In February of this year, the NCAA did an investigation on recruiting violations done by the USC football and basketball program, with pro stars OJ Mayo and Reggie Bush at the forefront of the discussions.
While USC as an athletic program will likely face heavy scholarship sanctions and likely will be put on probation, or worse, that is something that really won’t affect the USC dominance in the Pac-10. The Trojans in football will still be at the very least Top 3 in the conference, and the basketball team will be stuck in mediocrity unless another West Coast stud chooses to go there.
However, the most tangible thing that fans can relate to and that will change history as well as these NCAA sanctions can do is alter the history the most historic single player award in sports history, the Heisman Trophy.
In 2005, the Heisman Trophy was presented to the star running back and one of the best college players of the past 20 years, Reggie Bush. The vote was close, with teammate Matt Leinart finishing 3rd after winning his Heisman a year before, and Vince Young finishing a close second.
By mid-January, it looked like Vince Young had the last laugh, as he lead the Texas Longhorns in a late game win by single handedly running and throwing past the legendary Trojan team in the National Championship.
Now, it appears, he may be able to laugh at the Trojans just a little bit more.
Because he finished 2nd in the running for the award, if Reggie Bush is stripped on the prestigious award, Young would be the recipient and be crowded as the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner.
Fans will still likely remember that Bush won the award and lost because of something that happened before he played a down in college, but a few things will change.
First off, the Heisman Trophy department and the Wikipedia pages will have to be edited, either by an asterisk or simply by removing Bush from the picture.
Plus, all the voters who selected Vince Young, and all the fans that felt he deserved to win will get the man they felt was the best college football player that season.
And finally, Young, who was also one of the best college football players in the past 20 years in my books as well, will not only have the Championship, but the MVP of college as well.
At the end of the day, did Reggie Bush really lose? Probably not. Did Vince Young really win? Maybe a little.
What’s done is done, and like the Baseball Hall of Fame, an asterisk or a website page won’t undo the memory we have of Bush holding the his Heisman Trophy.
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