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SALT LAKE CITY — Bonneville Lakers running back Bryan Burns never imagined his equipment malfunction would go viral.
"I've been hearing it all day," he said. "They're telling me all the views and stuff, saying I'm famous and all that stuff. Its pretty funny."
The video that everyone is talking about now has more than 850,000 views on YouTube.
The play happened in Bonneville's season opener against Viewmont.
The video shows a Viewmont defender grabbing Burns' face mask, causing his helmet to twist around on his head. He kept running with his helmet backward and tries to twist it back while running toward the sideline. Before he reaches the sideline, he gets hit hard by another Viewmont defender, which pops the helmet free from his head.
I could see out of my earhole. At the last second I saw him and thought uh-oh.
–Bryan Burns
One question went through his mind while running with his helmet backward.
"Should I go down or out of bounds"? he remembers. "But I didn't hear the whistle, so I just kept running."
He paid the price before reaching the sideline and was able to see the big hit coming.
"I could see out of my earhole," he recalls. "At the last second I saw him and thought uh-oh."
Burns carried the ball that night 14 times for 73 yards and is now the most famous student at Bonneville High School.
