New UCF kicker Noe Ruelas excited for opportunity with Knights

Noe Ruelas didn’t need an introduction to UCF football.

He received one as a member of the UConn football team in 2021 when the Huskies visited FBC Mortgage Stadium in late November. True to its nickname, the Bounce House left an impression on Ruelas all these years later.

“I remember we were in the locker room as the away team, and you could feel the stadium move a little bit. You could hear the students jumping [on the bleachers] because the visiting locker room is under the student section. You could feel them jumping up and down,” Ruelas told the Sentinel.

The Knights came away with a 49-17 win that day and, while Ruelas didn’t see the field as a true freshman kicker, he remembers it even four years later.

Now Ruelas should get a chance to experience the full Bounce House effect, albeit this time from the home side after transferring to UCF last month.

“It felt like the right situation and a good spot to do my final college football season,” he said. “The coaching staff was a big part of that. [Special-teams] Coach [Pete] Alamar was a big part of that. He has a lot of experience in college football, being a coordinator for so many years. He’s also well-connected with the NFL and has a couple of guys in the league and that’s something I’m pushing for.”

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Ruelas comes to the program after one season at James Madison, where he served as the Dukes’ primary kicker. He made 80% (16 of 20) of his field goal attempts and 35-of-37 on point-after attempts.

Ruelas was a perfect 9 of 9 on field goal attempts inside the 40-yard line and 14 of 16 on attempts inside the 50. Twice he connected on attempts of 50-plus yards, with a season-long 52-yarder against Appalachian State.

He also averaged 60.2 yards on nine kickoffs last season.

Before his time at James Madison, he…

Source link : https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/05/03/ucf-knights-big-12-ncaa-football-noe-ruelas-james-madison-uconn-transfer/

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Publish date : 2025-05-03 16:17:00

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