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We were treated to a bizarre incident when Louisville and Pitt faced off on the gridiron when a couple of Panthers players got physical with a Cardinals ball boy on the sideline. Now, we have some insight into what went down courtesy of the equipment manager who explained why he was so intent on tracking down the football at the center of the drama.
Every college football team has a sizeable support staff that usually only gets a taste of the spotlight when they’re sharing it with players and coaches. If you tune into a game, you’ll probably spot them running onto the field with a bunch of water bottles during a timeout or tucking in someone’s shoulder pad on the sideline, but they’re usually not going to be the focus of attention.
However, that was not the case with a ball boy who was working for Louisville when they headed to Pitt to face off against the Panthers on Saturday.
A strange scene unfolded toward the end of the first quarter after Pitt LB Rasheem Biles nabbed a 75-yard pick-six, as he got into it with a ball boy who tried to grab the pigskin before Panthers DL Isaiah Neal got involved in what ended up being an alarmingly physical game of keep away.
What the hell is going on between Louisville’s ball boy and the Pitt DBs lmaoooo pic.twitter.com/bRsvMWs9xC
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) September 27, 2025
People who came across the clip after it went viral started pointing fingers in both directions, and the ball boy at the center of it has now shared his side of the story.
Louisville ball boy Zephian Wade shared why he was so intent on recovering the football that sparked a scuffle with a couple of Pitt players
You might be under the impression that the home team is responsible for supplying all of the footballs that are used in college football games. However, that’s only the case with offensive possessions, as the visiting team is responsible for the ones that are hiked when they’re making their way toward the end zone.
Those footballs might be a drop in the bucket when it comes to their annual expenses, but there are still equipment managers tasked with keeping tabs on them and tracking them down over the course of the game.
That’s the job that Zephian Wade, a senior at Louisville who’s been working with the football team since he was a freshman, shouldered when they arrived at Pitt on Saturday. According to The Athletic, the Cardinals left Arcrisue Stadium missing “three or four of the balls” they’d arrived with the last time they’d played there, and he was on a mission to make sure that did not happen again.
Wade said he’s accustomed to opposing teams talking trash when he tries to retrieve a football but noted, “I’ve never had somebody put their hands on me, grab me or almost tackle me for a football.”
The one that Biles handed to his family in the stands was eventually reclaimed after Pitt’s equipment managers and stadium security aided in the rescue mission, and Wade and the Cardinals got the last laugh by mounting a comeback that saw them score 17 unanswered points to tie things up in the second quarter en route to getting the 34-27 victory.
In case yall are wondering, WE GOT THAT BALL BACK AND TOOK HOME A DUB GO CARDS BABY pic.twitter.com/tjoUGD9d9p
— Zephian (@Zephian5) September 27, 2025
Well played.