NCAA deemed he’d received improper benefits while playing at USC, setting in motion a long and grueling back-and-forth that seemed destined to leave Bush’s hands empty. No banner of his former No. 5 jersey, once beloved by fans, has hung at the Coliseum. He’d been asked multiple times to lead USC’s team out of the tunnel, Bush said in August, but simply couldn’t.

“I can’t wait to do it,” Bush said, then. “But I can’t do it without my Heisman Trophy, and without that banner in the end zone.”

He’ll get the chance now, and USC can fully open its arms to Bush, with a bombshell announcement on Wednesday by the Heisman Trust: Bush’s 2005 Heisman Trophy was being returned.

“I am grateful to once again be recognized as the recipient of the Heisman Trophy,” Bush said in a statement obtained by the Southern California News Group Wednesday. “This reinstatement is not only a personal victory but also a validation of the tireless efforts of my supporters and advocates who have stood by me throughout this arduous journey.”

And after originally welcoming Bush back in 2020, USC embraced the Heisman Trust’s decision with open arms, able to now re-claim a status no other collegiate football program has reached: eight Heisman winners. The Trust, USC announced, had returned Bush’s trophy to him and the replica to USC, set to be put on display in the lobby of Heritage Hall.

President Carol Folt, who helped bring about Bush’s original re-integration into USC shortly after she was hired in 2019, said they were “proud we were able to stand with him as an advocate.” Athletic director Jen Cohen, who has quickly integrated herself into USC life since her hire last year, called Bush’s impact on USC and college football “unmatched.” And head coach Lincoln Riley offered multiple forms of emphatic congratulations, calling it a “historic day.”

“We are thrilled that Reggie’s athletic accomplishments as one of the greatest to ever play the game can officially be recognized,” Riley said in a statement through USC. “For a long time, the Heisman and USC have been synonymous and being able to acknowledge all eight of our winners is extraordinary.”

Since Bush’s trophy was stripped, he and the NCAA have been in a bitter back-and-forth for nearly 15 years, a tug-of-war for a Heisman Trophy and recognition that’s never budged as both sides have dug their heels into the sand.

Bush, the former USC legend who dazzled his way to a 2005 season still standing as one of the greatest individual years by a running back in college football history, has made a continuous push for the renewal of his trophy and collegiate records  – in 2022 sitting for an hour-long interview on podcast “I AM ATHLETE” entitled “Give Me My Heisman Back NCAA!!”

“I want to make it abundantly clear that I have always acted with integrity and in accordance with the rules and regulations set forth by the NCAA,” Bush said in his statement Wednesday. “The allegations brought against me were unfounded and unsupported by evidence, and I am grateful that the truth is finally prevailing.”

The NCAA, meanwhile, has never once budged in their stance on Bush, long years after their investigation and ruling he had received payments from then-agent Lloyd Lake while playing at USC. But in July 2021, after changes to longstanding name, image and likeness rules, the NCAA cracked open a window when they asserted that “NCAA rules still do not permit pay-for-play type arrangements” in a statement issued to media on the possibility of Bush’s records being restored.

In August 2023, Bush and a team of lawyers launched a full-scale attack on the NCAA, suing them for defamation on the “pay-for-play” statement associated with Bush and condemning the NCAA’s original investigation  – which was called deeply into question in a subsequent trial involving former USC assistant Todd McNair. Still, the NCAA hadn’t budged for months since Bush and lawyers held a press conference at the Coliseum that August to publicly denounce the NCAA and push for his Heisman.

“If history is any indication, they’re going to fight it to the death, which has been their litigation strategy for a long time,” Mit Winter, a lawyer and expert in sports law, told the Southern California News Group back in the fall. “They never settle on anything, for the most part. They generally aren’t very reasonable in litigation.”

It was the Heisman Trust, however, that ended up bending the knee as a third-party, capable all along of reinstating Bush’s Heisman Trophy but never willing to cross the NCAA. In 2021, in response to the NCAA’s ruling on NIL and statements seemingly pointing at Bush, the Trust established that he wouldn’t receive his trophy under rules of Heisman eligibility, saying in a statement that he’d be welcomed back as a Heisman winner “should the NCAA reinstate Bush’s 2005 status.”

Ultimately, though, the Heisman Trust appeared to take matters into their own hands. In a statement Wednesday, they referenced the Supreme Court’s decision in the NCAA v. Alston case from 2021, which opened the door for collegiate athletes to receive NIL benefits and thereby  – seemingly  – vindicate any details of the NCAA’s original investigation into Bush.

“Recognizing that the compensation of student athletes is an accepted practice and appears here to stay, these fundamental changes in college athletics led the Trust to decide that now is the right time to return the Trophy to Bush,” the Trust’s statement Wednesday read.

And the football world erupted Wednesday with widespread fanfare for Bush, from Caleb Williams draping a No. 5 Bush jersey over his shoulder in a congratulatory video while in Detroit, and Johnny Manziel  – a former Heisman Trophy winner and frequent Bush advocate  – telling Bush “you deserve it” in a Twitter post.

Bush’s fight against the NCAA, however, isn’t finished. Bush will hold a press conference Thursday morning with lawyers Levi McCathern and Ben Crump at the Coliseum, a continuation of the defamation suit filed in 2023.

“While today we celebrate, tomorrow we continue our work in achieving full justice for Reggie in his ongoing defamation case against the NCAA,” Crump said in a statement. “This legend deserves that and so much more.”