After leaving BYU, spending nine months determinedly becoming eligible to play, joining Utah's program and quickly learning the defensive scheme, linebacker Francis Bernard trotted onto the field in the fourth quarter of the Utes' season-opening game last Thursday.
And then he ran the wrong way, blowing his assignment on the first defensive play of the second phase of his college football career.
“I messed up, super bad,” Bernard said this week, smiling as he detailed his first action in a game since November 2016.
Bernard recorded his first official Ute statistic on the game’s final play, credited with an assisted tackle on Weber State’s routine handoff.