Interviews :: Reggie Bush

REGGIE BUSH ON:

His expectations:

"I expect great things out of myself. I expect to make great plays, great moves. In my mind, I can never be good enough...It just comes with the territory of making the most of what God has given you. I'm just trying to make the most out of a blessing I was given."

How he sees his role:

"To do it all. My favorite role is to get the ball in my hands. Any way I can do that. I just like getting the ball in my hands and making a play for my team...Ever since I started playing football, it just felt right. It just felt like something I loved to do. I just loved being able to entertain the crowd and to go out there and make plays happen. It was fun at the same time...I have to know a lot more about the playbook than the other players. But that goes with the territory and I love it."

His moves

"I don't really look at other people's moves and copy them because, when I'm on the field, I'm not going to remember them. It's just something that has a lot to do with instinct and vision and all those running back aspects that you have. You put them all into a basket, and you just use them on the field and go out there and make plays."

Sharing the tailback duty:

"I'm a competitor. I love having the ball in my hands. Some day, I'd like to be the starter. But that's not important to me. What's important is winning. It's not the normal way, but it's working out well...It's a little tough for a running back to get into a rhythm when you're not in there getting all the reps and feeling the defense. But we did it the whole season and when you got in there you had to take advantage of it...There's no jealousy on the team at all. We're all out here pulling for each other and trying to make each other better."

The pros and cons of not getting the ball on every play:

"The hard part has been learning to wait for my opportunity. They can't double- and triple-team me the whole game. If they do, that opens up opportunities for the other guys and, once that starts, I know I'm going to get my chance...I feel if I ran the ball 30 times, I could definitely do some damage. But it's a different situation and it's working out"

His personality:

"Off the field, I'm quiet. On the field, I'm probably the exact opposite of that. Split personality on and off the field."

His experience at the 2004 Heisman Trophy ceremony:

"I'll be back next year."

Returning punts and kicks:

"A punt return is almost like freedom of speech. You get to go out and do whatever you want. It's not a set-up play. You go out and catch the ball and do something for your team. I do what I want. You can't get in trouble. I like doing that. I just get to go out there and express me, my athleticism, my personality, the type of player I am." How he deals with all the attention: "Stay humble and do everything the right way. You have to represent the team the right way...I don't mind all the attention. But it makes me hungrier. It makes me want to do bigger things."

 

 

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

Reggie Bush Sr:

"When he started little league football at 10 years old, he showed the same moves I did when I played - the fluid cuts, the balance and even the slowing down just before the goal line. I knew he was special back then, so I started taping him during his Pee Wee, Pop Warner and through his High School days. I am just amazed on how you can see his moves now back when he was ten years old. I know I wasn't as coordinated at that age as him. It is as if he instinctively knew where to make his cuts - at 10 years old!

I feel the Lord has truly blessed me, my family and now the world with Reggie. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute watching my son grow up and turn into the player that he is.

While I like to think that he resembles me with my moves when I played, I think he got a lot of his drive and intelligence from his mother. God bless her and Reggie's step father, Lamar. People will talk about his ability all the time, but it is really how he was brought up that made him have a devastating mind set with smarts."

 

Washington State head coach Bill Doba:

"If you've got a linebacker covering him, you might as well start singing their fight song."

USC Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Matt Leinart:

"Every time Reggie touches the ball, anything can happen...He's an awesome weapon...A lot of people think he's an outside runner, but he's tough. He can run in between the tackles...When he first came to USC, he was running all over our first defense in fall camp, cutting back, reversing his field. We knew he was special. Anytime he has the ball, something big could happen. It's unbelievable what he can do."

Former USC All-American defensive end Kenechi Udeze:

"He's fun to watch. I remember his first day of practice, he must have run a circle around the whole defense and sprinted for a touchdown. Then to see it happen in the games was really funny."

Former USC All-American wide receiver Mike Williams:

"Reggie's the ultimate weapon."

Former USC center Norm Katnik:

"He's a special guy. He can shake people like no other. I almost tackled him two times myself. He has the ability to make people miss."

USC athletic director and 1965 Heisman Trophy-winning tailback Mike Garrett:

"He's going to be one of the best ever. He looks like another Gale Sayers."

USC head coach Pete Carroll:

"I told him, 'You're the most valuable guy on the field for what you're creating by your presence.'...The overriding element of his game is he's just got such fantastic hands. You can look at the speed and all the rest, but few guys catch the ball so well. I'm talking about anybody, not just running backs."

Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com:

"He releases adrenaline in every bloodstream the minute he touches the ball."

Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com:

"He's a human highlight tape."

Steve Bisheff, Orange County Register:

"Bush is definitely the most exciting player in college football. Bush with the football in an open space is like Barry Bonds at the plate with the bases loaded. Immediately, your senses heighten. Your pulse races. Your eyes refuse to look anywhere else...No one in college football has anyone like him. No one else is even close...The Trojans' flashy hummingbird of an all-purpose player is an amalgam of all the great USC backs through the years."

Steve Kelley, Seattle Times:

"Bush is one-of-a-kind. So good, so versatile, USC's coaching staff is just beginning to see all the ways he can be used. When he touches the ball, defensive coordinators hold their breath. Every play called for him can be a game-breaker. Every touch can be something you'll never forget...Bush zig-zags through defenses as if he has a sixth sense for the location of the next sliver of daylight. He cuts as sharply as a Ferrari in a chicane. He shimmies like a dancer in a music video. A football field is 53 yards wide, and there are plays where Reggie Bush seems to use every inch from sideline to sideline...'The President' is carving exquisite, artful-dodger runs through desperately grasping and gasping defenses. Re-awakening the echoes of all the great Trojan tailbacks who preceded him. Hail to the Chief."

Dennis Dodd, CBS Sportsline.com:

"They call him "The President." They might soon be calling him The King...He is that rare back with the speed and strength to run through the line and the ability to make defenders miss in space when he goes out for a pass...He is a symbol for what USC was, is and will be."

Randy Youngman, Orange County Register:

"Even if he got to carry or catch the ball on every down, I would never get tired of watching Reggie Bush, USC's electrifying running back. Bush has so many open-field moves, he's more elusive than 'The Fugitive.' Now you see him, now you don't...touchdown, Trojans!"

Arash Markazi, Daily Trojan:

"Reggie Bush looks like a creation from a video game-an almost unreal character created by a kid who finds all the secret codes to make his player faster, quicker and better than everyone else on the field...He always makes the impossible seem possible. The scary thing for USC's opponents is that this creation isn't imaginary. He's not from a video game. He's a living, breathing human joystick who terrorizes defenses with his blinding speed and ankle-breaking shimmies...His speed borders on blinding and his knack for eluding defenders borders on ridiculous."

Former Washington head coach Keith Gilbertson:

"I don't care what formation they're in, you better know where No. 5 is, OK? End of story."

Virginia Teach head coach Frank Beamer:

"If he could throw, he'd be Michael Vick." California head coach Jeff Tedford: "If he's not the best player in the country, he's one of the top, no question...He is so talented than any one-on-one situation, he's going to win. You have to pay attention to where he is."

Former Oregon State quarterback Derek Anderson:

"The kid is unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it, in the NFL or wherever."

Former Stanford head coach Buddy Teevens:

"You can't really stop Bush, to be perfectly honest. He's in a class by himself."

Former Stanford assistant coach Tom Williams:

"He is the most versatile player in the country and, in my opinion, he's the best player in the country."

Arizona State head coach Dirk Koetter:

"He can do it all. Every time he touches the ball, you hold your breath."

Former BYU head coach Gary Crowton:

"He's as good as any receiver on their team, and the next moment, he's running with power, makes one guy miss and he's so fast he can go the distance. He just has the ability to create lots of matchup problems without them changing personnel groups. That's a real luxury they have. It kind of reminds me of Marshall Faulk."

Colorado State head coach Sonny Lubick:

"The thing that makes him so darned good is he's such a confident young guy and he's never out of the play, no matter how bleak it looks, no matter how much you have him surrounded."

Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN:

"The most explosive player in college football is Reggie Bush. The best player in the country wears No. 5 for USC. If you get a chance, check him out. Reggie Bush...He's the most electrifying player in college football. Every time he touches the ball, he can score."

Bud Withers, Seattle Times:

"There is little doubt that Bush is the most dynamic player in the nation. He may not win the Heisman Trophy, but voters ought to think long and hard if defenders' broken ankles, Bush's gasp-inducing cuts and spinning, serpentine dashes matter."

Ted Miller, ESPN.com:

"Bush is Shakespeare. He's gifted with speedy brilliance and flourish. Bush is 200 pounds of sound and fury signifying touchdown. He doth rise from the ground like feathered Mercury striding the heavens...He resembles the elusive Gale Sayers or the versatile Marshall Faulk."

David Leon Moore, USA Today:

"Bush is basically a sworn enemy of a straight line. He's all switchbacks and zigzags, spin moves and ankle-breaking shimmies. Some people even think he is already the most entertaining, and maybe best, college football player in the country...He is a quiet sort, polite, humble, good grades, solid citizen...On a football field, he gets around like nobody else. Here, there, this sideline, that end zone, he's running, receiving, returning, making plays, scoring touchdowns, winning games...He runs with a can't-take-your-eyes-off-him style that seems part Marshall Faulk, part Barry Sanders, part Gale Sayers."

Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune:

"Bush, who runs like a witch flies, has developed into the most dangerous player in the country."

Jeff Miller, Orange County Register:

"What defenders see are hips and elbows and ankles and forearms and shoe bottoms, all of it twisting and spinning until what remains is a trail of vapor and shadows and empty-armed opponents...USC uses him to create Maalox matchups for the opposition. When Bush is positioned anywhere but the backfield, 10 defenders can be seen pointing and waving, motioning as to his whereabouts."

USC tailback LenDale White:

"He's smooth. He's got mad, crazy speed...If Reggie's not the best there is, he's one of the best. He opens this offense up so much just by being there." Former USC All-American defensive lineman Shaun Cody: "Practicing against him was great training for us. You want to improve your quickness, try chasing a rabbit around."

Former USC tight end Alex Holmes:

"When he's in, you heard linebackers screaming every time. They were all shouting about 'No. 5.' Reggie is a guy who literally changes the game just by being out there."

Former USC All-American linebacker Lofa Tatupu:

"We just sat back on Saturday and watched the show...Not to take credit away from the offensive line because they've done a great job, but Reggie sets up his blocks so well that they can miss their man completely and he still gets through...I've even told guys on the other team, 'Don't feel bad. He got me with that play twice this week in practice, too.'"

Former USC cornerback Kevin Arbet:

"He's the best player I've ever played with or against. When he's running an option route against you, you just have to guess. It's impossible."

Patrick Kinmartin, Daily Trojan:

"His combination of track-sprinter speed and music-video shiftiness makes him a one-man show."

Dan Weber, Riverside Press-Telegram:

"Bush awes his teammates daily with his ability to get to full speed on his second step."

Todd Harmonson, Orange County Register:

"Bush is a highlight-show fixture with physiology-defying, did-he-do-that moves. The easy comparison is to Marshall Faulk because of the similarity in all-around games, but those who saw Gale Sayers recognize the speed, spins and spellbinding cuts...He is a speed demon who sees Christmas morning when a linebacker tries to defend him and a winnable challenge when a quick corner draws the assignment...Off the field, Bush is a quiet leader who is on track to graduate in 3 ½ years."

Phil Collin, South Bay Daily Breeze:

"Around USC now, they're simply wondering what Reggie will come up with next. The thing is, they know it's coming. Opponents do too...As brilliant as he can be on the football field, Bush is simply that humble off of it. He smiles sheepishly at the mention of his nickname, 'The President.'"

Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times:

"Keith Gilbertson half-jokingly labeled the situation unfair. Bill Doba called the potential problems monstrous. Mike Riley found only one word to describe it-horrible. That's what these Pac-10 coaches said when asked to assess difficulties created for defenses when Reggie Bush lines up as a receiver."

Michael Ventre, MSNBC.com:

"Bush is young and multi-talented. He's a running back. He's a receiver. He's a kick returner. He's a punt returner. He's even a passer. If you try to pigeonhole him, you'd better have lots of pigeonholes...Bush can stop on a dime, give you nine cents change, then blow past you before you can bend to pick it up...When it comes to pure, all-around, pound-for-pound value from a college football player, it's hard to beat what Bush brings to the table...He's a genuine once-in-a-generation player...And he's a good kid-smart, down to earth, respectful of others yet supremely confident...He has turned a run-of-the-mill punt return into an event. He causes teams to kick away from him on kickoffs. When he comes into the game, defenders cast desperate looks at their sideline for advice."