They knew what they were doing…

Penn State is taking some heat online as a photo of one of its female athletes continues to circulate.

The school isn’t far removed from having to delete a video of one athlete after realizing how much of a certain body part was on show. But another has since gone viral after appearing in a thirst-trap snap that’s supposed to be part of her official shoot.

The athlete, swimmer Carly Sebring, is now wildly popular across social media… because she posed in front of the cameras from a telling angle, putting her cheeks on show in an unexpected move.

Check her out right below:

Penn State Under Fire For Cheeks-Out Photo

Carly Sebring in bikini (Photo via X)

The post was up to 7.8 million views at the time of writing. While there were many thirsty comments, several users lambasted the university for putting a student on show in such a manner.

“does the university really take pictures standard with them turned around like that? 🤣🤣” one asked.

“This s**t looks like a casting couch photoshoot,” another claimed.

“Didn’t realize you could get a scholarship for that,” wrote a third.

“Disgusting display of a “respectable” woman,” said a fourth.

“Why are doing those butt shots at a college for athletics?” someone asked.

“They’re not even allowed to pose Lara Croft in video game ads like this anymore,” someone else pointed out.

“Gonna be honest here it’s Sandusky state what you expect,” one comment read.

“Such a bad look for the school, shame on the women allowing this,” someone declared.

Sebring, an eight-time high school state champion, has excelled in both freestyle and butterfly events at Penn State.

A Maryland native, she has registered bests of 20.03 in the 50 freestyle and 53.38 in the 100 butterfly.

She just might go on to become the next Olivia Dunne after this.