5 days to USC football: Reggie Bush was unreal

Reign of Troy is counting down to USC football’s 2019 season opener. With five days left, it’s time to talk about Reggie Bush.

USC football is back in five days!

That’s Reggie Bush days until the Trojans will take the field against Fresno State with all the potential of finding their next star.

CHECK OUT: Game-by-game predictions for USC’s 2019 season

When it comes to No. 5, there’s only one place to go:

Who wore it best?

For a generation of USC fans, Reggie Bush is the best player to have worn any cardinal and gold jersey, let alone the No. 5.

Arash Markazi, then of the Daily Trojan, put it best: “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.”

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Whether as a runner, pass catcher or kick returner, opposing coaches didn’t know how to defend him. Opposing players didn’t know how track him let alone get close enough to tackle him. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry in his career, an NCAA record. His junior year, Heisman-winning average was 8.7 yards per carry, a Pac-12 record.

There has never been and probably never will be a playmaker of Bush’s caliber in USC history.

Unfortunately, his 6,551 career all-purpose yards, another NCAA record in a three-year career, hold an asterisk. As does his Heisman Trophy, which was returned after the NCAA found him guilty of amateurism violations. The ensuing sanctions enacted on USC included an indefinite disassociation between Bush and the Trojans.

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One day, that disassociation is bound to end and when it does USC will be able to return one of their all-time greats to the fold.

Who wears it now?

No one.

The Trojans have retired the No. 5 in honor of Reggie Bush’s winning the Heisman Trophy.

Stats to know: 5

• Tackle Jess Hibbs was USC’s fifth ever All-American in 1928.
• USC has had one Lombardi Award winner, Brad Budde, but five others have made the finalist list including George Achica, Jack Del Rio, Tim Ryan, Shaun Cody and Rey Maualuga.
• End Hal Bedsole had five 100-yard receiving games from 1961 to 1963.
• In 1976, USC special teams allowed just five yards on punt returns, the fewest in Pac-12 history.
• In 2003, Tom Malone technically led the NCAA in punting average at 49 yards per kick, but he was five punts short of a qualifying number.
• Shaun Cody and Matt Kalil each finished their careers with five field goal blocks.
• In the 2005 Orange Bowl, Matt Leinart set a record with five touchdown passes against Oklahoma. In that same contest the Trojan defense forced five takeaways.
• USC scored on each of the five opening drives of the second half in the 2007 Rose Bowl to pull away from Michigan.
• In the 2008 Rose Bowl, USC’s defense generated five sacks.
• In the 2017 Rose Bowl, Sam Darnold set a record five touchdowns.