Holt sold Bush on Trojans

If you think chasing down Reggie Bush is difficult on a football field, try being involved in the recruiting game for Bush back in 2001-2002 along with dozens of schools across the country.

“He wasn’t really interested in USC to begin with,” said Idaho head coach Nick Holt, who was the Trojans’ linebackers coach at the time and responsible for recruiting Bush out of Helix High School in Spring Valley, Calif. “I think he wanted to go to Stanford, academically, and he was looking at some other schools.

“But we kept following him and recruiting him and staying on him and it just kind of snowballed in that 2002 season.”

It didn’t hurt that USC was losing four senior running backs after that season. It certainly helped when the Trojans throttled Stanford 49-17 and Notre Dame 44-13, two schools apparently high on Bush’s list, in November 2002.

After USC thumped Iowa 38-17 in the Orange Bowl, Holt had just returned to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and hopped in his car when his cell phone rang.

“He didn’t want to tell anybody because he was playing in an all-star game in Texas and he was going to announce it on TV a couple of days later, but he told me he wanted to be a Trojan,” Holt said. “That was a great day.”

Today should be another milestone day for Bush, who is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy in New York.

Holt will be busy with a dozen recruits visiting at his current university, but he hopes to make time to watch the Heisman ceremony on TV.

“He’s gotten bigger, gained some weight,” Holt said. “You knew when he showed up on campus he was special because he showed up in shape and he was very strong for his size and obviously very fast. He’s more of a physical runner now and he’s got wonderful hands.”

If it goes as expected, Bush will need them to cradle the Heisman Trophy.

“I’m happy for him,” Holt said, then added:

“Really the whole staff took part in getting him and he really liked our running backs coach (Kennedy Pola) at the time. He’s an awesome kid. What makes him so special is he does really well in school and he’s a classy guy with great character. And he’s a very gifted athlete.”