Reggie Bush talks USC’s expectations, Zachariah Branch’s Heisman hope and advice to today’s college football players

The Hiesman Trophy winner talked with SB Nation over Zoom about his thoughts ahead of this year’s college football season.

For many longtime college football fans, you won’t forget the amazing moments and skills running back Reggie Bush brought to the football field. The 2006 USC-Texas national championship game has gone down as one of the best college football games in history. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2005, which was reinstated back to him earlier this year after Bush forfeited his award in 2010 due to NCAA sanctions for USC.

The former NFL player announced his retirement back in December 2017 and since has been seen on television as a commentator for Fox Sports and starring in a variety of commercials. His latest TV ad showed Bush putting his portrait up in the Nissan Heisman House. SB Nation spoke with Bush over Zoom last week to hear this thoughts on this year’s college football season.

This interview was conducted on Wednesday, August 28.

Q: To start off, care to give a bold prediction on the national championship? Obviously, if you’re right, bragging rights for the future.

Reggie Bush: I need to see week one first off and all these teams, because it’s very hard for me to make a prediction, because teams always change, right? New quarterbacks, new team personnel, new coaches. And the one thing that we don’t have across college football is preseason games, so you don’t really get a chance to see what this new team is going to look like this year versus how they looked last year. And so I think after I get through Week 1, I’ll be able to make a better prediction of who I think is gonna be there. But I think when you’re looking at for example, the Big Ten right now and the conference realignment, seeing USC, UCLA going to the Big Ten, Oklahoma, Texas going to the SEC, some other teams going to the Big 12 and ACC, I was just excited to see bigger games, right? Bigger blockbuster games early on in the season.

So, for example, this USC vs. LSU game week, one —I mean, that’s the way it should have always been. The best playing the best, and not necessarily having these big these power five, power four conferences, playing Division III schools early on. I want to see the best play the best right away, because that’s going to give us a clear cut indicator of where teams are. And I think that USC has a great opportunity going into the Big Ten to leave their footprint on this conference, and to get us started on the right track, because they are gonna be playing better competition. They are gonna be playing better competition and they are gonna be playing tougher teams. I think it’s something that they should be excited about. Tougher schedules, yes, for sure. But you know, you gotta beat the best to be the best. And I believe that they’re in one of the best conferences, other than the SEC.

Q: I was going to ask you, because I grew up in LA, and I can tell you USC fans — they’re very hungry to win again. They’re missing the Bush, [Matt] Lienart, Pete Carroll days. How would you grade Lincoln Riley so far, and what he’s done with the program, and what do you think specifically USC has to do to compete this year in the Big Ten?

RB: Well, I think first off, you got to look at where we were before Lincoln Riley, and we were not a good offensive team before Lincoln Riley, the other coaches that came before him struggled after and obviously our era, after Pete Carroll. So we were missing that excitement back at USC. We were missing great quarterback play at USC. And now what I love, what Lincoln Riley is doing, what he has done, he’s brought that excitement back. And you know, sometimes it’s easy to forget where we were before Riley. And I remember how just not exciting it was to watch the brand of football played at USC, especially as somebody who I felt like we showed teams, showed the people who were going to come after us, we showed them the way. We showed them the blueprint of how to do it. And it’s unfortunate when you know things happen and coaches aren’t able to capture what we did. Because really it was about hard work, it was about determination, it was about focus, it was about consistency, and it was about all of us being unselfish. And those are the things that that teams after us are going to have to realize and not saying that any of these team now didn’t have that but they have that opportunity now.

They have great weapons. They have guys like Zachariah Branch, who I believe is a gamebreaker, who can score from anywhere on the football field. He’s a difference maker in the return game. We have a great quarterback, Miller Moss, who showed a lot of upside and potential in the bowl game. So I want to see that carry over to this year, to this first game. And I love the fact that they’re playing LSU Week 1, because again, like I said, I want to see the best playing the best, and that’s going to give me a clear cut indicator of where this USC team is now. I think Lincoln Riley has done a great job at flipping this team around pretty fast, but he still has a lot of work to do as well. The defense struggled. I think that’s, you know, one of the one of the biggest issue last year was the defense struggled to run. I just want to see that physicality from this team step up another level, because they have the excitement. They have the weapons on offense. Now we got to put this whole thing together and play complimentary football defense, stop the run, get some turnovers, get it back to that explosive offense, and offense go do what you do, and then in a return game — just give Zachariah Branch 10 yards of space.

Q: Obviously, you mentioned you’re excited to see these top matchups, but some college football fans are mourning the PAC 12?

RB: Oh, I am one of them.

Q: So you’re bummed too?

RB: I am a little bummed. That’s where we were born into. It was Pac-12/ Pac-10 Conference football. And you know, it was our brand of football. It was West Coast football. And it was different from the SEC, it was different from the Big 10. It was different from the Big 12. We had our own brand of football on the West Coast. And I loved having that. And so I’ve seen now there has been a change. I think the change is good, though. I don’t think it’s a bad change. I think change is always good, and it’s just the nature of the beast of where everything was headed. And so we’ve seen this conference realignment, and I think this is all good because we’re going to see better games...And I don’t want to see Alabama or Georgia or Ohio State, you know, playing DIII school that are going to be by 70 points. I don’t think that’s great for the sport. And this just gives us a better indicator of where teams are, you know. When the best player the best, so I’m excited.

Q: Do you have any under the radar players or teams that are on your mind this season that might surprise people?

RB: Well, I think Zachariah Branch is a guy who’s like the under the radar guy who could potentially be up for the Heisman trophy. If he plays well in the return game, a couple punt returns, kickoff returns for touchdowns, some big plays, obviously, does his thing on offense, playing receiver, has a lot of catches and touchdowns. You know, he could be the difference maker. He could be that guy who competes for a Heisman trophy and is probably not on anybody’s radar right now — at this point, people don’t know about him. They know about his speed, they know about his abilities. But if we can get a more consistent play from him, and I think Lincoln Riley should use him as much as humanly possible, then I think he has that opportunity.

One thing that I prided myself in being was a great offensive player that was also a great return specialist, and I could score from anywhere on the football field, and that’s what I see. I see that ability in him. I hope he has that same confidence instilled in him, because if he doesn’t, he needs to and we need to change his mindset right now. I think we’ve seen the Heisman Trophy become a quarterback award, and I want to see it go to the best player. And in order for that to happen, guys like Zachariah Branch are gonna have to step up and make a lot of plays and a lot of places.

Q; So I’m curious — this Modelo Full-Time Fan recruiting contest you’re doing. Fans are sending in recruiting type videos to you to rate. So are you hoping to see some 40 yard dashes, some face paint?

RB: I want to see the inside of your house decorated completely with all the fan gear, fan pictures. I want to see why you feel you’re the number one most passionate fan in college football, because that’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking for the most passionate fans, people who eat, sleep and breathe their school. It’s embedded in their DNA. You know, that’s the kind of fans that I love. Those are the kind of fans I love to play in front of, and they’re the reasons why, you know, we play this game is to be able to entertain the fans. And I always felt like that was a part of what I wanted to do. I wanted to not only score touchdowns, but I want to score touchdowns in a way that fans are going to be like, ‘Oh my God, did you see what he did? You see how he scored? Like, you got to rewind that again one more time, you know?’ I always wanted to make people stand up out of their chair.

And so now we’re going to get a chance to recruit fans in the same way that I was recruited. They get a chance to be part of Team Modelo and only six people get to. We have a six man roster. That’s it. So only six people are going to get a chance to be a part of this team. And so this is a very exclusive, unique opportunity that not everybody can get a chance to be a part of. And we’re going to recognize them as full as you know, full time fans for gear, and they’re going to get a chance to meet me at the College Football Playoff National Championship, and a couple of different other perks as well that’s going to come along with being on Team Modelo. It’s exciting for me — I love being able to engage with fans, engage with people. I love being able to walk down the street and somebody looks at me and their memories jogged about where they were at a specific time and place, you know, when we’re playing a national championship game against Texas and stuff like that.

Q: What fan bases have you’ve been really impressed by?

RB: Oh my goodness, there’s a lot. College football fans are different from NFL fans. Way different. College football fans are definitely more passionate about their schools. You know, they’re almost a little crazier at games as well. But you know, when you think about college football game, you got pageantry, got the student section, you got the band, got the cheerleaders and you just have so much that the NFL does not have, right? And you have alumni players that come back, you know, to watch some of these big games. I know this weekend at the USC-LSU game there are going to be some former NFL players. They’re going to come out with Joe Burrow, Odell Beckham, Jr, Patrick Peterson, LSU guys, guys that I know are gonna be out there, a bunch of my old USC teammates gonna be out there for the game. So unique and it’s just different, right?

College football is more of a religion for college football fans, especially when you go into the Big Ten and the SEC, I mean, it’s church and football. Those are two things that you know are held to the highest standard in some of these places. And you know, I love that. I mean, Texas football is, you know, obviously, one of the most passionate places for football. And you know, that’s just what I love about it and, love about the game. So pretty much all of the SEC — especially like Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma. I mean it’s just complete madness in these stadiums. I got a chance to go to some Ohio State games when I was working in college football [for television]. Michigan was another place I got a chance to go and just see how passionate that fan base is. Those are the teams that I would that kind of jump out to me right away.

Q: So much has changed since you were a player — with NIL and the transfer portal. In what ways do you think being a college football player today is easier, and then in which ways do you think it’s harder?

RB: Oh, easier. Wow, I don’t know if it’s easier, because being a college football player in itself is very tough, and you’re balancing two full-time jobs, which is being a student and then also being a player and it’s very hard. I remember I had nights where I’d be up until 1 a.m. doing essays, midterms, exams, get ready for a test, and also got workouts at 6 a.m. And so I felt like when I was in college, that was my busiest time, you know, as a player, more busy than when I was in the NFL, because you’re just having to balance the college experience, along with trying to be the best player on the college football field as well. And so I don’t know if it’s easier for them, especially when you think about social media, where that has gone. Because let’s say you have a bad game and now after a game it’s what you deal with and how you deal with it. Now you have a guy getting on social media, you get 200-300 comments of people saying something negative about something that you did.

I just don’t know how these young kids can’t internalize that and how they can prepare themselves for that, because that’s tough. It is tough. And when you play football, you’re playing a sport where you’re constantly judged by your performance. And unfortunately, if you don’t have an outstanding, amazing performance, you’re going to get some negative comments. And it’s the dumbest thing in the world, because, you know, players, athletes, should not live for the approval necessarily of the public, but they should want to entertain the public, if that makes sense. But again, the college experience itself, I don’t know if it’s easier.

I think in a lot of ways, it’s a little more difficult because there’s a bunch of different distractions that are going on now, you know, and a lot more information available to people now. I think players need to be more guarded with themselves, with what they look at, with what they wake up with. If you’re waking up with Instagram every day and you know, hey listen — if that’s your Bible, then that’s going to be a tough place for you to succeed in. Because, again, you know, we want to focus on being the best version of ourselves every single day. And you can’t be the best version of yourself if you’re constantly trying to seek the approval of what people are thinking about your performances. Yeah, we want to all play great. We all want to LeBron James, Patrick, Mahomes, and play like those guys all the time, but that’s not the reality. Reality is you need failure in your life to be successful. And unfortunately, failure in sports is magnified. You definitely have more options available to you as a college athlete, but you just have to be able to manage all of it the right way. And you know, everybody manages their life differently.

Q: We’ll end of a fun question. Have you played the College Football 25 video game yet? Do you are you always go with USC as your team? Or do you like to switch it up?

RB: I play around with all the different teams. I love the fact that the game is back. Because that was such an exciting time, you know, for me as a player, but also as a fan. I would play the college game with myself on [the cover]. And, you know, especially for again, everything that college football brings, all the pageantry that comes along with the games like that’s a different brand than what we get in the NFL. And so I think this is great for the sport, great for fans. But yeah, I love the new game. I love the realness of it. I love how they are trying to capture all of the pageantry of the game within the game. And, and it’s cool. I mean, I know it’s exciting for the players to see themselves as players on this game.