Johnny Manziel had enough with the NCAA’s decision to keep the Heisman trophy from Reggie Bush.
So in a social media post Saturday, the former Texas A&M star — who received the honor in 2012 — wrote that he won’t attend the annual ceremony for college football’s top player until the trophy gets returned to the former USC star.
“Doesn’t sit right with my morals and values that he can’t be on that stage with us every year,” Manziel wrote Saturday in a post on X. “Reggie IS the Heisman trophy. Do the RIGHT thing @NCAA the ball is in your court.”
Bush lost his Heisman from 2005 five years later after an investigation found that he and his family had received cash, travel expenses and a house — in the San Diego area, according to ESPN — for his parents to live without rent payments.
That also led to a 10-year disassociation from the Trojans that ended in 2020, but it didn’t mark an end to the scandal that also forced USC to vacate 14 wins — one of which was its national championship in 2004 — and accept a two-year postseason ban, along with losing 30 scholarships.
In August, Bush announced his plan to file a defamation lawsuit against the NCAA over its “pay-to-play” language — which Bush’s legal team alleged was “completely false and highly offensive” — used in a statement from 2021.
The NCAA’s statement was published in response to a statement Bush posted when name, image and likeness became official on July 1, 2021 — one where he claimed that his Heisman honor was earned “‘solely’ due to my hard work and dedication on the football field.”
Manziel’s latest comments echoed a similar sentiment that he used in another post on X in August, when he called the NCAA’s actions “complete bulls–t” and said that he wanted nothing more “than for Reggie to get his Heisman back.”
“He is one of the best college football players in history and deserves to be on that stage with us every year,” Manziel continued in his August post. “The only difference between my story and Reggie’s is that my ‘illegal activities’ did not start until after my Heisman season.”
Manziel won the Heisman after a freshman season where he threw for 3,706 yards and 26 touchdowns, while rushing for another 1,410 yards and 21 touchdowns.