'Popeyes meme kid' who is now a college football star signs sponsorship deal with fast food giant

Everyone knows the image of that shy kid giving the side-eye as he's oddly approached in a Popeyes.

Well, now he's certainly not being shy at all.

Before TikTok, there was Vine and that’s how the world first met Dieunerst Collin.

A user by the name of TheRealSnoopy published the video titled ‘Terio At Popeyes’, where he asks Collin: "Yo, this n**** Terio at Popeyes.

The camera then shifted back and captured Collin’s famous response that has lived on in meme legend.

But now, Collin is all grown up, and a college football star.

The 19-year-old stands at 6 foot 1 and 330 pounds (149kg) and is an offensive lineman at Lake Erie College’s Division II football program.

Once Twitter got wind of Collin’s success as a football star, users demanded he receive a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NIL deal with the popular fast food giant.

Podcast producer Jim Weber tweeted: “The @Popeyes meme kid @CollinDieunerst is now a freshman offensive lineman at Division II Lake Erie College and if this guy doesn’t have a NIL deal by tomorrow, the Louisiana kitchen needs to clean house on upper management.”

And this kicked off a movement.

Collins even posted: “I NEED EVERYONE TO REPOST THIS AND TAG @popeyes I JUST WANNA TALK BUSINESS.”

"I can't believe I can say I'm officially sponsored by Popeyes. Thank you to everyone who helped spread the good word!"

To officially mark the partnership, Popeyes had begun rolling out promotional posters with a nine-year-old Collin giving his famous look and an image of him as a freshman playing for Lake Erie College.

Another said: “The greatest NIL achievement we’ll ever see.”

While a third commented: “Feeling old but in the good way.”

This surely won’t be the last we see of Collin.