Kelsey Plum 2025 Dawg Class: A New Breed of Mentorship Is Taking Shape

What if success wasn’t about getting picked, but about being prepared when the call finally comes? That’s the kind of question Kelsey Plum has been answering her entire career. Loudly on the court, and now, even louder off it, by building something off the court. Something bigger. Because what started as a whisper of an idea is now a full-blown movement.
It’s called the Dawg Class. And it’s rewriting the rules for women in basketball.

In a sports world full of highlight reels and social media brands, Plum is carving out space for something a little messier. And a lot more real.

Grit Over Glamour. Substance Over Flash.

Partnering with Under Armour, she’s built Dawg Class: a mentorship-meets-boot camp for college hoopers who don’t just want to play the game but change it. Not every baller makes the cut. Stats won’t save you here. You’re picked for heart, hunger, and what Plum calls the “Dawg Mentality.” What does that mean, exactly?

“It’s the ones who show up when no one’s watching,” Plum told The Athletic. “The ones who keep fighting even when the world tells them they’re not enough. Those are the ones we want.”

This program is part mentorship, part leadership academy, and part straight-up life school. On the court, players grind through intense drills, scrimmages, and strength training led by elite coaches and athletes. It’s technical. It’s brutally honest. And it’s built to prepare them for what the next level really looks like.

But it’s off the court where the Dawg Class flips the script. These women are learning how to read contracts, negotiate NIL deals, handle media, build their brands, and manage their money. They talk about what happens after the buzzer, how to navigate post-career identity, invest wisely, and sustain mental health in a system that rarely prioritizes it.

One of the most raw and real moments comes during the mental wellness sessions. Plum leads these herself. And she doesn’t sugarcoat a thing. “I wish someone had told me early on that it’s okay to not be okay,” she shared, reflecting on her own battles with anxiety during her early WNBA years. “You’re expected to be grateful. But sometimes, you’re just trying to survive.”

That level of vulnerability isn’t common in sports. But it’s exactly what makes Dawg Class different.

Meet the 2025 Dawgs: A New Breed of Leaders

This year’s roster isn’t just stacked, it’s going to be electric. Each athlete was handpicked. Not just for their highlight reel, but for their mindset—the way they lead when no one’s looking, how they handle pressure, and how they show up for the surrounding women.

“These are women who lead when it’s inconvenient. Who play with edge and empathy,” Plum told SLAM. “They’re not waiting to be asked. They’re already acting like pros.”

Here’s the full 2025 class:

• Georgia Amoore, Kentucky
• KK Arnold, UConn
• Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt
• Zoe Brooks, NC State
• Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State
• Azzi Fudd, UConn
• Kayleigh Heckel, USC
• Ashlon Jackson, Duke
• Tessa Johnson, South Carolina
• Shyanne Sellers, Maryland
• Syla Swords, Michigan
• Harmoni Turner, Harvard

Out of these 12 players, Georgia Amoore, Shyanne Sellers, and Harmoni Turner have declared for the WNBA draft.

So, Why Did Plum Start This?

Because she didn’t have it. Back when Kelsey was torching scoreboards in college and breaking NCAA records, no one handed her a playbook for life after tip-off.

There were no group chats with mentors, no brand workshops, and no talks about burnout.“I didn’t have someone pulling me aside saying, ‘Hey, here’s how you build your brand, manage your money, or advocate for yourself in contract talks,’” she said in Just Women’s Sports. “I had to figure it out alone.”

While male athletes have had pipelines like this for years, female players have rarely received the same investment. The infrastructure just wasn’t there. Plum’s response? She built it herself. From the ground up.

This isn’t about headlines or flashy sizzle reels. It’s about building systems. The kind that women’s sports have been denied for far too long. The Dawg Class calls out everything that’s been missing: structured mentorship, honest conversations about burnout and identity, tactical prep for the pro leap, and a support system that doesn’t ghost you once the scholarship ends.

And it’s not just a one-woman show. Under Armour is all in. “We’re not interested in quick hits,” the brand said in a statement. “We’re investing in legacy. In resilience. In women who break the mold.”

Because while women’s basketball is having its moment, the pipeline still has holes. The game is growing. But growth without structure? That’s just chaos. So, Plum isn’t waiting for the system to evolve; she’s engineering it herself. The most powerful part? These women aren’t here to one-up each other. They’re here to lift each other. “One day, they’ll be teammates. Coaches. GMs. Maybe even league commissioners,” Plum said with a smile. “This is where that starts.”

In a world that still thrives on pitting women against each other, the Dawg Class is doing the radical thing: choosing collaboration over competition, mentorship over gatekeeping, and sisterhood over survival mode. Because maybe greatness isn’t teachable. Maybe it keeps passing on, one Dawg at a time.