Noe Ruelas grew up playing soccer, but he had heard the whispers from some of his friends that soccer players lacked the true grit and toughness found in athletes from more physically demanding sports.
Ruelas set out to prove to his buddies that they were wrong.
“I got tired of the narrative that you were a wimp if you played soccer,” Ruelas recalled on Tuesday. “All of my buddies would poke fun at me and I was like, ‘I’m going to show you guys,’ so I actually started playing football.”
Ruelas stepped onto the football field as a safety and wide receiver, but soon he was recruited to be the team’s kicker.
“That’s where my career took off, but I did it just to prove a point,” he said.
His point is well taken, as Ruelas is now in the midst of his final year as a college kicker at UCF, having transferred there after successful stints at Connecticut and James Madison.
“I came into a really good situation,” Ruelas said of joining the Knights.
Ruelas has been impressive this season, successfully converting 90% (9 of 10) of his field goal attempts. His only miss came during he season opener against Jacksonville State on Aug. 28. Just two weeks ago, he nailed a 53-yard field goal toward the end of the third quarter against Kansas State, marking the second-longest attempt of his college career.
“I’ve just been blessed to be in a good situation with a good coaching staff that has a lot of faith in me,” Ruelas said. “There aren’t many schools that you know that would be kicking that 53-yarder. So they have a lot of faith in me.”
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He admits his range is anywhere from 55 to 60 yards.
“I knew we needed points on the board, so I was ready. I was locked in the whole game,” said Ruelas. “If my coach calls for a field goal, I’m ready, so it’s like every other kick, just go out and do your job and make it.”
He credits special teams coordinator Pete Alamar for helping him improve his game. Alamar, 64, previously honed his skills at various schools, including Arizona, California, Fresno State, Stanford and Rice.
He’s been credited for developing a litany of all-conference kickers and punters throughout his career, including kicker Joshua Karty (Stanford).
“It’s just a lot of fundamental stuff that we see eye to eye on,” Ruelas said. “When I’m out at practice, there are certain things that I’ll be focusing on, whether ball contact or where my plant foot is or keeping my eyes down on a certain hit, he sees that as well. So just being able to piggyback off him and bounce ideas off each other’s been great.”
Ruelas has also been handling the Knights’ kickoffs, where he is averaging 63.8 yards per kick with 19 touchbacks on 31 attempts. It also allows him a chance to prove his toughness on the football field once again.
“I try my best to put it [kickoff] out the back [of the end zone], but if it so happens that they want to return it, I’m ready to make a tackle,” Ruelas said. “I tell Coach all the time, ‘Hey, I’m going to make this guy fumble.’ That’s my dream, to hopefully get a fumble recovered for a touchdown.”
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.
