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University of Minnesota Athletics
Hutton Backflips to Internet Fame
9/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 18, 2014
The entire video lasted three seconds, but what a three seconds it was.
The video, which was seen all across the globe, was featured on nearly every sports website and also received plenty of airtime on ESPN and the Today Show.
"I was not really expecting all the attention," said Hutton. "My teammates were not really expecting it."
Hutton has always been athletic and has long had the ability to wow his teammates with his impressive tumbling skills. The redshirt senior will break out a backflip after a touchdown during a captains' practice and can do flips up and down the field until dizziness causes him to stop.
"I had a trampoline at home growing up and taught myself how to do some things," said Hutton who became so accomplished that he joined a power tumbling club and traveled around Texas competing in different events.
Power tumbling helped him with his flexibility and enabled him to showcase his athleticism. It also made him a national champion in the discipline at the age of nine.
Fast forward to this past summer and Hutton is on the practice field with a couple of his teammates. Somebody pulls out a camera, records him doing a backflip and catching one football and posting it to the internet. The video garners attention on social media, but doesn't go viral. After all, that trick has been done before.
It was then that Hutton had the idea of doing a doing a backflip and catching two footballs at the same time, which is something that nobody had ever seen before. So on a late-June day he solicited teammates Michael Conway and EJ Sardinha to help him see if it was possible.
"I did not think it could be done," said Conway. "I kept telling him he was insane."
Conway and Sardinha each started off tossing one ball, but the timing, height or speed of one of the passes was always off. Hutton was flipping, but he wasn't catching. So like any good football player, Sardinha decided it would be best to film this escapade and then revert to the film to see how they could improve and best execute their plan.
It was then that Conway, who played quarterback in high school, said that he could try throwing both balls at the same time. After overcoming the initial awkwardness, Conway got acclimated to the 5-yard passes.
"It was really impressive because you have to be a little ambidextrous to toss two footballs at the same time," said Hutton. "I was not really expecting that. I thought the left-handed throw would be off to the side, but they were spot on."
With Hutton flipping, Conway passing and Sardinha recording, the trio was ready to make internet fame. And 10 to 12 takes later that is exactly what they did, as Hutton caught a football in each hand while doing a standing backflip.
The whole sequence last three seconds, but the celebration - and attention - it garnered lasted a lot longer.
"After EJ saw me do it, he threw my phone on the ground and we were running around in circles," said Hutton, explaining the brevity of the video. "We all got excited."
"I was shocked," said Hutton. "We just went nuts and started running around the field. It was crazy."
The exuberant Hutton, Conway and Sardinha headed back to the locker room to share the excitement with their teammates.
"Everyone in the locker room was going nuts," said Conway.
"I don't think a lot of people knew I could do that," said Hutton. "A lot of people were surprised."
From there, the video was uploaded to social media and was instantly shared by the thousands on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The next day the video was picked up by mainstream media and was featured on news, sports, football and gymnastics websites all over the world. The NFL also shared it on all their social channels and Hutton's phone began to blow up with text messages and voicemails from family members and long ago teammates who wanted to share their excitement.
"I knew it would get some attention, but I had no idea how much," said Conway. "Then I started seeing it on all these websites and SportsCenter. It was awesome seeing Logan's name everywhere."
Not bad for a three-second video.
The entire video lasted three seconds, but what a three seconds it was.
"It was pretty surreal," said Logan Hutton, who became an overnight viral video sensation earlier this summer when a three-second snippet of him doing a backflip and catching two footballs at the same time hit the internet.
The video, which was seen all across the globe, was featured on nearly every sports website and also received plenty of airtime on ESPN and the Today Show.
"I was not really expecting all the attention," said Hutton. "My teammates were not really expecting it."
Hutton has always been athletic and has long had the ability to wow his teammates with his impressive tumbling skills. The redshirt senior will break out a backflip after a touchdown during a captains' practice and can do flips up and down the field until dizziness causes him to stop.
"I had a trampoline at home growing up and taught myself how to do some things," said Hutton who became so accomplished that he joined a power tumbling club and traveled around Texas competing in different events.
Power tumbling helped him with his flexibility and enabled him to showcase his athleticism. It also made him a national champion in the discipline at the age of nine.
Fast forward to this past summer and Hutton is on the practice field with a couple of his teammates. Somebody pulls out a camera, records him doing a backflip and catching one football and posting it to the internet. The video garners attention on social media, but doesn't go viral. After all, that trick has been done before.
It was then that Hutton had the idea of doing a doing a backflip and catching two footballs at the same time, which is something that nobody had ever seen before. So on a late-June day he solicited teammates Michael Conway and EJ Sardinha to help him see if it was possible.
"I did not think it could be done," said Conway. "I kept telling him he was insane."
Conway and Sardinha each started off tossing one ball, but the timing, height or speed of one of the passes was always off. Hutton was flipping, but he wasn't catching. So like any good football player, Sardinha decided it would be best to film this escapade and then revert to the film to see how they could improve and best execute their plan.
It was then that Conway, who played quarterback in high school, said that he could try throwing both balls at the same time. After overcoming the initial awkwardness, Conway got acclimated to the 5-yard passes.
"They were almost like two darts, just lofting them out there," said Conway who relied on his past basketball passing skills to effectively throw a football with his left hand. "Logan kept telling me what to adjust."
"It was really impressive because you have to be a little ambidextrous to toss two footballs at the same time," said Hutton. "I was not really expecting that. I thought the left-handed throw would be off to the side, but they were spot on."
With Hutton flipping, Conway passing and Sardinha recording, the trio was ready to make internet fame. And 10 to 12 takes later that is exactly what they did, as Hutton caught a football in each hand while doing a standing backflip.
The whole sequence last three seconds, but the celebration - and attention - it garnered lasted a lot longer.
"After EJ saw me do it, he threw my phone on the ground and we were running around in circles," said Hutton, explaining the brevity of the video. "We all got excited."
"I was shocked," said Hutton. "We just went nuts and started running around the field. It was crazy."
The exuberant Hutton, Conway and Sardinha headed back to the locker room to share the excitement with their teammates.
"Everyone in the locker room was going nuts," said Conway.
"I don't think a lot of people knew I could do that," said Hutton. "A lot of people were surprised."
From there, the video was uploaded to social media and was instantly shared by the thousands on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The next day the video was picked up by mainstream media and was featured on news, sports, football and gymnastics websites all over the world. The NFL also shared it on all their social channels and Hutton's phone began to blow up with text messages and voicemails from family members and long ago teammates who wanted to share their excitement.
"I knew it would get some attention, but I had no idea how much," said Conway. "Then I started seeing it on all these websites and SportsCenter. It was awesome seeing Logan's name everywhere."
Not bad for a three-second video.
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