When South Carolina took the field in Saturday's upset win over No. 18 Tennessee, no one expected Will Mackey to be stealing Sunday headlines.
What a difference a nine-second video can make.
Mackey, a South Carolina freshman, found his way onto the field for the celebration, but he wasn't expecting to find himself all over the internet in the next few days after posting a video of himself running down the field all alone.
"I didn't think it would blow up like that at all. I thought friends back home would think it was funny, people here would think it was funny," Mackey said. "I wasn't even originally going to tweet it."
Putting out the video proved to be the right decision for Mackey, as his video has appeared on SB Nation, Barstool Sports, WACH Fox and several major Twitter accounts. He was also interviewed on WACH Fox and two local radio shows.
The Cincinnati native tweeted the video out shortly after the game ended, but it wasn't until Sunday that it went viral.
"I was actually on my way to Russell for lunch on Sunday, and I looked at my phone, and I had a couple retweets in a row from people I didn’t know and I was like, 'Oh, look at that,'" Mackey said. "And then when I was done eating, I looked at my phone again because it was in my pocket, and there was I think 100 retweets by then. It was about 90 retweets in half an hour."
The replies started pouring in as well from South Carolina fans, players and anyone looking to congratulate Mackey or crack a joke. Mackey said the craziest part was seeing replies from the players, especially wide receiver Terry Googer's offer to give Mackey a game ticket, as the freshman's student ticketing privileges have been suspended for the rest of the season. Gamecocks Keir Thomas, Bryson Allen-Williams and Chris Moody were among those who quoted Mackey's original tweet.
"That's pretty cool to have South Carolina football players know who you are a little bit," Mackey said.
South Carolina backup quarterback Perry Orth makes an appearance in the final seconds of the video, and Mackey said having a prominent face in the frame certainly contributed to the video going viral. And while Orth hasn't been in touch with the field-storming freshman, Mackey hopes the two can have a little competition.
"I'd like to race him," Mackey said. "I ran him down from at least 100 yards. I saw him from behind and caught up to him."
Mackey knows that the media coverage will soon fade, and things will go back to normal, but he says he's enjoying the attention for the time being.
"I’ve seen the double takes or like pointing with their friends and laughing," Mackey said. "I love the people who come up and are like, 'Way to go, man, that was great,' or 'Are you the kid?' 'Yeah I’m the kid.' I love people coming up to me and talking about it."