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The Final Piece: How Tommy Bush Became Georgia’s Exclamation Point

The Final Piece: How Tommy Bush Became Georgia’s Exclamation Point

Schertz Clemens wide receiver Tommy Bush didn’t want to leave home, but on a Wednesday in February he went to school and signed with Georgia.

Feb 20, 2018 by Kolby Paxton
The Final Piece: How Tommy Bush Became Georgia’s Exclamation Point

An orange cap that, but for a moment, appeared bound for the head of a very good football player is, instead, fluttering through the air towards nothing and no one in particular, eliciting an explosion of cheers from a gymnasium full of onlookers in Cordele, Georgia. 

As the discarded headwear slides to rest atop the hardwood floor, its original owner is tearing away his pants — and emphatically punctuating the greatest National Signing Day in the University of Georgia’s storied history.

That very good football player isn’t just any ‘ole football player, you see. It’s Crisp County linebacker Quay Walker, a 6-foot-4, 236-pound, five-star mega prospect who has just become the fourth blue chip linebacker to join head coach Kirby Smart’s all-time great class.

What a player. What a class. The Bulldogs’ day is done and what a day it wa—

Wait, why does Tommy Bush have a Georgia hat next to his microphone?

The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon Tommy Bush

Less than an hour after Walker’s flip — both literal and figurative — from the Vols to the Bulldogs, Schertz Clemens (TX) wide receiver Tommy Bush was seated before a table full of his own caps. Michigan State and Ole Miss were both represented. As expected, Texas and Baylor were also there. But, so, too, was Georgia.

Bush was widely thought to be deciding between the Longhorns and Bears. Over the course of the past year, he’d developed strong relationships with head coach Matt Rhule and assistant head coach Francis Brown at Baylor. Meanwhile, Texas — always a bit more magnetic for Texan prospects — was building a spectacular class amid a supposed resurgence under head coach Tom Herman.

Plus, Georgia was finished. Their class was full — or so we all thought.

At Bush’s moment of truth, which seemed to come abruptly, he reached for… a baby?

Bush didn’t throw any hats. He didn’t even put one of them on. Instead, he made his niece, adorned in a Georgia shirt, the focal point of his celebration. She didn’t appear to love the idea as she cried into the microphone while seated in his lap, but her uncle was unfazed, smiling through it all. 

Besides, her tears were sort of appropriate. After all, he had just broken hearts across most of central Texas.

And so it was. Tommy Bush’s decision to sign with Georgia rounded out (for real this time) one of the all-time highest-rated classes ever assembled.

But how did it happen? 

The Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With One Visit

“Pretty much everybody thought I’d stay home,” Bush says. “At the end, my father was just like, ‘Do you want to spend the next few years trying to win, or do you want to go somewhere where you can win?’ Leaving bothered me until that morning [of Signing Day] actually — throughout the night before. 

“When I got up that morning, though, I just knew.”

Bush’s love for Baylor was real. Rhule and Brown endeared themselves to him over the course of a year-long courtship, and — while some wondered aloud why a player like Bush would want to play for a program that lost 11 times last season — the Bears were a legitimate threat to sign him.

With his parents and extended family in Texas, the state’s flagship university was widely considered to be the favorite, but Bush says that communication between he and the Longhorns broke down during the summer, leaving the door open for Baylor — and, ultimately, Georgia — to win him over. By the time Texas ramped up its pursuit of Bush in December, he was imagining himself elsewhere.

“It’s really tough to leave, but I’m a military brat anyway, so I’ve moved around quite a bit,” he says. “It really came down to which school was going to give me the best opportunity to develop as an all-around player and have a shot at winning, and Georgia made the most sense.”

Of course, it didn’t hurt that the Bulldogs’ coaching staff was in the Bush home, a thousand miles from Athens just four days before National Signing Day — one day before his final visit to Baylor.

“That was huge,” he says. “Everybody kept saying they wouldn’t have a spot for me. For those guys to fly here on the last day, last coaches in the house, and really just sit down with us and tell me, ‘Son, you have a spot. Don’t worry about who we’ve signed. You have a spot. Don’t go to Texas. Don’t go to Baylor,’ I mean, that was really big. They told me I was a priority and they showed it.”

Fortune Favors The Bold—awgs

Bush wasn’t signing until midday, but the good news began making its way to the University of Georgia bright and early, first with American Heritage (FL) cornerback Tyson Campbell, followed by the Dogs’ first flip of the day, as Lee County (GA) linebacker Otis Reese spurned Alabama in favor of Georgia.

“It was crazy,” Bush says. “I was at school and my pops was texting me the whole time. He was like, ‘Hey, Tyson is going to UGA.’ Then he came back again and was like, ‘Otis Reese is going,’ and I just started laughing, because, at that point, I just knew that we were steamrollin’ — and I knew that I’d made the right choice.”

In all, Georgia’s class would feature 22 prospects rated four stars or better, including No. 1 overall player, dual-threat quarterback Justin Fields. After the dust settled, Smart would credit Fields with taking on a leadership role within the class and becoming a “tremendous asset” in the recruitment of other players — including Bush.

“He wasn’t a guy that was bombarding me because he knew I was getting it from all sides,” he says of Fields. “If I had questions, I’d hit him up and we’d talk through it. The running game kind of bothered me because I come from a big running team now, I’ve been in that scheme since like ninth grade, and I really didn’t want to go to a run-based offense where all I was doing was blocking.”

Of course, even with a freshman quarterback behind center, Georgia leaned on the running game out of luxury more than necessity, with a pair of future NFL running backs in Nick Chubb and Sony Michel in the backfield. Fields, for his part, alleviated Bush’s concerns and pointed towards a future full of opportunities in the passing game.

While the relationship between Fields and Bush was growing, so, too, was the mutual admiration between Bush and Smart.

“I fell in love with Tommy the first time I met him and saw him,” Smart says. “He came with his mother and father. They were very serious about the process. They were very professional. I knew right away that he was a great kid.

“We were able to have success with Javon [Wims] this year. And we’re sitting here going, ‘How do you replace those back shoulder throws? How do you replace those catches?’ You’ve got to find somebody.”

They found the 6-foot-5 Tommy Bush.

“Obviously, his stature was a big thing for us,” Smart says. “Here’s a kid that probably didn’t get as many throws in high school as you’d like to have. But when he was on the camp circuit, when he was on the workout circuits, he did a tremendous job. When you have that much size and that much speed, you’re a pretty good football player.

“And he comes from a great family, too.”

About The 'Great Family'

Remember the unhappy star of Bush’s signing ceremony? Here’s where that anecdote comes full circle.

Tommy Bush is friendly but firm. He’s enthusiastic but also careful with his words and measured in his response. It doesn’t take but a minute to understand what Smart’s talking about when he says he fell in love right away.

But, if you want to crack him? If you want to put him on his heels a bit, maybe jar a tear or two out of him? Just ask about that ‘great family’ that his new head coach mentions.

“The hardest part about leaving is leaving my family,” he says. “I’ve only lived in Texas for about four years, but for my family, my grandmother, my niece to be able to drive to my games, would’ve been special.

“My pops,” Bush continues, before pausing for a three-count. “That’s my guy, that’s my dude. He’s my best friend. My mom is my best friend. We’re a tight family. I’m the last to leave and it’s been a really good run, all of us being together.

“They really helped me with my decision, simply because I know that, no matter where I go, they’ll be with me.”

First stop, Athens. Next stop? For Tommy Bush and Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs, the sky would sure appear to be the limit. But even in that rarefied air, Bush will no doubt feel right at home.