Why Didn’t Vince Young Take Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy?

Vince Young never actually received Reggie Bush’s 2005 Heisman Trophy and then hand it back. What happened is slightly different. When Bush forfeited the award in 2010 following the NCAA’s findings over impermissible benefits, Young was the obvious alternative because he had finished second in the original voting. Young publicly made it clear that he did not want to be retroactively treated as the winner, saying he still regarded Bush as the player who earned the award on the field. The Heisman Trust ultimately left 2005 without a winner rather than giving the trophy to Young. Fourteen years later, the entire issue became largely academic when Bush’s Heisman was officially reinstated in 2024.

Vince Young finished second to Reggie Bush in 2005

Young had a remarkable 2005 season at Texas, but the actual Heisman vote was not particularly close. Bush received 784 first-place votes, while Young received 79, with USC quarterback Matt Leinart also among the major contenders. Bush had produced more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage and was the centerpiece of an unbeaten USC team chasing a third consecutive national title. Young’s disappointment was real, and he later acknowledged that losing the award hurt him. The more important response came several weeks later, when Texas met USC in the Rose Bowl for the national championship.

Young delivered one of the greatest individual performances in college football history that night. He passed for 267 yards, rushed for 200 more and scored three rushing touchdowns as Texas beat USC 41-38. His final touchdown came on fourth down with 19 seconds remaining, giving Texas its first national championship since 1970. In practical terms, Young did not leave the 2005 season needing a trophy to validate his place in college football history. The Rose Bowl became the performance most closely associated with his career anyway.

Why did Reggie Bush give up the Heisman?

Bush forfeited the 2005 Heisman in September 2010 after the NCAA concluded that he and his family had received impermissible benefits while he was playing for USC. USC had already been hit with substantial sanctions, and Bush chose to surrender the trophy before the Heisman Trust made a final decision about his status. That created the unprecedented question of what should happen to an award that had already been presented nearly five years earlier.

Young immediately became part of the conversation because he had been the runner-up. There was speculation that the award might simply be transferred to him, but the Heisman Trust did not operate that way. Its trustees eventually decided that the 2005 award would remain vacant. There was no new vote and no official announcement naming Young the winner.

Did Vince Young actually turn down an official Heisman offer?

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Not exactly. This distinction gets lost in newer retellings of the story. Young was widely asked whether he would accept the Heisman if it were reassigned, but the Trust never formally announced that the trophy belonged to him. He therefore rejected the idea of replacing Bush rather than refusing an already-awarded Heisman.

Young’s comments at the time were briefly confusing. During one ESPN appearance, he joked that he would want the trophy if Bush lost it. Shortly afterward, however, he clarified his position and publicly said Bush remained the 2005 winner in his eyes. When reporters continued asking whether he wanted the award, Young questioned why he would want a trophy that another player had originally won. That became his consistent position.

Why did Young believe the trophy still belonged to Bush?

For Young, the answer was essentially respect. In a fresh 2026 interview released around Netflix’s Untold: The Testimony of Vince Young, he again explained that Bush had beaten him under the rules and circumstances of the 2005 season. Young said that whatever happened afterward did not alter his view of Bush as the player voters chose. He also spoke warmly about Bush’s talent and the respect he developed for him personally.

There was also something unusual about Young’s position. He had perhaps more reason than anyone to resent Bush’s victory because he had finished second and then immediately outplayed USC on college football’s biggest stage. Yet Young never tried to transform the NCAA scandal into an argument that he deserved to rewrite the award result. The national championship had already provided his answer on the field.

Reggie Bush eventually got the Heisman back

The story received a definitive resolution in April 2024. The Heisman Trophy Trust officially reinstated Bush as the 2005 winner, citing the enormous changes in college athletics and the acceptance of athlete compensation through name, image and likeness rights. Bush received his trophy back, USC regained its replica, and Bush returned to the Heisman family.

That decision also validated the position Young had maintained for years. There is no longer a vacant 2005 Heisman and no need to debate whether the runner-up should inherit it. Bush is officially the winner again, exactly as Young insisted he should be long before the reinstatement happened.

The most accurate answer, then, is that Vince Young did not take Reggie Bush’s Heisman because he never believed another player’s award should become his through a later disciplinary ruling. He was disappointed to lose in 2005, but he accepted the result. The Heisman Trust never formally transferred the award to Young, and its eventual decision to restore Bush’s trophy in 2024 brought the official record back in line with what Young had been saying all along.