Why dodging the camera was good luck for McNutt Jnr

AMERICAN sports stars are used to cameras whizzing above them to provide close-ups but a college footballer had a close call on Saturday.

Standing near the 20-yard line in the closing minutes of the Insight Bowl, Iowa receiver Marvin McNutt Jr looked to the sky as a camera careered towards him.

“First, I looked: ‘What is it that fell from the sky?’” McNutt said. “The next thing I know, the camera kind of scratched me a little bit. It was just pulling me and I knew I didn’t want to keep going with it.”

Videos of the incident, which show McNutt ducking and jumping out of the way of the ESPN camera before getting entangled in its cords, have gone viral after the game, which Iowa lost to Oklahoma 31-14.

The game was delayed for about five minutes while officials checked for damage — and more flying skycams.

ESPN apologised for the incident involving the 11.5kg remote-controlled camera.

“As always our primary concern will be the safety of fans and those on the field,” ESPN said in a statement.