With a new era of college athletics quickly approaching, Penn State has hired a former letterman to a new position on its staff.
Aeneas Hawkins, who played defensive tackle for the Nittany Lions from 2018 to 2021 before starting a career in the NIL space, has been hired as the program’s assistant director of advancement and revenue sharing strategy.
Hawkins was a player as NIL took its first baby steps. After medically retiring, he founded his own NIL agency, “Limitless,” alongside former Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford. Most recently, Hawkins served as Young Money APAA Sports’ director of NIL college football operations and media relations, working as an agent on the forefronts of the transfer portal.
The final hearing of the $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement is scheduled for April 7, and if it passes, will allow Big Ten schools to share up to $20.5 million with their athletes. With “revenue sharing” in Hawkins’ title, it can be assumed that he will play a role in distributing this impending sum when the plan goes into effect prior to the 2025-26 academic year.
James Franklin has previously expressed a desire to add a general manager to his staff, as programs across the country have done in recent months. But neither Franklin nor athletic director Pat Kraft want to add someone with full-roster discretion, hence the delay on hiring an official general manager.
Kraft did, however, say in February that he was looking to add more “data analytics folks” to help manage forthcoming roster limits and revenue sharing distribution. Hawkins, who has experience negotiating NIL deals and discussing revenue sharing with athletes and programs, should make a comfortable fit in this new role.
“A lot of times the discussions of the rev share and the collective are kind of lumped into each other. Like, you’re having a discussion around the same time,” Hawkins told StateCollege.com in December. “There are even schools that, when they make that offer, they may give you the big overarching number when you combine the collective and the revenue share.”
Even with the addition of Hawkins, it’s likely the Nittany Lions aren’t finished adding staff members to their revenue-sharing department. And a general manager could be on its way at some point in the near future.
“It’s not like we just actively have not hired one. We continue to talk to a lot of people,” Kraft said. “As this is evolving, a lot of work in the building has been done, I think, really well. But I would not put it past James and us to have a GM at some point.”
