Reggie Bush looks back on NCAA violations: 'Being labeled as a cheater was the toughest part'

Former USC star running back Reggie Bush finally got his Heisman trophy back earlier this year, but he remains in a legal battle with the NCAA.

Bush has an open lawsuit against the NCAA for defamation of character as he claims that he was labeled as a cheater by the organization, which hurt his reputation.

He recently appeared on the “All the Smoke” podcast and revealed the most difficult part of the NCAA’s accusations against him.

“It was tough for me, but being labeled as a cheater was the toughest part. Going through that and also having to go through different stadiums in my career and hearing people chanting ‘cheater’ and ‘liar’ and all of these things. And in my head I couldn’t believe it,” Reggie Bush said.

He explained that to him, a cheater in sports is “somebody who’s taking some kind of performance enhancing drug or trying to somehow directly affect the game in a way that’s in their favor.”

Bush added that: “I’ve never failed a drug test in my life. So it’s just crazy to me that I was somehow labeled a cheater when I never cheated.”

Reggie Bush attended USC from 2003-05 and had one of the best careers in college football history, before being selected with the No. 2 pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. He won a pair of national titles, as well as the Heisman Trophy, during his college career. However, the NCAA came down hard on Bush and USC for NCAA violations.

Bush insists he did nothing wrong and that the NCAA was simply out to get USC.

“I have been saying the same thing from Day 1. From the time I was a rookie in the NFL and they were alleging all of these things against me. We did nothing wrong,” Bush said. “This all came from the NCAA and their attempt to take down USC, everything that we stood for. All the success that we had and we created there with my teammates, coaches. They really didn’t like that we were flashy as a football team. That bothered them.

“It also bothered them that we were successful. And we were also right here in LA at the same time. Our team was big. We were one of the biggest teams in college football history. … It’s unfortunate that this story has kind of overshadowed the success and what we really were about during that time period.”