When the early tweets came through, Nathan Chapman and his protégés were excited.
They were in a Sunday morning training session with his Prokick Australia group and keeping an eye on one of their alums in the United States: Michigan punter Blake O'Neill.
"He smacked that long (80-yard) ball early, which was a bit of guilt-free training, watching that tweet come in," said Chapman, the owner and coach at Prokick, the company that helps Australian "footballers" transition to American punters and kickers.
When they finished, about 10 minutes remained in the game against Michigan State, so they hopped in the car and listened to the broadcast on the radio.