Reggie Bush

by Roy S. Johnson

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A Heisman, two national championships, and a storybook rookie NFL season (or nearly so) were just the beginning for Reggie Bush.

During the off-season—thanks to one of the most intriguing and challenging workouts in the nation—the New Orleans Saints running back got stronger, faster, and smarter. And he just might be Madison Avenue’s favorite player not named Peyton Manning.

“Get me two No. 1s, with fries.”

Don’t be mad. Don’t hate on Reggie Bush even though he pretty much eats what he wants, dates whom he wants (he and Los Angeles socialite Kim Kardashian are “great friends, just friends,” he insists), buys what he wants, and is suddenly Madison Avenue’s favorite NFL player not named Peyton Manning—or because this is his off-season body.

It’s early summer, idle time in the NFL. The draft, the league’s annual rite of hope and renewal, is long in the books. Mini-camps are winding down. Training camps are still weeks away. But Bush looks ripped and ready to rock, which seems all the more hate-worthy after he calls out his lunch order from a local Southern California burger joint. “I can eat whatever,” he says with a smile. “Good genes.”

Good grief.

Eating habits notwithstanding, Reggie Bush gets it now. He’s at peace with the things that once irked him: being drafted second overall in the 2006 draft by the New Orleans Saints, rather than No. 1 by the Houston Texans; predictions that he was not durable enough to be a full-time pro running back; and even facing continuous scrutiny of everything from allegations that his family took money from a wannabe agent while he was winning the Heisman Trophy and leading USC to two consecutive national titles to his enviable social life. He’s cataloged and downloaded each moment from a rookie debut filled with speed bumps, which grew from solid to spectacular before the Saints’ storybook season fell one game short of the Super Bowl.

Now, at just 22, after his year of enlightenment, Bush brims with insights he seems quietly anxious to unleash. “When you get that one year under your belt, it gives you a new level of confidence,” he says. “I’m only beginning.”

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