Video of Owl’s fear of flying goes viral

Flight to Pittsburgh a first for many on football team.

Before Kennesaw State’s football team took the first plane ride in the program’s history, coach Brian Bohannon tried to calm the nerves of some players who had never flown before.

“We had a lot of guys that were obviously anxious and nervous about what was going on,” Bohannon said. “As I told them in the team meeting, ‘We’re going to fly out of Chattanooga, we’re going to take off and then we’re going to land in Pittsburgh. Then we’re getting off the plane. It’s that simple.’”

He couldn’t reach everyone.

For at least 25 players, it was the first flight of their lives, but for freshman linebacker Keagan Jordan it was a little too much to handle.

“Before the plane took off, a lot was going through my mind,” Jordan said. “I honestly didn’t think that we were going to make it to our destination and that the plane was honestly going to fall out of the sky.”

While some of the firsttime fliers put on headphones and closed their eyes, Jordan was unable to take his mind off impending doom. In a video that quickly went viral, Jordan is recorded screaming as the aircraft prepares for takeoff and then passing out as the plane goes airborne.

“After the clip was finished online, I say probably 30 to 45 second afterward, I gained consciousness again,” he added.

After Jordan came to, his teammates immediatley began razzing him. The leader of the bunch was the video cameraman, sophomore receiver Xavier Harper.

“Keagan the whole time, he was sweating and complaining even the week before, saying he did not want to fly,” Harper said. “We sat down in the chair, his hands sweating, he’s shaking, he’s gripping (sophomore defensive back Nicolas) Snowden’s thighs, terrified about it.

“So right when we started to take off, I was messing with him the whole time saying, ‘We’re only going to be like 30,000 feet in the air, it won’t be too bad. We’re just going to be above the clouds. If we fall, you’ll live.’ So I was just egging him on, making it worse and worse. And finally we got off in the air and I just had to take my phone out and record him.”

What was initially supposed to be an amusement within the team ballooned into an internet sensation. Harper said he was forced to turn off his notifications because of all the attention the video was getting. He said he’s been asked by everyone from MLB Network to ABC to use the clip.

Harper said the video immediately began to blow up, picking up 50 retweets within the first minute. Jordan wanted him to remove the video until he learned what people were saying about him.

“At first he was kind of like, ‘No, don’t post it,’” Harper said. “And then he started seeing all the comments and all and a lot of girls were messaging, saying, ‘He’s cute.’ So he was like, ‘OK, never mind, leave that up there. They like me, so I like this too.’”

The players said the video served as a bit of comic relief that helped them relax before they knocked off Duquesne 36-28 for just the second road win in program history.

The Owls are back on the road this weekend at Furman, but they will not be flying. The next call for air travel will be their Oct. 29 game at Monmouth in West Long Branch, N.J.

Despite returning from Pittsburgh intact, Jordan was reluctant to say he is ready for the next takeoff.

“Let’s not talk about that one right now,” he said.