The 2024 Summer Olympic Games kicked off with the opening ceremony on Friday, July 26, and will run through Aug. 11. Over 1,100 current, former, or incoming NCAA student-athletes will represent their countries, with 385 suiting up for the United States. How many of them come from the college football field?
Are There Any Current College Football Players in the 2024 Olympics?
Paris hosts the international sporting event for the third time (1900 and 1924), this time featuring athletes from 250 NCAA schools and nearly 60 conferences. However, of the 385 representing the USA, only 57 are current student-athletes, with none coming from football.
There are two main factors for college football — and professional football, for that matter — being underrepresented in the Olympics every four years:
- 1) There are currently no American football games in the Olympics, with rugby being the closest equivalent. However, that will change in 2028, when flag football makes its debut as an Olympic sport when the games come to Los Angeles.
- 2) American football requires training that is different from other sports.
- The fastest players on a football field typically come as wide receivers, but it’s difficult for them to compete against world-class athletes as sprinters because they don’t train for sustained speed over distances since they rarely run in straight lines for long.
- College football athletes can make generational wealth if they make it to the NFL, meaning there is little incentive to cross-train for an Olympic sport over focusing on maximizing their potential at a position on the gridiron.
Yet, that doesn’t mean there aren’t former college football players competing in France.
Former College Football Players Competing in the 2024 Olympics
Wes Kitts, Austin Peay: Weightlifting, United States
Standing 6’0″ and 211 pounds, Wes Kitts committed to Austin Peay as a running back in the 2008 class. He redshirted his freshman season and didn’t see playing time the following year, but he joined the backfield rotation in 2010.
Kitts played 26 games for the Governors, taking 211 carries for 1,1180 yards and five touchdowns. As the starter in 2012, he rushed for 104 yards against Western Kentucky, including a career-long 68-yard TD, and a career-best 110 against Virginia Tech to open the season, becoming the first Austin Peay player to rush for 100 plus yards against back-to-back FBS opponents.
After his playing career, Kitts turned his attention toward weightlifting, which he grew a passion for while training for football. His first competition came in 2013 at the Handle Barbell Open. In 2016, Kitts realized his potential and left Tennessee for the Bay Area in California.
Since then, eh has finished on the podium in four of his five Pan American Championships, earning gold three times (2018, 2019, 2023) and silver once (2017). He also competed at five World Championships (2017, 10th; 2018, 12th; 2019, 14th; 2022, 7th; 2023, 11th) and competed at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (finished eighth in the men’s heavyweight category).
Now, Kitts enters his second games embodying his late father’s mantra: “Be Somebody.” Kitts and his family moved back to Knoxville, where he recently launched the “BE SOMEBODY Performance” gym to help build a community of weightlifters in his hometown.
“My biggest motivator was making [my dad] proud until I had my son, [and] it sort of shifted,” Kitts told NBC Sports last summer. “It’s sort of leading by example and showing my sons what they can accomplish if they want to do something.”
Perry Baker, Fairmont State: Rugby-Sevens, United States
Division II Fairmont State isn’t known for producing elite athletes, but Perry Baker bucked the trend. He played 43 games for the Fighting Falcons, amassing 90 receptions, 1,552 yards, and 19 TDs as a 6’1″ and 170-pound speedy WR.
After posting a 34-589-9 receiving line in 2008, he earned first-team All-WVIA honors. Unfortunately, a high ankle sprain hampered his 2009 campaign, resulting in just 16 catches and 233 yards. But Baker ended his career on a high note, taking 28 passes for 501 yards and nine scores, garnering second-team all-conference recognition.
He showed enough to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent, but a failed physical stemming from a surprise torn meniscus discovery ended his chances before they began.
“I never thought anything about anything else but football. I knew I could play in the NFL. I knew that was all I ever wanted. I never had a Plan B, backup, any of that,” Baker told the NCAA this summer. “Then I faced adversity really hard when I got cut from the Eagles, and I failed my physical from my torn meniscus.”
Baker went on to try his luck in the Arena Football League with the Pittsburgh Power for a few years, but his dream of playing in the NFL faded away. Then he discovered rugby. Coaches at the Tiger Rugby Academy in Columbus, Ohio, encouraged him to make the switch.
In 2014, Baker made his World Rugby Sevens Series debut, going on to be named to the World Rugby’s Rookie of the Year shortlist. Then, in the 2015-16 season, he led the USA Eagles in tries scored with 48. The Paris Olympic Games will be his third on Team USA, as he was selected for the roster in 2016 and 2020.
Kevon Williams, New Mexico Highlands: Rugby-Sevens, United States
Kevon Williams was even more productive than his Team USA teammate, generating 2,883 yards and 16 scores on 215 career catches at Division II New Mexico Highlands (2009-12). He started for the Cowboys since his true freshmen season, making four straight all-conference teams.
Also like Baker, Williams had dreams of playing in the NFL but ended up on the rugby pitch, just for a different reason.
“Had it not been for rugby, I wouldn’t have gotten a degree,” Williams said in an interview with the NCAA. “I graduated with a degree in computer science. But if it hadn’t been for (rugby), I’d be a couple credits away from university studies.”
KEEP READING: Greatest Coaches of All-Time — Where Does Nick Saban Rank?
After exhausting football eligibility, Williams switched majors to computer science and opted to play rugby for NMHU, leading to an opportunity with one of the top-performing men’s rugby clubs in the USA: the Denver Barbarians.
Williams debuted in the HSBC Sevens Series at the 2016 Dubai Sevens Tournament and then stunned audiences at the 2017 Silicon Valley Sevens Tournament, scoring in four out of the six matches the United States played. He has been a mainstay in the sport since, making the 2020 Tokyo Olympic squad.
In 2021, Williams became captain of the USA Men’s Sevens and carries the title into the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. With over 50 international matches under his belt, he is one of the most experienced American players in the history of the sport.
College Football Network has you covered with the latest news and analysis, rankings, transfer portal information, top 10 returning players, the 2024 college football season schedule, and much more!