Reggie Bush has never met Johnny Manziel, but some would tell you the veteran Detroit Lions running back is offering the hotshot rookie words to live by and some of the best advice he has publicly received since becoming the highest- profiled pick in this year’s NFL draft.
“He’s going to have to learn how to say no and that’s going to be extremely hard because it’s going to be the people closest to you who you’re going to have to learn to say no to,” Bush told ESPN of the Cleveland Browns quarterback. “And then you’re going to have to keep your circle small so that you can be allowed to focus on football, because without football, nothing else is going to matter.”
The former USC star speaks from experience. Like Manziel, Bush was the toast of the sports/celebrity world in 2006 when he was tabbed by New Orleans with the draft’s second overall selection. By then, the Trojan star already had a Heisman in hand and a trophy girlfriend on his arm.
Bush and Kim Kardashian lasted longer than some may have thought they would have, but to read between the lines you now get the impression even he’s of the mind all the added glitz and extracurricular-activities born of their union were hardly in the best interest of crystallizing what should have been his focus.
“When I started dating my ex, that’s when all this stuff came,” added Bush. “A lot of it started in college, too, winning championships and all the different things we were able to accomplish at the collegiate level, that’s why there was the attention at first, because of the accomplishments. Then all the other stuff came. The gossip magazines and all the other stuff, the ugly side of it.”
Bush added he hasn’t spoken with Manziel and has no concrete plans to seek him out this weekend when their teams meet in the preseason opener for both squads. But like so much of NFL Nation, he’s clearly intrigued by and committed to keeping tabs on Manziel’s development.
“It’s good and bad,” the now 29-year-old vet said of all the added attention. “When you’re young, you’re still trying to kind of find yourself, especially at the professional level. You’re still trying to find your identity and you’re still coming into your own as a player, as an athlete, you’re still trying to improve and have all these people pulling you in different directions. So it’s tough. It’s not easy.”
And now Johnny Football stands as yet another testament to the fact.
