Last week, former NFL running back Reggie Bush received his Heisman Trophy back after forfeiting the honor 14 years ago. The professional football player has since opened up about how the controversy, which first surfaced in 2005 with allegations that Bush had accepted payment and other goods while playing for the University of Southern California, impacted his mental health.
While appearing on “CBS Mornings,” Bush shared that when he was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 2006, he was at his “weakest point.”
“When I think I’m at my weakest point and when I’m dealing with depression, fighting thoughts of suicide, there’s an entire city there to embrace me and to lift me up, and to give me an opportunity to go out, once again, to prove myself,” he said.
After an investigation by the NCAA found he had received the goods, Bush voluntarily gave up his Heisman Trophy in 2010. However, after the NCAA’s policy regarding players receiving payment changed, the organization formally reinstated Bush’s trophy. He told “CBS Mornings” he was just trying to take it all in.
“I think when you’ve manifested this for so long, and you’ve been through the ups and the downs for so many years — I’ve cried over it, I have — but I felt like at this point, I was just taking it in and just being happy and just enjoying the moment, and just knowing that we did this,” he said.
Even though his trophy has been reinstated, Bush said he was not backing down from a lawsuit he currently has pending against the NCAA for defamation stemming from a statement made in 2021 by NCAA officials that referred to Bush as a “pay-to-play” scenario.
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