Former Texas A&M and Heisman-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel has resurfaced in the media after the exciting release of his short but explosive Netflix documentary, “Untold:Johnny Football,” last Tuesday, and after several revelations regarding his monetary-based activities pre-NIL (name, image likeness) coupled with his extensive substance abuse problems, Manziel finally looks to be back on a healthy, and hopefully happy track in his life at the young age of 30.
This week, Manziel found himself embroiled in yet another hot debate, this time relating to former star USC running back Reggie Bush’s revoked 2005 Heisman Trophy due to multiple NCAA violations were revealed just a year after departing for the NFL.
As we all remember, Reggie Bush was one of the greatest athletes to ever grace the college football landscape, racking up 3,169 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns, 1,301 receiving yards, and 13 touchdowns in three seasons with the Trojans.
During his 2005 junior campaign, Bush’s 1,750 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns earned him the Heisman at the end of the season, but after several reports in 2006 accused Bush and his family of receiving “improper benefits” from USC of nearly $300,000, the NCAA, in what seemed like a decade long investigation, practically destroyed the once elite USC football program, while leading to Reggie Bush’s official forfeit of his Heisman, voluntarily returning the award to the Heisman trust in 2012.
Getting back to the Heisman-related debate, Locked On 49ers host Eric Crocker’s tweet after watching the documentary spurred an exciting question that only Manziel himself could answer:
“I’m watching Johnny Manziel Untold. I’m confused by something. Manziel is on Netflix with his best friend talking about all the illegal stuff they were doing. What’s the difference between the stuff he’s doing and keeping his a heisman and Reggie Bush getting stripped of his?”
If you didn’t think Johnny Football wasn’t well aware that someone would point out the potential double standard, he also noted a slight difference in the timeframe of each player’s violations in accordance with when they received their respective Heismans.
“There is nothing I want to see more than for Reggie to get his Heisman back. I think what the NCAA did in that situation is complete bull****. He is one of the best college football players in history and deserves to be on that stage with us every year. The only difference between my story and Reggie’s is that my “illegal activities” did not start until after my Heisman season.”
There you have it. Even though most of us agree that stripping Bush of the award was utterly foolish and another example of the NCAA overstepping its bounds, good on Eric Crocker and Johnny Manziel to start up the conversation again, so maybe, just maybe, Reggie Bush will once again strike the Heisman pose with the award by his side.
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