Florida State’s Tre McKitty explained why he lined up facing the wrong way on purpose

Florida State tight end Tre McKitty went viral on Saturday (and became the butt of many jokes) when he lined up facing the wrong way on a play in the Seminoles’ 45-44 overtime victory over Louisiana-Monroe.

Now we know why he did that, which he said was on purpose. McKitty went in motion on the play and with the offense trying to control the tempo he got in his spot and just stood that way right before the ball was snapped.

He explained to the media, via The Athletic’s Tashan Reed:

“I’ve got a million messages about that. The offensive line had messed up, then we had to hurry up and get set so the defense couldn’t see our formation before the play. So there’s nothing wrong with me. I didn’t line up the wrong way on accident.”

It became a punchline on social media as soon as the picture was first posted on Twitter.

FSU had the ball at the Louisiana-Monroe 36-yard line on Saturday. And there was TE Tre McKitty, before the snap, lined up at the 40. Facing the wrong direction.https://t.co/PwOj52xaGj pic.twitter.com/GyabUYtQjX

— Warchant.com (@Warchant) September 10, 2019

Here’s what it looked like:

The current state of Florida State football summed up in one picture. pic.twitter.com/7fLROn1kBB

— George Wrighster III (@georgewrighster) September 8, 2019

His offensive coordinator, Kendal Briles, backed him up:

Briles: "It was a stopping situation where you cannot tempo, so we came off the sideline and it's a thing that we do offensively. The guys can line up wherever they want. I don't care. Just get to your spot where you need to get to. We pushed the tempo and I think we gained 11."

— Tashan Reed (@tashanreed) September 10, 2019

The Seminoles, by the way, picked up 11 yards and a first down on the play.

But man did it look weird.