Reggie Bush is a college football legend and Super Bowl champion.
Just last year, he famously received his Heisman Trophy back after having to forfeit it 14 years earlier. He received the honor in 2005 while at USC when he played under coach Pete Carroll. In 2010, he was forced to forfeit the trophy because the NCAA said he received “improper benefits” like lavish gifts and cash.
Two decades after the achievement, Bush said it was “amazing” to have the trophy returned to him.
“Once I got the trophy back, it was the first time my kids actually saw the trophy. So that was the best part for me, being able to show that to my kids for the first time, and be able to share in that experience with my wife and my family for the first time, which they all had not seen before,” he explained on the KTLA 5 Morning News. “That was the best part for me.”
The former New Orleans Saint said he’s glad the Heisman Trust “did the right thing” and he’s now looking out for future athletes. He touched on the importance of the Name, Image and Likeness deal for college athletes.
“College football and basketball, it’s a big money business, right? And they’re profiting a lot of money off of these players. So these players deserve a piece of the pie,” he explained. “Right now the NIL is out there for them.”
However, the two-time All-American revealed it’s “not the fix.”
“The next step is for them to get paid by the universities as employees, and then from there, they have to unionize, which they need to do, in order to be able to collectively bargain all those different things,” he continued.
While the NIL changed college sports, so did the transfer portal, which allows collegiate athletes to transfer to another school. Critics of this combination claim it breeds disloyalty for the athletes, which Bush said “is tough” and that he “doesn’t love everything about it.”
However, Bush’s main focus is the players. ” I’m straddling the fence because I love the fact that the players have more power back in their hands. They have more control over their careers. One of the issues was, in the area I played in, a college football head coach could get fired or just resign and literally go get hired the next day,” he said. “For the players, at that time period, you had to sit out an entire season, right? For football players and basketball players, missing a full year of play is tough on your career, and it’s hard to come back from a lot of guys don’t recover from that. So I love the fact that power is being put back into the players’ hands, but at the same time, I don’t want to see guys just jumping ship, just because there is an element of working through situations, and also not being afraid of competition. That’s what elevated us when we’re at USC, and that’s what I prided myself on, is not being afraid of competition.”
Still an athlete, Bush is now focused on his golf game. He’s teamed up with the performance apparel brand TravisMathew to release a new stylish collection.
“I’ve always wanted to design my own clothing line, and I have such a deep-rooted passion for golf. It’s been my passion for life after football. It’s the thing that I love to wake up out of the bed for and go and golf and work on my game. But I’m also building a business in the sport of golf right now as well,” he gushed. “Getting a chance to design my own clothing line with TravisMathew was just an amazing opportunity. It’s organic. They have a deep, rooted passion and love for golf, and so did I, and so when we sat down. I went in there with a plan of what I want the things to look like, how they should look, how we should structure them. And so really, the idea with my clothing line is just to create outfits.”
The California native revealed he does have some more “big projects” coming down the pipeline and he’s “very excited about.”
The Reggie Bush collection is available in stores and online on April 21. To shop, you can go to TravisMathew.com or visit a TravisMathew store near you.
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