National Football League

Reggie Bush will honor former USC RB Joe McKnight with these custom cleats

Published Dec. 9, 2016 12:55 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

The NFL is allowing players to wear custom cleats this week to honor causes of their choice, and when Reggie Bush takes the field for the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, he'll pay tribute to the recently slain Joe McKnight.

Unfortunately, there is a small mistake on the cleats. McKnight was born in 1988, not 1983. We're assuming Bush will find a way to rectify that before the game on Sunday.

McKnight was shot and killed in an apparent road rage incident this week in a suburb of New Orleans. The former New York Jets running back followed in Bush's footsteps at USC as a freshman in 2007, and he was labeled "the next Reggie Bush" by many. Although he flashed glimpses of that talent, including 206 all-purpose yards in the 2008 Rose Bowl, he struggled with injuries, fumbles and investigations into potential NCAA rules violations.

Bush played in New Orleans for the Saints for five seasons.

A fourth-round pick in the 2010 draft, McKnight played three seasons with the Jets and two games with the Chiefs before suffering a torn Achilles' in 2014. His 31.6-yard average on kick returns in 2011 led the NFL, and his 107-yard return that year is the longest TD in Jets history. He was playing in the CFL this year.

Shooting suspect Ronald Gasser stayed at the scene of the incident and was detained by law enforcement before being released with no formal charges filed on Friday.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand defended his handling of the McKnight case, particularly the decision to release Gasser from police custody. Normand said Gasser is cooperating fully and a thorough investigation is being conducted.

Among the new details released in a subsequent release by the police: Gasser shot McKnight three times from inside his car, and McKnight's wounds were not consistent with being shot from above, contradicting a published account that Gasser shot McKnight once while standing over him.

Louisiana is one of 32 states that does not include a "duty to retreat" in its justifiable homicide laws, or what is colloquially referred to as a "stand your ground" approach to self-defense.