Heisman recount.......

So the Heisman Trophy Trust is stripping Reggie Bush of his Heisman and that is fair. Bush took money and these are the consequences. Every college athlete knows the rules regarding improper benefits. You can argue that his deeds were for off the field acts that had no effect on his on-field performance until you are blue in the face and it will not change my opinion. The minute he accepted money from agents he became ineligible. If he would have been caught at that moment, he would not been allowed to play and thus there would not have been that amazing 2005 season. Therefore, I cannot disagree with the Trust vacating the award.

Now that I’ve gotten the preliminaries out of the way, SO FREAKIN WHAT! They can strip Bush’s entire history from every college football record book and that still will not change that we witnessed. Bush was the most breathe-taking college football player these eyes had seen since Barry Sanders was burning up the carpet at Oklahoma State. He was truly amazing so there is really nothing that the NCAA, USC or Heisman Trophy Trust can do to change that fact. I know who the best player on the field was in 2005. As much as these entities may want to change history, they can’t. Bush was magnificent and the memory of those runs will last a life-time.

While I agree with the school removing his records and the Trust vacating the award, I very much have a problem with USC being on probation for his actions. The school did not knowingly use an ineligible player. Bush’s academics were in order. He wasn’t on performance enhancing drugs. In reality, the NCAA is punishing kids who had no part of this situation. That’s who truly gets hurt here. The current students-athletes were in junior high and high school when this situation took place. I don’t believe in bowl bans. What the NCAA should do instead is fine USC heavily along with restricting them from television. These restrictions would hurt recruiting but would not place punishment on innocent student-athletes. As for players who take money from agents, the answer is simple. The proper punishment should be that they must REPAY their scholarship, room and board plus all athletic travel expenses associated with competing if they are found to have taken money from an agent. This would place an actual punishment on the actual wrong-doers. Clauses outlining this can easily be added to the standard grant-in-aid papers for all scholarship athletes.

The NFL could easily end this. Just place lifetime bans on any agent who provides extra benefits to NCAA athletes. The NCAA could pressure the NFL into doing this by threatening to take away scouts access to campus. No Pro Days, no camp access, no sending of film. That would get the NFL’s attention since I’m sure the league does not want to lose free access to its de-facto minor league system. Implement both of these suggestions and I’m sure there would be fewer of these situations.

On a side note, it’s quite comical that the Heisman Trophy Trust felt compelled to vacate Reginald Alfred Bush’s Heisman Trophy award while Orenthal James Simpson still maintains the 1968 award.