When the NFL season starts in September, Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis will take his first official snaps from new center Lloyd Cushenberry − using a football, of course.

That clarification is necessary because of a recent viral moment at a Nashville Predators NHL playoff game, where Cushenberry snapped a catfish to Levis in front of 17,000 fans at Bridgestone Arena.

The moment came on April 28, before Game 4 against the Vancouver Canucks. In the tradition of Titans players generating hype moments before Predators games, usually involving a catfish, Levis and Cushenberry made their Predators' hype debut − with their own unique twist.

Appearing on the Ford Band Stage, Levis and Cushenberry assumed the quarterback-center formation, with Levis dropping back in shotgun. Cushenberry can be seen bending down to retrieve a large catfish from a cooler, then snapping the fish back to Levis, who then paraded the catfish around the stage, as is custom.

Levis capped off the moment by giving the catfish a large kiss, to the roaring approval of the crowd.

The moment was captured on video, then shared by the Predators and Titans across all social media platforms, generating well over one million views in total.

Will Levis, Lloyd Cushenberry didn't practice Predators' catfish snap

According to Levis and Cushenberry, snapping the catfish almost didn't happen. They both said the moment was spontaneous and "unplanned" until right before it happened.

"We didn't know how it was going to go," Levis said Wednesday at Saint Thomas Sports Park. "We didn't take a practice snap."

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Cushenberry, who signed a four-year contract with the Titans in March, described the moment as "crazy," mostly because it was unplanned.

"I didn't know we were going to do it until about 10 minutes before that," Cushenberry said.

As it turns out, snapping a catfish is more challenging than snapping a football.

"Leading up to it, my heart was racing," Cushenberry said. "In my head, I was like, 'Just get the snap to him.' I didn't want to mess it up in front of thousands of people."

And catching a catfish isn't much easier.

"That thing was very slippery. It was some good 'wet ball' work," Levis added.

The idea to snap the catfish was Levis' idea, according to Cushenberry − as was the idea to plant a large kiss on the fish as he held it over his head.

"The taste stayed in my mouth a little bit," said Levis "I couldn't wait to get home and brush my teeth."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Titans' Will Levis, Lloyd Cushenberry planned catfish hype moment