Reggie Bush Eyes Saints' Repeat, Hopes to Mend USC Relationship 'Someday'

METAIRIE, La. -- At the ESPY Awards earlier this month, funny man host Seth Meyers, star and lead writer for "Saturday Night Live," told the flood of celebrities at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles and a national TV audience that the event was where sports and entertainment come together.

"It's like a Kardashian sister's bedroom," Myers said.

The cameras then cut to a smiling Reggie Bush.

"I knew there was going to be at least one joke in there about me," Bush said Saturday between New Orleans Saints training camp practices. "I took it in stride. I guess when they stop talking about you, that's when you should worry."

Bush need not concern himself with that for a while. Everyone's still keeping up with the former Mr. Kardashian.



Share If nothing else, he's still a sizzling-hot topic in California after his former school, USC, announced last week that it was returning the Heisman Trophy that Bush won during his final season with the Trojans in 2005. The decision, courtesy of incoming university president Max Nikias and new athletic director Pat Haden, came on the heels of the NCAA announcing a bevy of violations involving Bush and former basketball star O.J. Mayo.

The program officially has disassociated itself with the former standout athletes, a decision Bush addressed for the first time Saturday.

Yes, it hurts.

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't. Obviously, it does," said Bush, who the NCAA charged with accepting illegal benefits from agents during his three collegiate seasons, forcing the program to forfeit 14 games and maybe even the Trojans' BCS championship game victory over Oklahoma in January 2005. "At the end of the day it is what it is. All I can really do now is focus on the New Orleans Saints and just try to move on. It bothers me and it sucks. The whole situation is terrible and nobody feels worse about it than I do."

Bush first spoke to the NCAA's findings when they came out in June just before the Saints' mini-camp, expressing disappointment and disagreeing with the conclusions of the probe. He did not, however, take responsibility for the fallout of the high-profile scandal.

He didn't Saturday, either.

Though the controversy will die down in time, eventually Bush needs to stop playing the victim card here, even if the whole mess (and catcalls to return his own Heisman, too) has weighed on him. The sooner he steps up with a mea culpa (preferably a sincere one), the sooner he can truly move on.

"This is kind of like our sanctuary. This is where we get a chance to kind of forget about everything and play football, do what we love to do, and not worry about anything else."
Reggie Bush The USC cloud was a constant distraction for Bush during an offseason when his Saints teammates were celebrating the first Super Bowl championship in the franchise's 42-year history. The Trojans' devastating sanctions -- a two-year bowl ban and scholarship reductions over the next three seasons -- will be popular topics when college football kicks off, but Bush will try to keep focused on the task of helping his team's quest for a rare repeat Super Bowl title.

"I like to think that I'm pretty mentally tough and I never allow any outside distraction to affect me on the football field. Once I step on the field, it's all football," Bush said. "This is kind of like our sanctuary. This is where we get a chance to kind of forget about everything and play football, do what we love to do, and not worry about anything else."

Including his health, for a change.

Unlike the last two training camps, Bush came to this one without knee injuries that ended his '07 and '08 seasons and kept him from being 100 percent during the championship run of '09.

"I think we're all going to see that explosive Reggie Bush again," said Jahri Evans, Pro Bowl guard for the NFL's No. 1-ranked offense last season. "I don't think we've really seen that guy the last couple years because he'd been banged up. We could be even more dangerous on offense."

Last year, Bush shared the tailback spot with Pierre Thomas. He finished with a career-low 390 rushing yards (though he averaged 5.6 a pop) and caught 47 passes. Even his dangerous kick-return skills took a step back (4.8-yard average on punts), though he did have an 83-yard touchdown against Arizona in the playoffs.

"I'm my biggest critic [and] nobody is going to expect more of me than me," Bush said. "In the back of my mind, I just want to just so bad have a healthy season, because I know if I'm healthy all throughout the year I can be effective every game. Every year is different. All I can focus on is the now."

And the here (New Orleans), not the there (USC).

"I hope someday [the relationship] can be repaired," Bush said. "That's all I can do."