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McNeese cheerleaders sport Amir Khan socks as team manager continues to go viral

FaceProfileby:Thomas Goldkamp•about 21 hours
Amir Khan
Photo by David DelPoio / USA TODAY Sports

Every now and then a viral sensation pops up seemingly out of nowhere. Baby Gronk. Hawk Tuah. Amir Khan.

Haven’t heard that last one yet? If you’re an NCAA Tournament fan, you likely will in short order. He’s the team manager for the McNeese Cowboys. And he… is… everywhere.

No, literally. He’s even on the socks of his team’s cheerleaders.

Amir Khan became a viral sensation in recent weeks as McNeese powered toward the NCAA Tournament. He’s popular in his team’s locker room and he’s become even more popular globally now as fans of the sport at large have become acquainted with him.

Here’s his most famous bit of work, leading the McNeese team out of the tunnel while rapping to a popular song. The players absolutely love it.

And after going thoroughly viral, Amir Khan has begun to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He became the first manager known to have signed an NIL deal. He signed deals with Buffalo Wild Wings, TickPick and Insomnia Cookies.

Khan is in his second season as a student manager at McNeese under Will Wade. Amid his journey to becoming a social media sensation, a quote on his official team bio took off, as well. He summed up his time with the Cowboys by appropriately describing the role he plays.

“If they kept manager stats for rebounding and wiping up wet spots on the court, I’d put up Wilt Chamberlain numbers,” Khan said.

Amir Khan has developed a strong social media following the last few weeks as McNeese continued its quest for a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. He has more than 12,800 followers on TikTok, 6,400 on Instagram and 2,200 on X. Those numbers are sure to keep growing as March Madness gets underway this week.

“He is incredible,” McNeese coach Will Wade said of Khan while speaking with CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. “His dad is a doctor in town, so his dad was actually on the court after the game when we were celebrating last night. I said, ‘How’s it feel to have a famous son? More famous than anybody in the town?’ And he was laughing. But he’s a phenomenal kid, phenomenal young man. He’s getting his degree in sports management at McNeese. He wants to go into athletics, and certainly we’re going to help him start his career.

“Our players love Amir. He’s always funny, he’s quick-witted, he’s always got something to come back and he knows everything about everything in sports. He’s a phenomenal kid. It’s been great just to see him get the recognition and the way he shared it with the managers and the team and how excited our team is for him is really, really cool.”

As of now, Amir Khan and McNeese are in good position. The Cowboys are leading the fifth-seeded Clemson Tigers 25-11 with about three minutes to go in the first half of an opening-round game.

On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this report.