Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who won the Heisman in 2007, was also elected to the hall by the National Football Foundation, along with Dwight Freeney of Syracuse, Luke Kuechly of Boston College, LaMichael James of Oregon and Michael Bishop of Kansas State.
Bush played on two national championship teams with USC, in 2003 and 2004, and led the Trojans to another title game in 2005. He ran for 1,740 yards, averaged 8.7 yards per carry and scored 19 touchdowns in the 2005 season.
He went to become the second overall pick in the NFL draft by the New Orleans Saints after a college career that saw him run for 3,169 yards in three seasons, averaging 7.3 yards per carry, and score 42 touchdowns.
The NCAA later investigated USC and Bush and determined that he and his family had received impermissible benefits from a marketing agent while playing for the Trojans.
The NCAA hit USC with severe sanctions in 2010 and later the Heisman Trust vacated Bush’s Heisman victory and asked him to return his trophy.
Among the NCAA penalties, USC disassociated with Bush for 10 years. That sanction was lifted in 2020 and Bush was welcomed back by the school.
The Heisman win remains vacated, with the trust saying it would only return the award if the NCAA reconsiders the penalties against Bush. The NCAA has said it will not be reevaluating old infractions cases, though there have been calls do to so in light of today’s less restrictive rules around athlete compensation for endorsement deals.
The rest of the latest class of college Hall of Famers includes: Eric Berry of Tennessee, Robert Gallery of Iowa, Derrick Johnson of Texas, Bill Kollar of Montana State, Jeremy Maclin of Missouri, Terrance Mathis of New Mexico, Bryant McKinnie of Miami, Corey Moore of Virginia Tech, Michael Stonebreaker of Notre Dame; Troy Vincent of Wisconsin, Brian Westbrook of Villanova and DeAngelo Williams of Memphis.
The four coaches to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in December will be Monte Carr of Shepherd; Roy Kramer, the Central Michigan coach who became Southeastern Conference commissioner; Mark Richt, who coached Georgia and Miami; and triple-option guru Paul Johnson, who had stints at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech.