Reggie Bush

The first time I ever saw Bush play, I think he was a freshman. I caught a glimpse on TV, he swung out of the backfield and Leinhart tossed him a pass. The play was busted, there were two linebackers who had the play read and had him cornered up for a no-gain. He made a quick juke and in a sudden burst of inhuman speed, tried to split the two linebackers. He slammed into one and it took all the linebackers strength to keep ahold of Bush and pull him down.

It was a no-gain or a 1 yard gain, but several things struck me in the play.

1. The super sonic quickness and bursting speed. Anyone whose seen Bush knows what I'm talking about.

2. The strength. He's not big, but he flew right into a guy twice his size and because of the speed and strength combination, almost knocked the guy down.

3. And this is the most important, the sheer audacity of trying to SPLIT two tacklers. I've never seen anyone even try to split two guys like that before in football. It actaully reminds me of a soccer move, trying to split two defenders by touching the ball through them and going around them, while they get caught trying not to bang into one another. It works against bad defenders. It's actually a pretty interesting move because sometimes it's easier to get by two defenders than one defender because they both get flat footed and are aware of the other guy taking up space. It's almost like you use them as picks on each other.

But in soccer, it is ball you are using to split the defenders. In the case of Bush, he was trying to split the defenders HIMSELF. It didn't work, but the imagination he used suggested by trying usch a move indicated an amazing on field intelligence.