Sure the Kennesaw State University football team felt like it was floating when an interception for a touchdown led the team to victory Saturday, but one player found out beforehand he may not like that feeling.
He found that out on the airplane ride to the game in Pittsburgh. His first plane ride. When he passed out. And it was filmed by his teammates. Who of course tweeted it out.
The freakout of redshirt freshman Keagan Jordan was captured and shared by teammate Xavier Harper, who said it was Jordan's first flight.
It wasn't just the first flight for Jordan, a three-year letterman at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School in Fayetteville, it was the first flight in the football program's history. KSU's football program is two years old.
So Jordan wasn't the only one.
"There were about 40 on the team that had never flown before, so that was the first experience for a lot of guys," said Mike DeGeorge, the university's sports spokesman.
The pre-passout episode included Jordan clutching his chest, holding onto the seat in front of him for dear life and a terrified, "Oh! Oh! Oh my God! We ain't gone make it!"
All the while, his teammates calming him down by lovingly laughing directly at him and reminding him that the plane hadn't even taken off yet.
And then it did.
The first sight of which was apparently too much for the six-foot, 223 pound football player to handle — and he passed right out.
He didn't know it because he was fast asleep, but his comrades rushed to his aid by laughing between yells of, "He passed out! He passed out!"
Here's to hoping he at least got the whole can of soda.
He must have been OK because he played, mostly on special teams, in the 36-28 victory over Duquesne.
DeGeorge said that with the video getting so much attention, it was a good way to remind his student-athletes about the power of the internet.
"That’s the beauty of social media — you never know what goes viral and what doesn’t. We are always preaching to our student-athletes to be responsible on social media, and to be aware of their surroundings, because anything can be caught on camera, and made public. I doubt anyone expected this to explode the way it did," he said.
Jordan said he's been overwhelmed by the attention the clip has gotten.
But one video-viewer was probably more concerned than the rest; Jordan got a frantic call from his mother wondering if he was OK.
But Jordan is excited for his chance at redemption: The team's next flight is Oct. 28 to Monmouth University in New Jersey.
Watch the video in all its glory. The post has earned more than 4,000 retweets:
About the Author
