Texas Football: Vince Young did turn down Heisman from Reggie Bush

It turns out that former Texas football superstar quarterback Vince Young did pass on taking the Heisman Trophy from the Bush trust.

Maybe the best quarterback to ever suit up for the Texas football program, the legendary Vince Young, lives on in Longhorn lore for what he did during the 2006 Rose Bowl. He led the Longhorns to a triumph in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter against star quarterback Matt Leinart, Heisman winning running back (at least at the time) Reggie Bush, and the vaunted USC Trojans. That was the last title that Texas has, coming to cap the 2005 season.

Texas got the best of the Trojans by a slim three-point margin thanks to that scamper for a touchdown by VY on the famous 4th-and-5 play late in the fourth quarter. That BCS National Championship Game, played at the Rose Bowl in January 2006, is often referred to as the best game in modern college football history.

Although, during the 2005 season, VY would come up just short of the likes of Bush in the final Heisman voting. He finished second to Bush, and just in front of Leinart, among the three Heisman finalists that showed up in New York in 2005. But when Bush’s Heisman was called into question more than five years ago, and the honors were ultimately rescinded from him, there was the opportunity for VY to technically take the award.

Bush appeared on the show of the former Indianapolis Colts All-Pro punter Pat McAfee on June 23. He told McAfee that while the NCAA tried to giveaway Bush’s Heisman Trophy, that VY wouldn’t accept the honors.

Moreover, Bush also stated that “even some of the closest people” to him didn’t give him the same level of respect as VY. And he also stated that’s why “Vince is my guy”.

It is also interesting that Bush talked about interviewing former Texas head coach Mack Brown on Fox and him confirming this story. Apparently this storyline is a reality that VY turned down the Heisman Trophy despite it being taken from Bush.