text: nikita whitlock nikita nehemiah whitlock ( born may 16 , 1991 ) is an american football fullback for the new york giants of the national football league ( nfl ) . he was signed by the cincinnati bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2014 . he played college football at wake forest . whitlock has also been a member of the dallas cowboys practice squad . whitlock had a standout high school career at wylie high school , earning ap defensive player of the year honors in 2008 . after playing defensive tackle and linebacker throughout high school and college , the undersized whitlock switched to fullback in the nfl . he won the starting fullback job for the giants in 2015 after strong special teams work in the pre - season . personal whitlock is the son of raymond and whitlock . whitlock was originally going to be named sergio nehemiah whitlock , but his grandmother did not like the name . his father , who worked for yellow pages , opened up a phone book to a random page and put his finger down to select his name , ending up with nikita . whitlock graduated from wake forest with a health and exercise science major . high school career whitlock attended and played football at wylie high school . he was named the ap texas class 5a defensive player of the year in 2008 . the dallas morning news named him the all - area defensive player of the year . whitlock 's height made it difficult for him to get noticed by college recruiters . as a freshman , he was 5 ft 9 in ( 1 . 75 m ) , 175 pounds ( 79 kg ) . he grew to 5 ft 10 in ( 1 . 78 m ) , 240 pounds ( 110 kg ) by his senior year . his high school coach said , " if he was 6 - foot - 3 , he 'd be the no. 1 defensive lineman in the country " . mesquite horn coach rodney webb called whitlock " the best defensive player he had seen at the high school level " . whitlock set the school bench press record at 405 pounds ( 184 kg ) as a senior . dallas morning news sportswriter matt called whitlock " one of the most dominant high school linemen " he has ever seen . he was offered scholarships to play football for smu and northwestern state , and also received interest from tcu and utah state , before committing to wake forest . college career whitlock played college football at wake forest from 2009 to 2013 . at wake forest , whitlock played nose guard . whitlock redshirted his freshman year in 2009 , practicing as a linebacker . as a redshirt freshman , he was named second - team freshman all - american by college football news and rivals.com. phil steele named him fourth team all - acc in 2012 , as well as second - team pre - season all - acc in 2013 . he earned second - team all - acc defensive honors in 2011 and 2012 . in 2013 , he was on the bednarik award watchlist . college statistics from professional career cincinnati bengals on may 12 , 2014 , whitlock was signed as an undrafted free agent with the cincinnati bengals . upon signing with the bengals , whitlock was moved from defensive tackle to fullback . at 5 ' 10 " , 250 pounds ( 110 kg ) , whitlock was considered too small to play defensive tackle at the nfl level . he was released by the bengals on august 30 , 2014 . dallas cowboys after being released by the bengals , the dallas cowboys signed whitlock to their practice squad on september 1 , 2014 . he was then released on september 9 . the cowboys resigned whitlock to the practice squad on september 16 . he was then released again on november 3 . a week later , whitlock worked out for the baltimore ravens but was not signed . while a free agent , whitlock was suspended by the nfl for four games on november 21 ; the league did not announce why he was suspended . new york giants on december 17 , 2014 , whitlock was signed to the new york giants practice squad . he worked as both a fullback and a linebacker during practice . on december 29 , 2014 , whitlock signed a futures contract with the giants . in the 2015 nfl season , whitlock defeated incumbent henry for the fullback spot after surviving final cuts . whitlock won the roster spot by his special teams play , as well as being younger and less expensive than . in the final preseason game , whitlock took snaps at both fullback and defensive tackle . he performed dual duty again during the giants game against the washington redskins on september 24 , 2015 . on december 23 , 2015 , whitlock suffered a knee injury in the week 15 game against the carolina panthers , and was placed on season - ending injured reserve . he finished the season playing 132 offensive plays , 61 defensive plays , and 276 special teams plays .