The one thing I always take away from being able to be around you guys, being able to be around players, you know, being around that team was just that I needed every bit of that in that time period because I was in such a broken place spiritually. That the city of New Orleans, my teammates, everything, it just it brought me right back. It was like, Nah, we're not gonna let you go too far, you know, down his dark path. We're gonna keep you right here with us. And then we end up winning that Super Bowl. Man, and I was just like the biggest release of just like the Monkeys off my back, Breathe fresh air, and you know that's what it was about. Yo, yo, yo, everybody, thank you so much for tuning in. This is Roman Harper and you are listening to the NFL Players Second Acts Podcast. I got a special guest here, a former teammate of mine. Really looking forward to really diving into different aspects of this young man's life. He's been a superstar for as long as I've known him, and he continues to shock and show out in this world. I want to thank, first and foremost, thank all of our listeners for tuning in. Continue to listen to us, give us always give us a review, and for all us new listeners today that's tuning in, make sure you hit and click on that follow button could give us a review and al and make sure you continue to subscribe. Tell a friend, tell another friend to tell a friend. All right, anywhere you listen to us on Apple podcasts, all right Heart Radio app or anywhere else you listen to or pick up on your podcast. Thank you our guests today. Some people don't know have to really describe him or what he is or what he has become, but just know, to many, many people, he is the best college football player they have ever seen with their own eyes. Today's guests fight on for victory. Number five aka two five FEVA, whatever you want to call him. Reggie Bush, the second overall pick in two thousand and six from the University of Southern California, lucky enough to have fallen to the number two pick, My teammate, former teammate, and always my dude, Reggie, How you doing, my boy, I'm good man, I'm good Rome. How are you doing man' here? I'm doing good man. So most of the time we tell everybody resumes and blah blah blah, but you know, everybody kind of knows you. So let me just tell a good story about my boy, Reggie. So this was my initial introduction to Reggie Bush. So for all these listeners out here. So we both get drafted, all right, Reggie's number two. I'm second round pick for the Saints. They fly Reggie in the second round pick. I guess I must have missed a flight er. I didn't get whatever it was. It's cool. I'm not even mad about that, all right, not even mad. So now we get out there. We're in rookie camp. You know, everybody goes to rookie camp. So me and Reggie are roommates, all right, the only time we were there, for those short period of time, we were roommates. And this is my introduction to Reggie Bush. Reggie has his laptop out and he shows me what he had just come from Vegas at the hard Rock Hotel. Rehab was the poor party. I had never seen anything like this in my life, all right. I'm from Alabama. I've only been out of the state a few times. My man, this is like Memorial Weekend. You don't know anything about this, somebody, No, I've never seen anything like this. It was absolutely life changing. I literally went the next year and told my mom, you know what, Mom, I'll never be home for Memorial Day everything. I want to be at the hard Rock Hotel with my boy Reggie and everybody else, everybody, Reggie Bush right there. Yeah. Hey, you know what it's crazy, is we um? You know, going to Vegas now so different than you know, back during that time period before COVID all these things that you know transpired since. But Rehab was the first big pool party I ever went to, and the first time I went, I had that same reaction. I was like, oh my god, what is this, like, we damn people here? And you know it was it was the It was like one of those first big pool parties. Um. You know, back in that time period when pool parties were still big. Remember going there, you know every year with a bunch of teammates, you know, hanging out, having a good time. You went before it got ratchet too, like ye, it was a new phenomenon. Yeah, it was a new phenomenon. Still it got ratched, real it got ratched at some point. And then you know, I think things end up changing, like Access popped up and Court Beach and all these other places but um, you know it was it was good times. Man. That was a that was the beginning of uh, you know, our our relationship. Us meeting Um, you know, I never forget man meeting you for the first time. I was like, who, how old is this dude? In no way me and him are coming in the same draft class. This dude got to be year ten right now. I'd be trying to tell everybody, like, Bro, I literally had gray hair like majority of my life. So I can't. I literally can I can't. I can't diet because everybody like, dude, yeah, if I, if I, if I showed up reds with black hair, what would you say, you should actually do that one time just for the college football show, Bro, I swear to guy, it would be as hit. It would go viral if you showed up all straight black hair, no grays nowhere, Just go ahead and die that thing, man, color it up one time for the team. So Peanut, Peanut was my teammate, and he literally started to go fund me. Yeah, and it got up to like seven grand bro, like trying to get me to dye my hair for like, and I was like, Noah, I won't do it. Now, you know what Um, I honestly, it gives you so much character, you know what I'm saying, Like because you know, there's different things about us individually that you know that separate us from other people. And um, you know, I just feel like you know, the way we look, you know sometimes when we talk, the way we act, it all just gives us character. Yeah. And just knowing you for as long as I've known you, man, coming in the same draft, You've always been the same guy. I always been a great person, always been an amazing teammate, hard worker. Um, you know, nothing is changing, you know what I'm saying, I'm still seeing that same guy. You know what I mean. We just were on the other side now, you know what I mean. We lived, We lived our our time in the in the NFL. We made it through, you know, with all our all our limbs still attached to our body. And um, but I wouldn't even recognize you, bro if you didn't have gray hairs. So you know, I think it gives your character. Man. Obviously, you know everybody who's knowing you for so long, you know, probably feels the same way. Man. You know, good, thank you, thank you, and you and you you know what I'm saying you the man, so well, I appreciate that dog. All right, Well, let's let's kind of jump into that NFL career of talking about that in one special season that we share was in two thousand and nine when we won Super Bowl forty four versus the Colts in Miami. At the end of all that that season, Um, what was your favorite moment from that season? You've had some special moments, Reggie. I mean not only you know. I don't want to take anything from you or give you a whole bunch of ops. I want you to speak on it first, but I mean you do from like the eight yard line at one point, like you've had some very very special moments, So please go. Let's just take it away from there. Um. Well, that Miami game you're talking about was a special one because you know, I just remember us going to Miami and you know that being a dog fight. Like Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown. It felt like they had like two hundred yards each in the first half. It was that was like first half. Clearly first half was running right and so um, you know, just that second half is where we really geled together. Um, we fought back. Um, you was making plays. I was making plays. I had to dive where I took off from like an eight yard line, like you said. And you know the thing about whenever I dove in the end zone, it was me saying or showing that I'm gonna score no matter what, at all costs, you know. So it's not something that I practice. You never saw me dive in practice ever never, Nobody ever wants never seen Reggie on the bush on the ground that way. It was only in games that would come out, you know, and and all honesty, it's not something I prepared for. Um. It was not something I practice. It was just like, if I'm within ten yards of this end zone, I'm jumping because if I got to get a ball to Deuce on the one yard line or to Pierre in the one yard line or whoever it is. You know what I'm saying, I might not get that opportunity back. So yeah, they're gonna pull you two as you get on that too. They read every time every time they act like I can't run between the tackles and on the goal line. You know what I'm saying. And you know it started at USC when you know me Lindale obviously were you know, thunder and lightning, and we were going back and forth and and same thing though. You know, if I got tackled on the one or two, they was gonna bring Lindelle in there and handle on football. So I'm like, you know what f this, I'm getting the end zone. I don't care what I gotta do. I gotta break somebody leg, I gotta bite somebody fingernails off, whatever I gotta do, I'm getting in the end zone. And you know that's kind of where the diving and the jumping, you know started. But um, you know, just going back to that two thousand and nine season, you know, it was so special for us because everything we were playing for, you know, from from two thousand and six, uh, you know, months removed when we and as crazy as what people may not know is we got drafted to New Orleans five months after Katrina. It was a third world country. When you went down there, it looked like a war zone, you know. And there I remember there was curfew at like eight o'clock. People had to be inside. Um, nothing was open, No businesses were open. You know. You can see still see obviously a lot of the destruction spray paint you know on the houses with the number of bodies found inside the houses. And this is like what we're driving through to get to practice every single day. You know. We're trailers. Yeah, the female trailers were a huge thing. Please. Yeah. And it was just, you know, it was a time period where, um, you know, I felt like there was a bigger purpose you know for us being down there, and there was a reason why you know, that team was brought together, you know, was to to help restore hope into the city and to um, you know, uplift people's spirits, you know by winning football games. Because before we got there, the Saints were not good, um you know, and they had some some pretty bad seasons for a couple of years before that, and we were kind of like the new kids on the block, you know, in that two thousand and sixth season, and we were able to make some noise. Go to the NFC Championship game, we were one half removed from playing in the Super Bowl, and you know, I think us losing that NFC Championship game left a bitter taste in our mouth, but it also showed us that, hey, we belong here and we can do this. And the next two years, you know, we kind of faltered, We were average, you know, and then the year four, you know, two thousand and nine is when it just all clicked, all came together. And you know, that's when Greg Williams came over and I really felt like, you know, just his attacking style of defense, the way you guys played. You the defense was the reason why you know, we we a big piece of reason why that we won that Super Bowl that year because you mean, you guys were just you guys, turnovers, ferocious, like everything that that team needed in that time period. Um is what you what you guys brought, you know, to the table. And some of those practices that we had, man, those were blood bath practices, like y'allways chirping that drew anytime you got the interception, whole team celebrating the end zone. So that fired us up. We had to come back, you know what I'm saying, and score touchdowns. And it was just those battles, man, those practices that we had from training camp to the season, and that's really where we built that that championship team. You know, it is within those practices and those um you know, those those times where you know, the camera's not on when we're not on the football field on Sundays and playing, and we built a relationship that I felt like goes far beyond the football field. Um, you know, to this day, all y'all are still my brothers. Y'all know that we still be on the group chat talking trash all day with Arnie and the Strief and Vilma and you know, all these dudes. Man. And so that's what I appreciated most about that time period that I was in New Orleans, that we were in New Orleans together, was just the relationships that we built. Man and coach, you know, Coach Vicki's always say they're gonna walk together forever. It's true. There's no truer words. It's true. I didn't I would hear him say it all the time, you don't really pay attention to it. He said something else all the time too. It's like when you're in like when you're living in the greatest time in your life, you don't realize it, right, and those are some of the greatest times of our lives, literally, and you don't realize it. You just kind of live in life. You're taking it. You're taking it for a little bit you're taking it for granted mostly and then you wake up and you're like, dude, that really was something special. And talking about the super Bowl. We win the super Bowl, great season. What did you do after? What was that party scene for you? Afterwards? Just don't four party scene? I get it. What was that like being Reggie Bush after winning the Super Bowl? Man? You know what after or we wasn't that super Bowl that night? I think I went to Live. I want to live that night we all went to Live. I did not go. I ended up going the story Live was like twenty something sex. It was like crazy. It was it was. It was too crazy and I had to boyson me. So it was too much. It was. But yes, yes, just being in Miami winning that super Bowl, um man, it was such an amazing time period, especially for Saints fans, for the organization, for us, the players, um you know, being able to win that in Miami against the Colts, you know, was it was larger than life. Man. It was the biggest thing ever. You know. It was like you said in that moment, you know, I was excited. I was happy. I was you know, celebrating we finally did it. But I had to be honest, like two weeks later, I was already like, okay, let's go get the next one, you know what I'm saying. It was like I didn't take enough time to enjoy it, you know, I was already trying to think about how are we gonna get number two? You know what I'm saying. And that's the thing about when you win championships, especially when you're able to win them at the highest level, it's like a drug because you want it again. You know, It's like, Okay, that was fun, but I want to do that x amount more times. And you know, I remember us going to do you remember our our parade. Our parade was crazy. Oh my god, legendary. That parade was was awesome, man. And they said it was gonna be three hours and it lasted about eight. Well, that ain't no way that parade was gonna last three hours. I mean, we had every street it was just lines and just thousands of people every street. No, it doesn't matter what street you looked on. It was just packed with people. And we were on our Marty Guard floats, you know, going through the French Quarter, going through Uptown. And so I'll never forget this story. I ended up being on somehow. I don't know how I end up being on Sean's float. So it's me Sean Mickey or he's on the float. Um somehow. Jay Glazier was on the float. No idea why. He had nothing to do with the team, but he on the floe celebrated with us, and so everybody's lit up, right, everybody, everybody's payton is lit up. And so coach decides, I don't even know if people know this story. He decides, as we are going through uptown, he decides to jump off the floe with the Super Bowl trophy. Didn't warn, nobody, didn't tell, nobody, didn't ask permission, Yeah, security, all kinds of stuff. It's thousands of people. As soon as you step off this floe, by himself starts running down the street with the trophy above his head. Bro, I promise you, So this is crazy. Nobody nobody saw him but me. I was the only one that saw him running down the street. And I was like, hey, y'all need to go get shot over there, because he's running down the street with the trophy, and all of all you saw was just thousands of people, like the swarming bees, just right on top of him. You can't see him anymore, but you saw the trophy just bouncing around down, top down, the free card through this crowd, and it was it was so crazy because it was just one of those things where it was just like sudden and security had the round there and get them whatever it was. But it was obviously all in fun and um, you know, it was a great time, man. I think winning the Super Bowl for the city of New Orleans during that time period is one of the greatest memories and accomplishments of my life. You know. Let's talk about another accomplishment, um, and that is in twenty nineteen, you were inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame. Could you take me through that, your emotions, how to feel, where you're surprised, where you shot, and then I'm gonna tell the people, um, the biggest Reggie Bush moment after all that stuff. Um, you know, I was I was happy, you know, I was excited because, um, you know what we built in New Orleans, that team. You know, all those guys that played our draft class. Everybody played double digit years, which is crazy. You know, even even Nikovic, you know what I'm saying, he left left us and went on to you know, Um, the Patriots end up having an amazing career. So it was like everybody from our draft class, even down to Coaston, who was you know, one of the last picks and ended up becoming one of the greatest receivers. Yeah, I think it's second second to last pick. And you know, it's just the the way that everything worked out, the people that we brought in, Um, it was just awesome, man. And to be able to you know, celebrate that with Missus Benson, um, and with you know, coach and my teammates and just knowing that you know, my name was gonna be up there with you guys and for everything we did, you know, for that organization and for the city. UM. That's what it's all about. You know, that's what it's all about. It It's all about just you know, leaving everything on the field and having no regrets. Um. And I really felt like I gave everything I had, you know, to every team while I could, you know, and especially to the city of New Orleans. Like New Orleans is my home away from home. I love that place to death. I love all the people down there, the fans and some of the best food in the world. I don't care where you've been, where you ate. You ain't eating New Orleans. You ain't had the best food. I could not deny that and totally agree with you. Could I could? I just I want to know this too, because this is the biggest Reggie push moment? Is that? So Reggie gets inducted into the Hall of Fame? You going with? Do you going with Lance? Or Coaston? Coasting with Marcus Coasting? Beautiful? All right? So I come, I'm not in yet. I come because I want to support my guys, same draft class. I ain't doing nothing, So tell them and going behold you know who's late and don't even show up peel game time the next day of the Hall of Fame Families. There, wife's looking beautiful, none other than Reginald Bush right here by man. He's like, you know, couldn't make the flight after my show like Orni's like, Dude, as much money as this mother joker has made, he wouldn't just get a private jet just like get him there, wouldn't do it. Well, we missed you, Red, That's all I'm saying. It was a great speech that you supposedly did. It was amazing. My wife gave the speech. Lelite looked beautiful, all right, it was. It was awesome, all right, it was good. The boys, their daughter, everybody looked great. We just missed you. Just let you know. It was the most Reggie Bush moment. Yes, this is okay. Please please explain, because we were there always. As y'all know, New Orleans, Louisiana is a city up for a lot of these storms that happened, rain storms would be some of the most powerful storms you've ever seen in your life. True, that day, there was a bad storm and a lot of the fights got delayed or canceled, and the airport, the New Orleans, the airport New Orleans ended up losing power during this storm, and so a lot of fights going into New Orleans got really delayed. And so my fight was delayed, and you know, it was last minute. There's no way to call um, you know, a private jet, last minute like that, you know, it was I had already booked his flight, and I was already you know, at the airport, you know, pulled up and I didn't know until I got there that it was gonna be that delayed. And I'm like, oh my god, I'm about to miss my Hall of Fame in duction speech like what am I? What do I do? Like can y'all can y'all hold him? Hold him for a little bit? Or can't hold it? Dog? We all here, We all in the building. We are all in the building. So you know, it's it was one of those one of those just times where it was literally out of my control, you know, and I really wanted to be there obviously to you know, obviously be able to give a speech, and but my wife held it down for me. Man. And that's the beauty of having you know, a spouse. That's the beauty of beauty of having a best friend, UM, is that you know, we we we counterbalance each other and when there's times where there's something that she can do, I pick up for it. When there's things that you know, sometimes I can't do or things I can't make it and she can hold it down for me, then that's what she does. And that's I think the best part about me and my wife's relationship is that, um, we love each other, We support each other, and you know, if one of us is ever in a jam and we got to pick up the slack for the for the other person, and that's what we're there for, and then we're gonna do that. Reggie, I've met Lalage quite a few times. Number one, up, Hats off to the Laitue for picking up the speech because it was funny. Uh, because nobody was. It was practice. By the way, she is not prepared for this at all, but she held it down. So shout out to the Lague. And I know her. She's beautiful, She's amazing, and Bro, nobody's gonna have your back more than her, And like, if you need a h of body, she would do it for you. And you know that. You know that now this is this is not the only Hall of Fame that you're in this year. Yeah, College Football Hall of Fame new and ductee this year's class. My man, Reggie Bush, I want to first of all tell you congratulations on that. That's a huge, huge deal. And knowing the history of what you've had at USC, the nc double A, all of what college football as much as you meant to it or did for it, and what it has done to you on the other side of that, did you ever see this happening? And also I want to also know, man, like where were you at how'd you find this? Out, like who told you? True, I've already told me that Corney told me weeks before it even happened, So I had already already knew Corney leaked it out, you know, because Corney he leaked it out to me. But um, you know, I m you know, it's funny as I actually wasn't. I wasn't even thinking about College Football Hall of Fame. Yeah, you know that that was not something that was on my mind. Uh, it was something that I knew I was gonna eventually happen. I just didn't know when you know what I'm saying because of the nature of everything that happened while I was at USC and um, you know, the things that were done to the university to me through the NC double A and this that constant, uphill battle, that fight, you know, against the incable A. And you know, I'm happy that, you know, I'm finally not into the College Football Hall of the Hall of Fame. Um. You know, I think that I earned it. And again, I don't want anything given to me for free. You know, I want everything that I get, I want to earn it. You know, I want to make sure that I put in a body of work to show people that he deserves this or whatever that is. Um. And and so you know when I when Ornie told me the news, I was excited. I was happy, and UM I told my wife, told my kids. You know, they were all excited and happy, and UM, you know we're looking forward to you know, the actual induction ceremony, dinner, all those different things, and um, you know it's been a long time coming. Man. Um. You know, I think when I look back on my college career, it was the place for me where I grew so much and where I became a man because coming from high school, um, you know, I was a great football player and and and played against you know, great talent, but you know, I felt like also my talent level was you know, at a certain level. And then when you get to college you realize, oh, everybody's an All American. Everybody is you know, one of the best that you know where they came from. And so there was just that that shift I think in my mind where I had to go earn it all over again. I had to go prove myself all over again to my teammates, to the fan base, to the coaches. You know, this was not gonna be something that was gonna be easily given to me because of what I did in high school. But yet I was gonna have to go in and put the body of work in all over again and reprove myself. And you know, I thought Pete Carroll did a great job at creating, you know, just competition he created. It was always competition on the field, and that's that was the one thing that drove us, I think was because you couldn't relax because you had another five star behind you, You had another five star behind him, and SC was so loaded. I don't think people that watch college football now understand how SC people in when I was in college read to a couple of things. I talked about the trend setting that you guys did and the West Coast. But you know, people believe that USC would never ever falter, that they would be what Alabama has now become or what Georgia seems to be wanting to become now in college football space. And so we all know that college football goes in these ebbs and flows. But man, what you guys and Pete Carroll created was crazy, Like everybody wanted to put up the V for victory. What you guys did I don't know your colors completely. I know it's yellow, and you know our colors. I didn't know it's not cardinal because maroon is a maroon, not maroon. What is it? Like? What is you know what it is? It's something in yellow? What is its? Cardinal? And gold? Man? Bad? My bad. I didn't want to get it wrong, see what I'm saying. My bad, My bad, My bad. Dog. I'm better than that. You're right, I am better than that. I'm a West Coast guy. You know that. But can we talk about Let's just stay right there, because I want to talk about a couple of trends that you guys said. It set in college, all right, Red, you guys were the first ones to where like regulation like socks to like calfs to the calf and make make that look hot. You know what I'm saying? Like the boys was like I was in Alabama wearing my socks at practice of like right below my calf muscle because that's what sc was doing. And I'm literally playing college ball too. But I'm like, bro, yeah, I'm trying to be like that. I don't know the rest of y'all doing, and I'm trying to be like good boys out there, Broca, like that's where it's at all right. That was one thing. You were also one of the first people where and where'd you get this from? To put the sixth one now in your area code? Yeah, underneath your I passed. That was like game changer. A couple of different things. Lindell had the different colored visors. You guys had celebrities on the on the sidelines, Will Ferrell, you can name them off. Just take me into like when all that started, and did you guys really really recognize like how much you were impacting college football in the country at the time. Well, like you said, you know, you never really, um feel like this is, you know, the greatest time of your life, because you know, when you're in those moments, it just feels like you're living, you know, it just feels like you're working and you're grinding, um, you know, the six one nine unneath my eyes. That started. Actually I would write my area code as where I'm from San Diego. I would write that on my wrist tape. And at some point, you know, I think I stopped wearing risk tape. And Tino, who was our equipment manager m was was always you know, we were always like just messing around with just you know, how can we make this look cool? How we can make just different things look cool. And so I came into the locker room one time and he was just writing, you know, different things on the eyeblacks and I was like, oh, maybe we should write six one nine on there, you know, the area code. Let's let's try it out. And so we went out to practice with it and it got a you know, I got a pretty good reception. I was like, you know, I think I'm gonna do this in the game, you know. And I always wanted to the reason why I did it because I always wanted to, um pay homage to my hometown where I came from. You know, we talk about putting the city on your back on the map, you know, so to speak. And that was kind of my way of, you know, paying homage to my hometown where I came from. UM, the people that helped me get there, my high school coaches, literal league, I mean, everybody, you know what I'm saying. And so I wanted to really you know, kind of you know, show that respect UM while playing football on the field. And that's kind of where it started, you know, it was. It was literally something that simple. Was just our equipment manager kind of like playing around with just different things. And and then when I came in there, we was like, yo, we we're gonna try this in the game. And it got a great reception, you know, And and had we been losing, I don't know, does that ever become a trend like that Maybe never becomes a trend if we lose it. If you lose it, people can be like, oh, that's trash man, we should be doing over there. Man, you don't know what he's doing. People in the sixth one nine, let the reb Let you represent that bro. We not eat with us, to eat with us. We don't know him. We don't know him. But but that's kind of where it started. Man. And you know, it's also funny because in the Fresno State game, Um, I was rocking the one sleeve? Yeah did that? Did that? One got torn? Right? It got torn? It wasn't again, but now all of us do it. Everybody rock everybody, So you know, it was in the game. I was obviously bawling and I was running through a tackle and my right sleeve got torn and ripped, and it was just like hanging and I was just like, yo, cut it off, man, let's go like, let's get back in the game. Cut it off. And I'm not even thinking that, like people are gonna last onto this and this could become a new tram with one sleeve, one arm sleeves, and you know, that's kind of ended up being one of the best games of my career, you know, the college level. And you know, again, when when you're playing at a high level and you do little things like that, you know, people catch on to it. And I think, um, you know, people obviously liked it, and it was kind of welcomed into the college football world, you know. But again a lot of these different trends and things that we did at USC was it was not on purpose. It was by mistake or accident, you know, and we just kind of ended up, you know, latching onto it and became a thing. Um. But you know this again that time period at USC, I became a man. The players of guys that I played with pushed me to get to that Heisman Trophy, to win the Heisman Trophy. I did not win that by myself, you know, because every single day in practice, similar to our two thousand and nine season. It was like that. Every single day in practice, we were trying to knock each other's heads off. We were going at each other. It was trash talking. Even the coaches was trash talking to us. Like one of one of our our our linebacker coaches was Ken Norton Jr. I was gonna say it was Ken Norton then he was there with you guys, right and anybody who knows Kid Norton knows he is one of the greatest talkers that has ever existed, right Ever, like Sharp, we see Shandon Sharp talks a lot of trash, Kid Norton, same way. And I think it was just something about that era, you know what I'm saying, that era of athletes, an era of players, because the game was much more violent back then. The rules were way different. You could destroy a quarterback back then, and so it was just a different era, you know, of athletes, and a lot of those guys, you know, I think about those are guys that I grew up watching, you know what I'm saying. I still have a folder I don't have it here right now. I have a folder for when I was growing up of trading cards that I collected and I went back through this kind of crazy. Man, this is like full circle. I went back. Let me go blow my thing off back there, let me go pull it out, open it up. Man. I had so many cards in there of guys who now I'm friends with or have gotten to know. So Ken Norn Jr. I had like five of his cards. Um. And these are guys who, really, um, I looked up to. You know, when I was playing in the league, and one of my favorites ever was Dion Sanders, you know, Prime coach Prime, and he is literally the reason why you know, I wanted to play football. And so it was Dion Sanders and Barry Sanders. So I tried to emulate my game after Barry, but I really wanted to be Prime, and so I tried to mix the best of both of them. So that's why Dion return punts, I return punts. That's where all started, was watching him return punts, and you know, Barry Sanders didn't return punts. I was like, you know what, I'm gonna figure out how I can do both of these, you know, So I tried to emulate Barry from the running back position and then Prime returning punts, and just that showmanship that he brought to the game. I mean nobody, nobody was flasher than the Prime bro Like nobody I still got. I got a big poster in my bedroom, but Prime I got went in my house right now, autograph that I wanted an auction, and just like he was completely measurment. I mean he was, he was play defense and he was completely polarizing. I want to put a you know, start to wind his college career down because I want to jump into what you're doing now. Um number one, UM, do you feel vindicated now now that you're going to the College Football Hall of Fame? Because you've been very vocal about um, your your past history, your your legacy, the treatment of between the NC DOUBLEA and you all these back and force Mark Emert, like you've been very open and honest about that. Do you feel vindicated, Reggie Bush? Vindicated? Wow? UM, I don't know, because I took so much blame for everything that happened at USC, you know, for for the things that went on and this you gotta understand, I was eighteen years old, nineteen years old, you know when when um, when this stuff happened. Um, there were a bunch of lies that were told that were never brought to light about the true nature of what was going on behind closed doors into double A. UM decided to paint a narrative about me that was untrue. It literally just was not true. UM. And and it's you know, it's it's it's hard to and it looks as as an as a person, anytime somebody says a lie about you, you're gonna want to defend yourself, you know what I'm saying right away. And I never really got that chance, you know, to really defend myself because the facts that were thrown out there were just not true, um, you know about what the nc DOUBLEA was doing, and there was just no real true investigation. Um that happened. A lot of people think that there was this detailed investigation that went on. It literally there was one of the worst investigations that has ever happened because the NCUBA just decide did not to do their homework. Um. And then my running back coach at the time period, Um, you know, this was all penned on my running back coach because I was already gone. So people gotta understand I had already left college. So there was nothing that the NABA could do to me, right, they're not. It's not like the FBI or the police department where they got subpoena power. You gotta come. Like I was already gone in the league with you guys, you know what I'm saying, and I already shifted my focus to New Orleans and to how I was going to help you know, this city. Um, and so a lot of the things that happened were pinned on my running back coach at this time period, Todd McNair. Yeah, because he's the only one that they could get because he's still in com Yeah. So they just do something, get somebody exactly. So it literally just like that. It was like, we gotta get somebody, you know what I'm saying. And if for anybody who knows anything about the way that you know, penalties work for the NC doable A, they have to have linked somebody from the university with knowledge of what was happening or what was going on, or they were a part of it somehow, some way, and they said my running back coach was that guy. A year later, in twenty ten, he filed a lawsuit for defamation and character against the NC doable A. Well, they just settled that lawsuit about eight months ago. Yeah, that's why I asked, do you feel vindicated because you posted this Instagram post, You called about the money, you called out Mark Emmet by his name, you said all these you know, like you were very open in Canada about this rest That's why I feel like it's cool to talk about it right now and you can continue to share. And because it's because people have thought that this case has been closed, right, they thought this has been done and over. It has not been over. It has been ongoing since two thousand and nine. Think about how long that's been that. That's how long the NC doable A has been fighting this and they just they didn't want the public to know that. Right, it's been behind closed doors and it hasn't been publicized because the NC doable A. First of all, I got understand they got billions of dollars. All right, We've got billions of dollars, right, So when you're trying to sue a corporation that has billions of dollars, it's gonna be a fight. It's gonna be an uphill battle because they're not gonna run out of money. You will run out of money trying to fight them. And so that's honestly why you know, we I have just been in this waiting holding pattern because I knew at some point when this case settled, the facts were gonna come out. And this was this case was public for a while, there was a court, there was a trial on it. You know, there's things that happened within that case and a lot of um, you know my opinion, a lot of evidence that came out that showed that the nc doable A had malice towards us and towards Temac, which was unfortunate because he didn't deserve it, His family didn't deserve it. He didn't do nothing wrong, He didn't even know anything about what was happening. So that's why, you know, when the ruling, when the ruling first came out, we were all shocked actually because we knew that the NCUBA had there was no evidence on their part. They didn't have They just didn't have any evidence, you know, So we were really shocked about the ruling and the pillaring that came out. And at that point, that's when the lawsuit was filed. And that's when I was like, Okay, so here we go. We're gonna wait for this lawsuit to settle and then that's when the facts would come out. I just didn't think it would take twelve years. I didn't think it was gonna take twelve plus years for that case to finally settle. But that goes to show you how much the Nuba did not want this to happen, and how much and how long they chose to fight this. And now look now look at it as like what we are right right? The Supreme Court ruled against him eight nothing was or nine nothing. I don't know what it was, eight or nine basically, but but what that shows is that one what they were one is a violation of human rights. You know what I'm saying. This is where I come to with this whole nil thing. Name, image and likeness is nil. Is something you are already given at your birth. It's your name, your image, and your likeness. N Cuba is the only place where you're told you can't benefit from that, you know what I'm saying. And in no other form of work can you do that. If you work for me, I cannot tell you Rome, you can't go make money off your name, image of likeness once you leave this ability. You know what I'm saying and that's that's but those are the rules in the games that were put in place, in my opinion, to hold back one group of people and to elevate another group of people. And it's literally that simple, No, it really is. Um. One more question on this Heisman thing, and that is that on the I Am an Athlete podcast a few months ago, you talked about it and you said the trophy is coming back. Yeah, m is it close to coming back? What's your opinion on that now? And UM, I would like to know. I mean I always said, Reggie, I think you were crazy for giving it back, but hey, you know how you know how I feel. I've told you that since day one. Anyways, go I listen, I didn't want to give it back. So let me just go ahead and say that, like, this was not something that I wanted to do. It was just something in that time period I felt was the right thing to do. Correct, because the human side of me was like, f y'all, yeah, I'm like giving this back. I earned it, you know, I grinded, I put into work. Y'all saw what I did on the football fields back and like you didn't see that, you know what I'm saying, and it is what it is. But you know, in that time period where all this media attention was on the trophy and was on me, was all just negative energy. I wanted to be able to shift my focus and have just a clear mindset of where I was going, if that makes sense. So when I know it makes complete sense, it's like the trophy seemed to be bringing all this negativity here, just hey exactly, and then next you know, I will be able to focus and go with all this because this is what it's all about. You can't punish me. So if this is what it's about, then take it right. And I didn't want to bring that energy into New Orleans because at that time period, you know, one, I was supposed to be drifting to Houston number one. And the reason why there's another reason why, another story of why that didn't happen, which but that was all because of the Heisman Trophy and everything that was going on. But going to New Orleans, you know, when that happened, the first thing they did was they flew me in and they took me on a tour through all the devastation. And right then, right there, I felt this great sense of responsibility to the people of New Orleans, to the city that there's something much bigger here that needs to happen. And I don't want to bring baggage or negative energy along with me into the situation, because these people need my best and they need my one hundred percent locked in focus. And as long as I'm still getting phone calls and text messages and questions in the locker room about the Heisman Trophy and it's everything's about that, you know, that's focused on New Orleans, I can't fully be myself. I can't fully dive in and lock in. And I just didn't. I felt like the people didn't deserve that down there in New Orleans, like it was it was something much bigger. Sometimes you go into these situations and it's just something it's just bigger than it was, bigger than football, right, It's it feels like there's you know, there's there was just you know, I don't know, there's just a greater connection there that it was waiting for us, you know. And we all got involved into helping people rebuild their homes, donating money physically out there, nailing down you know, boards and stuff on top of people's houses, and and so you know when you're in a situation like that one. What it did for me was it just gets when the city of New Orleans welcomed me with open arms, it really lit a fire underneath me and made me just want to dive in and give these people everything. And so that's, honest to God. You know, part of the reason why, a big reason why I gave it back because I just wanted to focus. And then also I knew at some point when all these facts start to come out, people are going to see the truth, right and that trophy is going to end up coming back. Where are we staying right now? My attorneys have been in contact with the NCUBA for some time now. We've pressed them, We've sent them demands letters. Basically, we sent them fifty six page letter identifying every hole in an investigation, every issue that's wrong with what everything that happened. And next some amount of months later, I'm in the Hall of Fame, where to God, this is literally how it happened. We pressed them, were like listen once the because once the court case set then that gave us factual proof to where the NCLABA had nowhere to run. Right, You've already got the Supreme Court ruling, and now you got this court case that just crumbled underneath you. And so now all the facts are there, and now y'all literally can't run, You can't go anywhere, you can't hide. All right, this is what the facts are showing and have said, and same thing. We sent that same information to the Heisman Trust and so um where we are right now, we're in a holding pattern waiting for them to respond. That's that's kind of where it is. But do I believe it's gonna come back? I've always felt that way in my heart of hearts. I've always felt like that, you know, I've never I always felt like once the once the facts come out, you know, the trophy is gonna come back. I totally wholeheartedly. I work in the college football space too. Now you know that I believe it's gonna come back to UM. Tell me this, because first of all, I gotta give you some credit. You and your boys, you know, pressing these cats, you know, like big worm. You know what I'm saying. But do you think all this extra pressure, all this extra stuff, do you think that impacted your career early in your career in New Orleans or at any other time and throughout your career, like having to deal with all this stuff for twelve years, Reds. You know, over twelve years, did this impact your career or your thought process or any other part, or maybe you can point out a specific game or a moment that comes to mind. You're like, man, it was just in my head and I could not shake it. It was every day. Um, I'm being lying to you. Every day has been on my mind, every single day since two thousand and nine. The Heisman Trophy has been right here at the front of my head, and it's it's been something that I thought about. Um, it's been something that has drove me, you know, to depression at one point. You know, when I was in New Worlds, it was crazy, as you know, when I got drafted. This is supposed to be the happiest time in my life, you know, I'm supposed to be I'm living out my dream. I finally made it. My opportunities finally here, and I'm at my lowest point spiritually, I'm at my lowest point mentally. And I felt broken honestly because of just the things that were being said about me. And then that's what it comes down to. Man, when again, when people are calling you one thing and they're labeling, labeling you as a certain person as a cheater, how am I labeled as a cheater? I ain't never cheated a day in my life, especially on that football field, you know. And I always always showed up and punched that ticket, you know what I'm saying, and punched that clock to go to work. And that was the only way I knew how to work. It was the only way I knew how to how to show up and to be great and to be myself. Um. And then again, luckily, I've been blessed to be surrounded by great teammates like yourself. Um, like all my teammates at USC, guys that pushed me to get there every single day. It was like it was like this unspoke it's an unspoken bond, as you know. Um, that unspoken bond is like I'm gonna show up every single day and I'm gonna push you, right, I'm gonna push you to to to be your best because I'm gonna be at my best, right. And so if I'm gonna be at my best, one or two things is gonna have to happen. When I stepped across this football field. I'm gonna stop across the sideline from you. Either you're gonna rise to the occasion or you're gonna fall. And and that's why again I say that usc I became a man. It is because I was surrounded by nothing but dogs. And when I got to New Orleans again, surrounded by nothing but dogs, and you didn't have time to sit there and and kind of you know, I think worry about you know, your problems and your issues and things that were going on. It was like the locker room became, um, my escape. It became, you know, my sanctuary. It became the place where I could go to. I could release my stress. Every single day on that football field, I can go into the weight room, you know, throw up some you know three fifteen or whatever. I've seen you. I've seen you, dog, I seen you. I seen you. I seen you, dog. I know I've seen you do boy thor to weight on that bench, no question, Andy, jumping like a forty like I seen it. I seen it. So that that became, you know, I think my place of peace, you know, um, which is which you know I think too. To me now it sounds crazy because when you say the football field becomes your place of peace, or the football field is the most chaotic play you can be. It's literally chaos, right, So how crazy though that the football field, the chaos became my place of peace, right, became my sanctuary where I can go and get away from the outside noise and where you guys couldn't touch me, the media, the the my friends, whoever was texting me, calling me. It was like, it's just me and this field, me and my craft and and and that's the one thing I always take away from being able to be around you guys, being able to be around players, you know, being around that team was just that I needed every bit of that in that time period because I was in such a broken place spiritually that the city of New Orleans, my teammates, everything, it just it brought me right back. It was like, Nah, we're not gonna let you go too far, you know, down his dark path. We're gonna keep you right here with us. And then we end up winning that Super Bowl, man, and I was just like the biggest release of just like the monkeys off my back, breathe fresh air. And you know, that's what it was about, you know, reg that's really amazing though to hear you say that. First of all, thanks for being so vulnerable with us and the listeners. You know, the fact is like I was your teammate and I didn't know, and that was a good friend of yours. We hung and we did all those things, but like I didn't know all this, so much of this burden on you through all these things to the Heisman just really was weighing you down all the time. That literally we got the best version of Reggie when he was on the football field because of all the things that have been going on off the field. And my other comment and kind of the question that I would ask, is, with all this being said and you sharing all this with us, do you think your NFL career is any different if you don't have all these other things? And I'm not asking you what you change anything, as much as like, how would it be different in your eyes? Um, if I, if I if that didn't happen, dude, I think there would have been a difference in on the field. I just think the stress level of everything I was dealing with is it was the toughest part, right, and it's going through you know, the going through the fire, right a lot of the times as men were taught to suppress, right, suppress whatever issues you got going on. You got to be a man about it. Um, you gotta handle it, you know what I'm saying, like a man, you know, and don't cry, you know this and that, and you know, don't complain and and so you know, for me, it was just handling those demons of what was coming along with that. And we all go through stuff, right, We all go through trials and tribulations. Were not perfect. We make mistakes and when things happened to us. Um, you know a lot of times, you know, I think people run away from those problems, right, rather as opposed to walking through it. But the thing is, when you walk through those problems, you come out you. First of all, you're gonna come out of it, right, You're gonna make it through it, but you're gonna be better on the other side because you walked through and you didn't avoid it. You know. The one thing that I've known I learned is that when you suppressed stuff, at some point in time, it's gonna come out right, and usually it comes out against the people closest to you. Yeah, and you can hurt them more than anybody else, exactly, and you can hurt them more than anybody else. And that's where the one thing I wish I could go back and change was that, I just wish I didn't allow it to affect me as much as it did, because what happened was after my rookie year, I tore my PCL right so two thousand seven season, tore my PCL two thousand and eight toward my medium meniscus, didn't have microfracture surgery. So for those two years, two and a half year years, while I was injured, I was banged up. I wasn't on the football field. That's when the depression really set in, was because you know, I wasn't on the field doing what I love. I couldn't go on the field and run and you know, run routes and all these different things and turnpunts, and I'm watching y'all on TV and it's just a horrible feeling, you know, being injured. And then now media starting to label me as injury prone, and it's like, wait, hold on, man, I ain't never been injury prone the day of my life, you know, until you know, these last two years where I started getting injured and and that's where it can become toxic, you know, for for somebody, you know. And and that's where I think the mental health part of the game, that's where it's the toughest, because how do I control this while I'm repeatedly getting hit in this you know what I'm saying. It's like two great great, it's two rams going head to head every single day in practice, right, and then you're supposed to go off the field, and I got to control this, well, shoot, hold on, I just I got beat up for the last two hours on this football field over here. And yet as soon as you walk out of that facility, you already have to take off the armor. You gotta take off, the head play, you gotta put down the sword, you gotta take off, you know, the chess play. You gotta put your shield down. You know what I'm saying, because you're in this barbaric environment on the football field, and then you got to quickly, you know, change and transition to a normal person. And that's where, you know, it became tough for me because I was still mentally in that environment, but I just wasn't physically there. And so I dealt with a lot of depression naturally having to take a lot of pain killers for the pain. That was bad for me as well. You know, there was a small diction there with just taking pain killers and just wanting to kind of one I'm wanting to ease the physical pain, but also the mental pain as well that I was with And so you know, that was just, um, you know, one of the things that I wish I could go back and take back. And it's something that I'm gonna now teach my kids to how to deal with problems, how to deal with that stress, right, don't run from it, but walk through it, because when you walk through it, you become stronger for going through it as opposed to trying to run away from it, because you can't run away from your issues and your problems. They're always gonna be there in the back of your head. And and like you said, at some point, it's gonna come out against the people closest to you, you know. And you know, I just didn't have that that that right guidance at that time. But thankfully, you know, I had y'all, you know, right, and I had the football field, and I had my teammates, and that was if I didn't have that. I don't know, Bro, I don't know. You know that's um, Like I said, Man, I appreciate that dog because I mean I was your teammate, Bro, and I didn't know the depths of everything that you were dealing with at the time. Um. But you know a lot of that is because shoot, when we were part of your saying, so we were your release when we got like the best of Reggie. Um. And look, I tell everybody to this day, it's a couple of people I love hanging with all the time, and you're one of those because when I with Reggie Bush, nobody ever wants to talk to Roman Harperd. It's like, oh it's Reggie Bush. Nobody ever bothers me. I just gotta just like Bro. Love. I love being with Reggie. Love it now feeling this blank for me. My life right now is blank. Peaceful. It's peaceful and um that's you know to me, that's the thing that everybody wants it, but now everybody has it right and it's free and it's free. Oh that's oh you're preaching right now because piece is free and you know, it's as you go through these evan flows of life, these trials, and these tribulations. Um, as you get older, right, it's also part of maturity too, is you start to just under understand and I see life from a different perspective. Now we've got families, We've got a wife and kids. You know, the the I think, the reason now why we want to go and get it is much different than when we were playing. Right now we've got something much bigger, a bigger purpose, a larger purpose. Um. You know, I got to be right for my kids. Every single day. I need to study and continue to push myself so I can give them knowledge and give them, you know, UM answers to questions that um, you know that I didn't have, and UM, just making sure that they are being led the right way. Because leadership, man, is you know what I've learned is leadership is it's it's about going through Um. You know, these these experiences you know, And to me, that's where real leadership comes from. Is you've been through all these experiences. You've been able to you know, fight through some battles and and and go through some things and be able to be successful and all these different things. And so to me, right now, it's just about the leadership. You know, of my family and leading my kids the right way, my wife, um, you know, making sure I'm handling business things, different projects that I that I'm involved in, and our college football show as well. You know Big Noo Kickoff, which is which has been doing great, dude, it's it's the number one watched, It's one of the if not the number one, it's it's one of the top two watch uh programs in those specific hours of college football. So hats all. I mean, it's crazy. I look, man, I try to watch it all the times. You know, I can't because I'm like all that busy man. Yeah, it's right there. But I know, I know we all watch each other when we get the chance. Bro, you know that. It's amazing. Number one, that how many of our teammates are all in the media now, which we said we never we all we said we would all never do it. I would never do this, I never do it at the end of the media people, Yeah exactly. But now it's how many from that team. It's me you film Ninkovich Street did it for a second for a second, Yeah, yeah, yeah, It's it's multiple multiple facts. Yeah, So tell me this, what made you want to get into TV, And what's it been like the past few years now getting to go back to these campuses, Like that's the best thing for me. It's getting to go to these campus We never got to tailgate. We never got to experience these places. And you specifically getting to go to you know, back to see or covering the Big Ten where it's like cold, and you get to experience like what are the campus life and all those things like give me just share with the people that are listeners and things of that, like encapsulate Reggie Bush's life. What made him make these decisions? And how's this whole thing going for you? It's an awesome experience, man, it really is, um, you know, being able to you know this. His other thing too, is I didn't want to come back to cons football after all this stuff that happened. I never thought about that when they came to I was actually doing NFL Network, and I was doing NFL Network for like two three years at this time period. I was doing Thursday Night Football. I was doing the Saturday Good Morning Football shows with Nate and and k and you know a Colleen, all these different people, Smitty Um and so I was closely removed from the NFL. So I was like, I'm just gonna stay in the NFL. And Fox came and recruited me for this show. Um during the Super Bowl when we're in Atlanta, and at that time, I was just like, man, I don't think so, I don't think I'm gonna do it. I don't know nothing about college football. Um, the last place I want to go back to was college football. But you know, Fox and Zaeger and Eric Shanks were awesome and they they really you know, made it easy for me. Um. They really were like, listen, we want you to be part of the show. We think it's gonna be great. We want to rebrand and cosge football show here at Fox, and we think can be a great opportunity. And they talk to me just about the way it was gonna to look and feel of it and everything that we're gonna do. I'm so glad I took that, took that leap of faith. Man, I'm so glad. You know, it's a great show. It's a great show. You guys have fun up there too, you we And that's and that's the thing, man is we get a chance to be ourselves and get a chance to have fun and now it's like, you know, we're like ambassadors of college football, you know, and we get a chance to go to these campuses and and kind of relive, you know, some of these experiences because we're celebrated everywhere we go. And that's the best part of of of um, you know, what we do is is being in the college uh experience. And at the college level, there's there's a different passion than the NFL. Right, it's way different than than than the NFL. You get the pageantry, you get the bands, the mascots and student sections, the cheerleaders, like you get so much to the eye when you watch the college football game. And then being there is even bigger, you know, and it's even it's even greater. So I really enjoy you know, doing college football. Um. You know, man, I just years ago, I just never thought I would be back here. But man, I'm having so much fun with it. I love it, enjoy it, and um man, it's just I can't wait to see what the future holds from me and uh at this at this level. All right, one more quick question before we tossed to a break. We gotta we gotta pay some bills. Talk We've been on and me and you. We could do this all day. You do this all day, and we could literally do this all day. And we hadn't talked it a little bit, so we hadn't seen each other. So this is like what we do. UM, what's been your favorite campus? UM? Let's see. Ohiuse States always great, Michigan never disappoints. UM. I think this year going to TCU was a lot of fun. Seeing I've never been there. I have no idea what campus looks like. Going to Fort Worth, uh was awesome and um just getting a chance to to you know, TCU is a smaller school, a smaller private school. Yeah, I didn't know that until I really didn't know that. I was like, damn, it's really not that many people. But you know, they just seeing a run that they went on this year and just seeing kind of, you know, just this this magical season that they had. UM and following them and being a part of that, you know a little bit, and covering them some of their games, and getting a chance to talk to Max dug In and you know, some of these other athletes. To me, that's the best part. I love getting a chance to actually meet the athletes and talk to them because you see so much of ourselves in them, you know, and where they are in their careers at the college level. And also I'm just excited for you know, where it college football is headed now that you know some of these kids can make money off their name, image and likeness, because I just to me, it's when you're at the college level, you're in your prime. When I was eighteen, nineteen twenty years old making all those highlights at USC, I was in my prime, right, And now that these kids can benefit from that, they can go and provide for their families at a much earlier stage. Right, they can take care of themselves, right, They can they can pay some bills, they can put gas in their car. These are all things I was worried about in college. Was like, where's my next meal gonna be? You know, I don't blame you. Gas is very expensive in LA, very expensive, pensive as hill and then the cost of living as well, you know. Um, So it's like a lot of the things that were on our minds, things that we were thinking about on a daily basis, is these kids don't have to worry about that, So the stress level goes down, right, So now you can just kind of really just be yourself, man, just really dive in and just be who you are. You don't have to rush to the NFL if you don't want to, right you can make some money at the college level, which I think is very important, you know, because there's some guys who feel like I gotta go now because I got to get that money right now, because you know, my family's depending on me, you know what I'm saying, and so I just love, you know, all these different stories that I'm in a chance to see read and hear about me with the young kids at the college level now, because they deserve it, you know, and you know, I think it's it's important. It's impactful, you know, for all of them. Man, it's really cool because, like you said, we are ambassadors of the college football area and you have so much to do with where this game is right now most importantly. So here, let's talk to a break. We got we got like five quick hitters for Reggie Bush. When we get back, all right, talk to a break here. We gotta pay some bills. We'll be back in a minute. Thank you, guys, keep listening. Red, you know you're my guy. Here we go. We got a couple of quick hitters for you. I didn't just give us to his first thing that comes to mind. This is what we always try and give people. Some people we throw people off, some we don't whatever. All right, what was your first welcome to the NFL moment two thousand and six playing in Division Around playoffs? I didn't know you were gonna go here, but got my ass laid out. Here's the thing, all right. We talked about Damar Hamlin and everything he went through, which I'm so glad. Well, that is a great much better doing great. But I gotta be honest with you. Everything that he experienced I experienced at times too. And that hit against from Sheldon Brown in that in that game, Bro, I felt like my heart stopped. I felt like my soul left my body. Um. I felt like my head was detached from my body, like literally everything you could ever imagine in the worst car accident you've ever been in, but you lived through it. That's how I felt in that moment. That was my welcome to the NFL moment and hit and I will never forget it. Bro. You saw a human being fighting for his life on that field, Bro, I did see it. I was on the sidelines. Yes, and so those that don't know, Sheldon Brown hit Reggie Bush on a flat route. I mean, Drew, I just't check to it anyway. Great job to even hold onto the ball. You held onto it too, right, Yeah yeah, but bro, so the best part is Redge gets destroyed. Right. Brown did a complete sprint right through Reggie's chest. Um, Redge being trying to be as tough as he could. Bro, he tried to get up. I tried, My boy, tried to get up like twice, but he went right back down. Right. He's like, it was great effort, dog like, and you you came back in the game eventually, But Bro, you was hurt dog, and it looked really bad. And I can only imagine because it got like Reggie Bush. You gotta seen his highlights. He's never taking a hard hit his whole life. Probably that's probably the first time you ever really gotten hit. That was That was my first real I mean I've had I've had some some moments where I banged helmets or something, you know, kind of but you saw that white everything goes clear. He starts seeing little stars. Yeah, but this one was like a grenade, like an explosion, like my my entire everybody disintegrated and then came back together. You know what I'm saying, all in one moment, and I just I never forget like you said. Once I hit the ground, I jumped right back up because I just did not want to show that I was hurting. Yeah, I was watching. It hadn't registered in my body yet that there was no air and I couldn't breathe because the wind was knocked out of me. So I dropped right but folded right back to the ground. Now I'm crawling right now, I'm going, but I'm crawling for air like I'm crawling trying. Is air over here? Is it over there? Like? Where's the air? Fam? I ain't got it right now? Hey, the best part was over on the sidelines, bro, because I told my acl so I wasn't playing, I wasn't dressed, and the rest of all of us that is non dressed were all like, you know, uh like uh, we're all like smokey uh. In Craig's dad in Friday, get up, Craig, get up crib we all like, get up Rid, Get up Rid. He's just like he wasn't getting up dog. It was we felt you. We felt You know what's funny is M Dante, even Dante star Wars of one of my really good friends, was on the other sideline. He played for the Eagles at that time, and I was on their sideline when it happened. You were close and he was yelling at me, and I couldn't hear anything he was saying because it was like, literally I was deaf and I was just trying to breathe. And afterwards, uh, you know, years later whatever he was like, man, I was like, I was trying to get your team. I was like, Fred, you good? Wre's you good? You good? I literally couldn't hear this dude, right, and he's standing right here next to me, and I couldn't hear the word he was saying to him. You look, it looked painful. I'm glad that was your well. I'm glad you shared that with I'm glad I survived it. I'm not only write a book surviving the worst hit in the NFL. All right, If you could pick one of these to start your team with a running back, that is, who would it be? We know your love for Barry Sanders, Marshall Fault or Marcus Allen. You've all mentioned that all of these guys that one point in time were like a role model to you, so who would be Oh my god, it's hard. They all had different influences of my life. Marcus is from San Diego, It's from my neighborhood, from my hometown. Um, you know, watching him and just seeing what he did and his accomplishments, um was amazing for me. And and just it really gave me hope that I can go and do it. That's why I really got the first sense of hope that I could actually go and do this thing was knowing that there were guys from my neighborhood that already did it. Marshall Falk. I not Marshall Falk. It was Marcus, Allen, Terrell Davis, Ricky Williams, and Rashaan Saloon rest in peace. Um, those are the four guys from my neighborhood that paved the way for me and gave me hope that I can go do it. And then talk about Marshall. Marshall really instilled in me watching him to to to step outside of the running back position and go play receiver, cash the ball out of the back and be able to go play in space. Um and to be able to just be an extra added weapon not only the running game, but in the past game as well. UM. And then Barry was like my ultimate influence. Like I wanted, I really wanted to be buried on that field. And you know it's just I would. If I had to choose one of you forcing me, I'm gonna say Barry Man, because nobody was better than Barry. You're not wrong, You're not wrong. That boy buried myself. Different dog. I was watching some highlights at him the other day. His stopping goal was and he got to think he doing this on that old turf old turf, not that new turf day we got. Now he doing that on carpet. I'm surprised he didn't tear more guys knees up with like all his moves. I'm not lying, all right, redg this is one that I had not thought of when I knew that you were gonna come on, and then just knowing your uniqueness, who you are, were, all the places you've been and all the things you've seen, give me, all right, have this picture in your mind. I want to know what's the best room that you've ever been in with like the who's who of like this person is this? This is that I want to know, the like the highlight room that Reggie Bush has been in where it's like, man, this is like big time high quality. You mean, just like like athletes or like entertainers or everything the whole gambit of it. I'm sure you've been in the room with some some Yeah, I'm trying to think of the different rooms though that I've been in. You know I've been I've been able to I think, just meet some great people, Manum. You know, meet some amazing people in my time period, people that I've looked up to, people that I've had a lot of respect for. Um. You know, I got a chance to meet Obama when he was not the president yet, when he was actually running to become the president. I went to one of his camp paying parties. He got a chance to meet him, and you know then it seeing what he was able to do after that, going to be the president of the United States was was awesome. Man. And you know that was one person you know that I think that I look at UM as somebody that was just a pleasure to meet. I actually used to live very close to also Jim Brown. Um Jim Brown was m you know, is someone who hold a lot of respect for um when you talk about you know, the time period he played in, the things he had to deal with right Like we were talking. We talk about some of our issues and things we deal with right now. But Jim Brown, man, he was really in the field. He was really in the streets really, you know, fighting for equality, you know, for African Americans, for athletes and for just you know, people of color, and you know, just getting a chance, I think, to meet him, you know, somebody like that who was just again we talk about how football sometimes is bigger than the sport itself. That was one of those moments, you know, um, you know, for Jim Brown, meeting him. And so this was crazy. So I had two dogs, Um, I had a boxer and I had an American bulldog. And when I would leave, they would break out of my house and would get out and they just be running around the streets where I lived at and Jim's wife literally like four different times found my dogs and brought them back to my house. And so it's so crazy, like Jim Brown's wife is like finding my dogs for me running around the streets, probably terrorizing neighborhood. This young this young whipper snapper, Reggie bus dog. They't keep his dogs take care of his dogs. Man terrorized our neighborhood over here, just bringing the property value down. Got great dogs. But but yeah, man, I've been I've been blessed to meet some great people. And you know, I think those are the two people that jump out to me. Is just people who are larger than life in their time periods and just so much, you know, for the change of our world and in the direction of sports and all those things. Okay, well, all right, here's my last question, and that is who is on your Mount Rushmore of people that influenced you and impacted your life on Mount Rush Moore, you get four My mom for sure, from my mom in the category love love your mom. Man, just such an amazing woman, amazing person. She's always worked so hard. Um. And and that's honestly where I get my work ethic from is from watching her and seeing how hard she used to work and in the time she used to put in to support you know, our family, Me and my brother. Um, who your brother? People don't know your Reggie brothers like sixty three, no, no, no, no, sixty seven exactly. It's like it makes it makes zero sense, ladies, zero sense. That is what everybody know. Reggie, I got to speed, he got the hight. Yeah, it's it's crazy. It's the most ludicrous thing ever. All right, go ahead, so crazy. The other person I would, I would go back to my little league coaches. Um. I had two coaches, uh, Coach Peely and coach Kiola. One was Samoan and one was Hawaiian. And both of these dudes as crazy as hell. And and when I was my first introduction to football, when I first started playing, when I was nine years old, they were my coaches, and they were so strict and so not mean. But you know, it's it's how coaching. How coaching is like you gotta be, you know, you gotta be. You gotta expect discipline from from the kids. And so they commanded respect, they commanded discipline from us. And it really set me off the right way. It really set me up the right way because it gave me such a good foundation from my first you know coaches out that I was around of just how to work, how to grind, how to go get it, um you know, how to be disciplined. Um, it really set me up for the rest of my career, you know. And I go back to them because again of what they instilled in me, but also you know, the opportunities that they gave me. And I needed a I needed positive male influence in my life at that time period because I didn't have my real dad in my life, um as much as I wanted to, and um, these these coaches became, you know, that positive male influence in my life that I really needed and really just set my career up. My other Mount Rushmore coaches, UM, I would probably or not, I don't even necessarily coaches, but there's a combination of guys. Pete Carroll, t mac Tom McNair, my running back coach at USC, um Ken Norton Jr. You know, I would just say that coaching staff that we had at USC because they really demanded again so much just discipline and respect and competition and all these things that were just you know, but we were we were born into that helped us, um, not not only on the field but off the field, you know. So I think I learned a lot of things from them that helped serve me well off the field. Um that it's just helped me to become the man I am today. And then lastly, I'm gonna say my wife, because when me and my wife met, I was in a very dark place. I was in a very dark time period. Um. I was still fighting through a lot of the demons and things from the from the Heisman stuff that happened in usc And I was actually ready to move. I was about to move to Miami because I just remember I got traded to Miami. Ye, I was ready to move to Miami all in sell my house in La. I'm gonna just go out here. I'm gonna dive in fully. And I just I wanted. I was ready to get away from La and do something different. And then we met m and it literally just changed my life because she once she was just there for me, and we had our daughter and we developed such a close relationship. We became best friends, and that was something that I really needed at that time period. I just I didn't have that, and I didn't know I needed that until until until I got it. Man. So my wife has been such a huge inspiration in my life. U we. I think our best medicine has been just laughing every day. You know, It's it's literally that simple. Um. I make her laugh, she makes me laugh. We tell jokes to each other all the time. And that relationship, more than anything, has given me so much. Just stability at home, stability in my foundation. Um, not only you know when I was playing, but off the field as well, you know, because again that's the thing when you play a sport like football. Um. Again, the biggest thing always come back to is how do you control this mind when you're constantly getting hit in your head constantly? And that's a that's a tough thing to do. Um. It's like a boxer, right, box wisconstant getting hit in the head and we see some of those long term effects that happens to them. U. And it's no different than football. You know, we got helmets, but we're still getting smacked in the head. And so um, just the stability that she brought me in this time period that I really needed. Um, it's real, it really helped me out a lot. Man. Yeah, shout out to the lad again that you know that's what girl love the league. She's an amazing cooker too, like you be throwing it down all right. For those that don't know, go look her up, follow her on Instagram follow my boy Reggie too. Reggie Man, You're a blessing man. I love you, appreciate you. We're gonna get up out of here man, and thank you. I really really appreciate you. Coming on man, peanup. Miss a great one. All right. I want to thank all my listeners for tuning in. I want to ask you all to continue to spread the word. Give us a rating of review and a follow on Apple podcast or the iHeartRadio Apple or wherever else you get your podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in, and we will see you later. Peace,