The NFL will have male cheerleaders for the first time in league history with the Los Angeles Rams hiring two to join its previously all-female squad.
Quinton Peron and Napolean Jinnies are both classically-trained dancers and have performed all of their lives, ABC News reported. Peron and Jinnies were the men left standing after the Rams trimmed down 76 finalists to its 40-member team.
USA Today reported the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts have men who perform stunts with female cheerleaders, but they do not dance with the squad.
"I thought, 'Why not me? Why can't I do this?' Peron told ABC's "Good Morning America." "And called my friend and I asked her when auditions were for the Rams and she told me Sunday (March 11) and I showed up.
Jinnies told "Good Morning America" that the lengthy auditions were "unlike anything I've ever been to." He said he had become accustomed to getting a call or email after initial tryouts.
"This one was about three weeks long and we had a bunch of rehearsals in between and an extensive interview process, but it was really humbling and amazing to be invited every time you came back," Jinnies added.
While Peron and Jinnies will stand out when the Rams cheering squad takes the field in the fall, team cheer captain Emily Leibert told "Good Morning America" they were ideal for the job.
"They really just fit the bill to be a Los Angeles Rams cheerleader," Leibert told "Good Morning America." "They are intelligent, they are eloquent, they are more than qualified to be ambassadors out in the community. They bring so much energy and there's something so magnetic about their performance, you really can't take your eyes off them."
Social media was divided about the historic NFL cheer hires.