Ricardo Chavez is among the extra intriguing prospects heading into the 2024 NFL draft. Not solely did he deal with each kicking and punting for Idaho on the FCS stage, however he did so utilizing totally different ft for every accountability — subject targets and kickoffs along with his proper foot, punts along with his left.
It is not a tough trick to tug off for the previous soccer participant, as long as he retains a constant muscle steadiness on every leg. The Los Angeles native developed the ability whereas enjoying with the youth academies at Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy, and one he hopes will be an asset to an NFL workforce.
Idaho will host a professional day for its prospects, together with Chavez, on March 27.
“You do not see it an excessive amount of within the NFL the place you have got a man who does each [kicking and punting],” Chavez mentioned. “However having the ability to do it with each legs is sort of a bonus for me.”
Chavez was born to Mexican mother and father who’re ardent followers of Liga MX membership Chivas, so his old flame, naturally, was soccer. His uncles lived down the road and would go to for watch events and carne asadas at any time when Chivas and archrival Membership America confronted off of their Mexican Súper Clásicos. He adopted Chivas goalie Luis Michel carefully when he was their netminder from 2006 to ’13, and outdoors Liga MX, he discovered himself influenced by Brazilian star ahead Neymar’s type of play.
On the pitch, Chavez performed all the things from midfielder to defender however was used primarily at goalkeeper. It was beneath these goalposts that he discovered to make use of each legs.
“To me, it was one thing pure as a goalkeeper. All my kicks on the ground have been with my proper foot, and all my kicks within the air — like for despejes [punts] — that was one thing for me that I simply did,” he mentioned. “And after I picked up a soccer to punt it, it was pure for me to punt with my left, and the sector objective was with my proper.”
Finally, Chavez’s focus turned to soccer at Valley View Excessive Faculty in Southern California’s Moreno Valley. That focus and his potential are aimed squarely at making a profession out of his distinctive expertise.
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“I nonetheless performed soccer for the [high school] workforce, however to me it wasn’t one thing that I beloved anymore. I might simply play to play,” he mentioned. “As soon as I obtained into soccer and the kicking world, it was simply one thing that I felt that love once more, to like a sport. … I made a decision I needed to do that for the remainder of my life.”
Chavez mentioned he has put extra effort and time into his subject objective kicking and did not decide up the intricacies of punting till his sophomore 12 months at Idaho, doing so to “open up extra doorways” for himself. He has no choice between both specialty if it means ending up on an NFL roster.
“No matter a workforce needs me to go in as, whether or not they need me as a kicker or as a punter, I am all for it,” he mentioned. “No matter they want.”
Chavez finds inspiration within the Indianapolis Colts’ Rigoberto Sanchez, a punter whose type he feels fits him and with whom he shares a Mexican heritage.
“That is one thing that undoubtedly provides me that different step to go over and comply with him and see the best way he takes his recreation to the following stage,” Chavez mentioned.
