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Will Wade is officially off to North Carolina State, and it looks like he’s bringing Amir “Aura” Khan with him.
McNeese’s student manager is expected to follow Wade to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he’ll be a graduate assistant and hold other responsibilities that have yet to be determined, according to CBS Sports.
Khan became the biggest social media sensation in the opening days of the men’s NCAA Tournament. Nicknamed “Aura,” Khan was the only student manager in the country to have a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal, becoming popular among college basketball fans as he led the Cowboys onto the court with an oversized boombox.
[Read more: ‘He is Aura!’ How McNeese manager Amir Khan is taking the internet by storm]
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Khan’s fame only grew following 12th-seeded McNeese’s upset win over fifth-seeded Clemson on Thursday. Prior to that game, Khan walked out of the locker room with a boombox that had the Buffalo Wild Wings logo stamped on it. As McNeese players followed him, Khan joined the team in rapping NBA YoungBoy’s “No Switch.”
Khan shared with FOX Sports’ John Fanta on Friday that he had a few NIL deals with Buffalo Wild Wings, Insomnia Cookies and TickPick. However, other companies quickly expressed interest in signing Khan to an NIL deal after Thursday’s game. He has 12 NIL deals that have a combined worth of over $100,000 as of Saturday afternoon, as the program has taken 135 calls about potentially signing Khan to an NIL deal, according to CBS Sports.
One of those NIL deals is with Under Armor, who designs McNeese’s basketball jerseys. The company reportedly had representatives fly to Providence ahead of McNeese’s game against Purdue on Saturday to gift Khan a custom jumpsuit with “Aura” written on the back. Khan wore the jumpsuit for Saturday’s game, which McNeese lost, 76-62.
Khan first became a social media sensation in February, with a clip of him walking and wearing a boombox around his neck while rapping Lud Foe’s “In & Out” as he led McNeese out of the locker room going viral. The program embraced Khan as he became a social media star, with both players and cheerleaders wearing socks with his face on them.
“This is really my mans!,” McNeese junior guard told Fanta on Friday. “He’s in the gym early every day, getting rebounds. He’s for real. When he said he had Wilt Chamberlain numbers, he really did. Tell ’em, boy!”
Khan actually cited a former NC State star as the inspiration for wearing a boombox while leading the team out of the locker room. He was able to chat with DJ Burns in a FaceTime call on Friday, with a clip of their conversation making its way onto social media.
“I saw y’all’s walkout last year, [and] that’s how I learned about it,” Khan told Burns about how he got his nickname. “Y’all started doing it first, so I kind of learned from that.”
As Khan mentioned, Burns and NC State walked from the locker room to the court with a boom box while rapping before each game during its run to the Final Four in 2024. Burns and the Wolfpack were embraced by most college basketball fans as a result of that and their play on the court.
Now, Khan will have a chance to follow in Burns’ footsteps in Raleigh. Wade accepted an offer to become NC State’s coach earlier this week, reportedly signing the contract following McNeese’s loss on Saturday.
Before Khan hits the transfer portal, though, he has some unfinished business at McNeese. He’s hoping to play in the Manager Games during the Final Four in San Antonio, looking to secure the votes needed in order to participate.
“The way that works is that the first three rounds are voting, but if you get to the Elite Eight, you play,” Khan told CBS Sports. “They bring you out and the managers actually play. I think right now we’re winning in the votes, and if we get there, definitely I’ll be [in San Antonio].”
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