STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WTAJ) — WWE announced that two Penn State athletes were part of the 3rd ever “Next In Line” (NIL) class for college athletes.
The Next In Line program started shortly after the NCAA finally greenlit Name, Image, and Likeness (also NIL) to allow college athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness.
WWE’s NIL will allow athletes signed to have unprecedented access to things such as training centers, including the million-dollar performance center in Orlando, FL, and even WWE’s PR and social media team to help them learn to take advantage of social platforms to gain followers, engagement, and more.
Nittany Lion wrestling star Greg Kerkvliet, 6’3″ and 250lbs, signed a contract along with fellow Nittany Lion football star Nick Dawkins, 6’4″ and 315lbs, and 13 other college athletes from around the country into the 3rd class of NIL athletes.
Olympic gold medal wrestler Gable Steveson was one of the first ever to sign an NIL deal with the WWE.
Kerkvliet is a two NCAA All-American heavyweight wrestling with Penn State. NCAA recently ranked him number 3 in the country for his weight class.
Dawkins, son of late NBA star Darryl Dawkins, is an offensive lineman for the Nittany Lions and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors. He played in 11 games his sophomore year, mostly for special teams.
“The WWE NIL program has the potential to be transformational to our business,” said Paul Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Global Talent Strategy and Development. “By creating partnerships with elite athletes at all levels across a wide variety of college sports, we will dramatically expand our pool of talent and create a system that readies NCAA competitors for WWE once their collegiate careers come to a close.”
WWE has signed 46 college athletes since its inception in December 2001. You can check out the latest class of athletes in the table below.
| Name | College | Sport | Height/Weight | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abby Jacobs | South Alabama | Soccer | 5’7 | Gulf Breeze, Fla. |
| Alexandra Jaksec | Mary Washington | Tennis | 5’4 | Pittsburgh, Pa. |
| Alia Armstrong | LSU | Track & Field | 5’4 | Baton Rouge, La. |
| Cameron Jones | Cincinnati | Football | 6’8, 320 lbs. | Hindman, Ky. |
| Dee Beckwith | Kentucky | Football | 6’5, 235 lbs. | Florence, Ala. |
| Greg Kerkvliet | Penn State | Wrestling | 6’3, 250 lbs. | Inver Grove Heights, Minn. |
| Isaiah Iton | Rutgers | Football | 6’2, 290 lbs. | Houston, Texas |
| Jaiden Fields | Georgia | Softball | 5’9 | Kennesaw, Ga. |
| Landon Jackson | Arkansas | Football | 6’7, 275 lbs. | Texarkana, Texas |
| Mady Aulbach | Youngstown State | Basketball | 5’3 | Slippery Rock, Pa. |
| Nick Dawkins | Penn State | Football | 6’4, 315 lbs. | Allentown, Pa. |
| Otoniel Badjana | Pittsburgh | Track & Field | 5’11, 245 lbs. | Lisbon, Portugal |
| Peyton Prussin | Life University | Wrestling | 5’4 | Las Vegas, Nev. |
| Tori Ortiz | Oklahoma State | Track & Field | 5’9 | Batavia, Ill. |
| Turner Washington | Arizona State | Track & Field | 6’5, 290 lbs. | Tuscon, Ariz. |
While the NIL deal isn’t an official WWE contract, it does leave the door open for all of these athletes to vie for WWE contracts to become professional wrestlers when they graduate college, if that’s the path they choose.
WWE superstars Roman Reigns and Charlotte Flair came from other sports — football and volleyball, respectively — only to end up being two of the biggest names of this generation of wrestling.