USC Morning Buzz: Reggie Bush Announces Retirement From NFL

Did you know Reggie Bush wasn’t already retired? Bush, 32, has not played with any team this season but made it official during remarks to the NFL Network.

“I’m done,” Bush said. “Yeah, I’m done. I said it. It’s not breaking news. I’ve been saying it. I said it all season long, I said, Listen, if I don’t play this year, I’m going to retire.”

Bush played 11 seasons and rushed for more than 1,000 yards twice. He won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints in 2010.

91 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Reggie Bush Announces Retirement From NFL

  1. Fabulous college career. Good NFL career. Never quite got to elite status on Sundays. He was a running back for a series, then he would be split outside. Would have been interesting to see if he could have taken the pounding as a RB inside on a weekly basis. His legacy will always be tainted by his step father and Mother.

    • As it was, Reggie still got hurt all the time. I think he would have been used a lot more often and inside had that been the strength of his game, but it wasn’t. There was always another back, often a relatively unknown, on every team he played on that fulfilled the more heavily used RB role and seemed to get tough yds better than Reggie.

      Shows you how good the NFL talent is because Reggie couldn’t break into the elite there. He was always just a good player, even at his peak.

      Too bad he’s the only one who had to give up his Heisman when so many others also received extra benefits. His stepdad altered the course of USC football history.

      Problem with Reggie is he never lifted a finger to protect USC. He just took off to the NFL and collected his millions. If you believe in karma, it seemed to turn against him there.

      • He had a bit of bad luck too, remember when the 300 pound lineman fell on his legs on a punt return and broke his leg? He was leading the nfl in touchdowns at the time..I think it was his second or third year in the league

        • That’s the karma part. What goes around, comes around.

          Reggie was an amazingly fantastic college player who was a selfish schmuck when it came to handling the NCAA, or even avoiding the problem altogether. In the end, his family paid big and I think he did too, with a less than stellar, but solid, NFL career.

          • I know he didn’t help, nor go out of his way at all to even try, but in my mind it wouldn’t have made the least bit of difference, the ncaa felt they had a duty to do and were bound and determined to pull it off no matter how..look at how they treated the running back coach. Evidence was key in this case, didn’t matter what Reggie would or could have told them.

          • That’s what I mean. All Reggie had to do was tell the NCAA flat out that this whole free rent arrangement in exchange for agency rep was a family secret and arrangement and that he kept it from USC – which would be a natural approach. The NCAA would have had a MUCH more difficult time coming up with their cooked findings with that first person, best evidence input.

            But Reggie let USC hang and would only say he did nothing wrong. Otherwise, he clammed up. It was all about Reggie. He just became a black hole, took off and literally let McNair and USC swing and USC swung big while McNair was basically kicked out of the game. Anyway, that’s how a lot of us see it.

            McNair will reap millions soon from the NCAA, but USC will never benefit. And that’s solely because of Reggie. He knows it too.

          • I saw a couple recent (last week) interviews he did locally and there seemed to be remorse and a sense of regret on his part, although there was NO mea culpa. But certainly he regrets now the way things went, as is usually the case when young men find out things and actions have consequences that reach far beyond their view at the time. I think he realizes you just can’t take some things back or do somethings over. I just wish there could be an amicable resolution, as I think both sides could benefit.

          • Bush will always be a divisive figure for USC fans. In my mind, he’s a schmuck, pure and simple, who was responsible for literally sinking the USC football program for many years. Had he done this to most other schools, their recovery would have been much more elongated.

            Bush needs USC now a lot more than USC needs Bush. USC survived and is back on top.

            What’s there to resolve? Reggie sold his school out and a whopping 30 kids were denied football scholarships while the entire USC team had to watch players bolt and forego two bowl games because of him. What’s Reggie gonna do about that?

            I say good luck Reggie. You’re on your own now big shot.

          • That’s very true Jack, SC has weathered this storm and really doesn’t need him. And I can’t argue people who share your feelings toward him are wrong or harsh, not at all. But at the same time, I feel there is something to be gained from a possible reconciliation that benefits the school, although quite frankly you’re right it would certainly benefit him more. But it costs the school nothing and there is gain, that’s all I’m saying..
            But your point is well made, and quite understandable.

          • Bush single-handedly did more post-college career damage to USC than any other player in the history of the school, by far. I don’t see the big gain for USC in having the schmuck around anymore.

            It never had to be this way. Many times in life you just have to move on. USC moved on a long time ago, no thanks to Reggie, who still denies wrongdoing. I think he even shamefully believes that.

            I hope they keep him off campus. He forfeited the relationship long ago for his own benefit.

          • Actually I don’t think he was caught at anything, if truth be told..but then there are as many views of this as their are people

          • Then why didn’t he announce to the world in November 2004 that he had made a deal with 2 agents to supply his family with a house and give him a car and assorted bling?He knew he was violating the same NCAA regulations the other 84 members of the team managed to follow. Yet he did it anyways.

          • I don’t say he’s not culpable in this, I just won’t put the blame squarely on his shoulders alone. As you choose to, I choose not to, and in that lies our difference. You choose to call him the adult, and I choose to call him a kid.. don’t think we’re getting together on this one tonight.

          • I look at 20 year olds fighting in Afghanistan as men, not boys. To me Reggie was old enough to know better, like the other 84 players on his team.

          • When they send them out on their own, maybe yeah. But they don’t, they send them out with noncom’s. They surely turn into men, but they aren’t when they go out. And let’s not compare apples and oranges, somehow the life of a fighting service member doesn’t equate to the life of college student whose midterm paper is due in an hour and a half. Really? Neither of us know what or how this transpired between he and his stepfather and that slime ball of an agent, or if his mother interceded and plead for help. All this is conjecture on both our parts, isn’t it?

  2. I never understood why Reggie received so much hate. It’s not like he’s a criminal or beat his wife or murdered anyone. Plenty of other NFL players did much much worse than #5 and never got any flack for it. Reggie was the most exciting college football player ever to watch. Every play had home run potential.

        • You said the most exciting college football player to watch was Reggie. Steveg is going with OJ.
          #MeToo(IfHashtagHasn’tBeenCopyrighted)

          • OJ was wholly different in my mind, much more strength but not as acrobatic as Reggie. Both had a great vision of the field..on this I’m on the fence

          • Will this help break the tie? Who would you have rather had in the backfield against Texas on that 4th and two?

          • Trouble is Michael, the skill set Reggie brought was far and away more than just a ball carrier, how many catches on wheel routes, or just his presence in motion opened things up for the rest of the team?

            But you’re right, on that play it’s no doubt.

          • This marks one of those rare occasions where the reply is so much better than anything I could have expected.
            #GreatInsights

          • Actually Michael, your courtroom days sometimes shine through as you ask beautiful leading questions…it’s like being led on a short leash

          • …but every once in a while I’d luck out with a witness who gave me more than I planned for. It was always such a joy. They’d win the case for you.

          • Honesty Michael, with you I’m like a dog on a walk, I think I’m going where I want, but I always end up where you’ve taken me..

          • I agree with Pudly’s sentiments regarding your contributions to this blog. I will say it again, the gift that keeps on giving

          • Wow, that’s nice. Any more of this and I’m gonna bust out crying like reformed bad boy, Micky Rooney, at the end of “Boy’s Town.”
            #”There’sNoSuchThingAsABadBoy”

          • Ha! Cute! (Sorry for the delayed response, pardner. A friend of mine just emailed that he’s been evacuated from his Santa Barbara home due to the fires —I felt I better console him. He’s devastated).

          • Sorry to hear, went through water damage recently and couldn’t imagine the head of losing everything would be like

          • My wife and I actually did loose everything in the Oakland Hills fire. We both had legal briefs due in court on the following Monday so we just moved into a San Francisco Hotel, typed the stuff out and watched our home burn down on television. I will always remember one dumb CNN reporter commenting, “in a strange way the glowing hillside can almost be described as beautiful.”
            #Yeah,UnlessYouLiveThere

          • Awful! These fires have ravaged SoCal and the winds are building again this weekend! God help those poor people.

          • You know perhaps I was overstating things a bit when I said dog, maybe a played like a cheap ukulele would’ve been a better analogy..

          • As Steve Martin said, “you can’t play a ukulele without a smile on your face.”

          • “In their prime”, now that’s an interesting topic. I’ve seen players whose prime was their high school years, others as collegiates, then on to more mature pros…
            As a pro, certainly there was only OJ, but in college I think it was a toss up

  3. Great career! So this would leave just Ryan Kalil and Frostee Rucker left in the NFL from the Carroll national championship 04 season. Hard to believe those guys are still playing.

  4. For a boy raised in the Bayou of Louisiana. I have a special place in my heart for him. Both left and came to the second best place on earth So Cal. The Bayou and it’s people are what’s life should and is about. As I’ve said many times, I lived the best of both worlds. Reggie at best took advantage of a system that’s corrupt. I don’t give him absolute but can’t shone a young mans decision in a broken system.

  5. Spent most of the time as a decoy and catching 4yd checkdown passes for the Saints. He woulda cracked 1,000 a lot more times earlier in his career playing for a team that actually emphasized on the run. At least he got a ring.

  6. Perhaps Reggie can work to mend some hard feelings and maybe give something back to something bigger than himself.

      • He should be shunned and be a great example to future generations of SC players of what not to do.

        • Couldn’t we just put him in the stocks outside the Coli on game days, say for a season, and may sew a scarlet letter on his coat? Or just go the way of the Indonesians, and cane the little guy…

          • Understandable, mostly tongue in cheek. While I don’t totally excuse him (Reggie) for what happened there were others involved I felt we’re more culpable than an 18-20 yr old. And had the ncaa not gone off the deep end in their punishment, wouldn’t it be easier to forgive him, not forget what he did, just forgive. His crime wasn’t violent. The victims were more victimized by the COI from the ncaa. And many here are blaming the young man for that..
            I’d like to see a poll of his teammates, and those that followed and see how they feel.

    • I’m hoping they start bringing him around more. He could sway the “on the fence” recruits easily.

    • Now that his career, celebrity status and earnings potential are on the wane he needs SC. Talk about a user.

  7. Time to put his Heisman back in Heritage Hall if only to ‘push back’ against the phony hypocritical Haden who actually did personally benefit from, misuse, for personal gain, a non-profit he was supposed to be acting as the ‘guardian’

    • That’s just it, we can’t push back! USC doesn’t know where Reggie’s Heisman is, Alv. On his last day at the office, the National Enquirer reported that Haden was seen leaving his office “holding a pillow case with a Heisman shaped object inside.”

  8. We all seem to forget how much hatred there was for USC football and how the opposition was “stacked up” to knock USC football down. Reggie and his family didn’t help the matter any, but it was just a timebomb waiting for an explosion to destroy the program, no matter where the opportunity came. Since then you notice all the sanctions that have happened to other programs, have lessened in severity? I just hope Lynn Swann has some long range plans to get USC football back on top again….

    • I appears he has a plan going, Clay Helton has calmed the chaos and slowly working the program back to national prominence.

    • Maybe, but first the Swanny has to get handle on the Women’s Volleyball team problem he created.

  9. I didnt know it even started. I thought he did not produce as much as he could have.

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