National Signing Day 2017: Kicker Noah Ruggles signs with North Carolina

The Tar Heels have signed the fifth best kicker in the country for their 2017 team. Noah Ruggles, out of Steinbrenner High School in Lutz, Florida, chose UNC over Vanderbilt during his official visit at the end of January. He is ranked fifth in the country among kickers by Kohl’s Kicking and 25th among kickers according to Chris Sailer Kicking.

Ruggles, 6’3” and 180 pounds, converted all of his extra points as a senior at Steinbrenner HS, and made nine of his 12 field goal attempts. His longest went for 57 yards. Ruggles also handled the kickoff and punting duties while in high school with 35 of the 42 punts resulting in touchbacks.

Carolina was very fortunate to have such a reliable kicker in Nick Weiler, and Ruggles will likely be the one to assume Weiler’s role in 2017. Hopefully he can bring more of that dependability to the team. It can change a game so much, as the Tar Heels saw in their win over Florida State in 2016. You can’t take that for granted.

Here are Ruggles’ highlights from his senior year: