Will Stone
For four years at Texas, Will Stone's job was to boot the ball as far as he could and jog off. Now in Orlando, the longtime kickoff specialist is chasing the one thing his Longhorns career never gave him: a real shot to be the guy who actually kicks the field goals. The catch, as UCF beat writers keep pointing out, is that he's never made one in a college game.
For four years at Texas, Will Stone's job was to boot the ball as far as he could and jog off. Now in Orlando, the longtime kickoff specialist is chasing the one thing his Longhorns career never gave him: a real shot to be the guy who actually kicks the field goals. The catch, as UCF beat writers keep pointing out, is that he's never made one in a college game.
The storyline around Stone's transfer is almost too on-the-nose for a kicker: a guy who spent four seasons being very good at the half of the job nobody notices, now betting his last year of eligibility on the half everybody remembers. At Texas he was a fixture on kickoffs — 47 games, 300 boots, a 63.2-yard average — but his only placekicking reps came when he went 2-for-2 on extra points in the CFP semifinal against Ohio State. His last competitive field goal, per the UCF coverage, came in high school in 2022. So when he hit the portal in January and special teams coordinator Pete Alamar came calling, the appeal was obvious on both sides: a strong, playoff-tested leg looking for a stage, and a UCF staff that lost Noe Ruelas and needed a new foot.
The wrinkle is that the job isn't his. Stone is in an open competition with redshirt freshman Noah McGough, and the beat consensus out of spring is that neither created separation — Stone has the experience edge, McGough is the unknown, and crucially neither has attempted a field goal in a real college game. Alamar has been blunt that 'no jobs are won in spring,' which is coach-speak for: this goes to August, maybe to September. For Stone the perception is generous (CFP pedigree, a leg coaches rave about) but the production is a blank page — the tension every UCF preview keeps circling.
The forward stake is the cleanest question a kicker can carry into a season: does the leg translate when the snap is for three points instead of a touchback? Stone has spent four years being trusted to do one thing flawlessly and never asked to do the other. 2026 is the year he finds out — starting with whether he even wins the job — if he can be a field-goal kicker at all.
How he plays
No play-by-play percentiles exist for Stone — fitting for a player who has barely placekicked. As a scouting read he's a power leg first: Texas leaned on him purely for kickoffs, where he averaged 63.2 yards on 300 attempts and routinely flipped the field with touchbacks, the kind of raw leg strength coaches don't teach. The open question is touch and repeatability under field-goal conditions — directional accuracy, holds, operation time — because outside of two extra points in a playoff game he has no college field-goal sample at all. He profiles as a high-ceiling, unproven-floor specialist: the leg plays anywhere, the field-goal craft is still theoretical.
The story
The storyline around Stone's transfer is almost too on-the-nose for a kicker: a guy who spent four seasons being very good at the half of the job nobody notices, now betting his last year of eligibility on the half everybody remembers. At Texas he was a fixture on kickoffs — 47 games, 300 boots, a 63.2-yard average — but his only placekicking reps came when he went 2-for-2 on extra points in the CFP semifinal against Ohio State. His last competitive field goal, per the UCF coverage, came in high school in 2022. So when he hit the portal in January and special teams coordinator Pete Alamar came calling, the appeal was obvious on both sides: a strong, playoff-tested leg looking for a stage, and a UCF staff that lost Noe Ruelas and needed a new foot.
The wrinkle is that the job isn't his. Stone is in an open competition with redshirt freshman Noah McGough, and the beat consensus out of spring is that neither created separation — Stone has the experience edge, McGough is the unknown, and crucially neither has attempted a field goal in a real college game. Alamar has been blunt that 'no jobs are won in spring,' which is coach-speak for: this goes to August, maybe to September. For Stone the perception is generous (CFP pedigree, a leg coaches rave about) but the production is a blank page — the tension every UCF preview keeps circling.
The forward stake is the cleanest question a kicker can carry into a season: does the leg translate when the snap is for three points instead of a touchback? Stone has spent four years being trusted to do one thing flawlessly and never asked to do the other. 2026 is the year he finds out — starting with whether he even wins the job — if he can be a field-goal kicker at all.
Career Arc
Coaching Lineage · 2022–2024
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Steve Sarkisian.
2025 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
Splits & context
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Steve Sarkisian
How he plays
Play style
No play-by-play percentiles exist for Stone — fitting for a player who has barely placekicked. As a scouting read he's a power leg first: Texas leaned on him purely for kickoffs, where he averaged 63.2 yards on 300 attempts and routinely flipped the field with touchbacks, the kind of raw leg strength coaches don't teach. The open question is touch and repeatability under field-goal conditions — directional accuracy, holds, operation time — because outside of two extra points in a playoff game he has no college field-goal sample at all. He profiles as a high-ceiling, unproven-floor specialist: the leg plays anywhere, the field-goal craft is still theoretical.
2026 Outlook
Texas
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Kicker · Texas · editorial
Returning around him
- 6 Texas players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -6 net (22 in / 28 out)
2026 Award watch
- Groza
Texas · Last season: 10-3 (AP #14) · Talent rank #4 · 2026 recruiting class #7
Perception vs tape
The storyline around Stone's transfer is almost too on-the-nose for a kicker: a guy who spent four seasons being very good at the half of the job nobody notices, now betting his last year of eligibility on the half everybody remembers. At Texas he was a fixture on kickoffs — 47 games, 300 boots, a 63.2-yard average — but his only placekicking reps came when he went 2-for-2 on extra points in the CFP semifinal against Ohio State.
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