Ricardo Chavez is one of the more intriguing prospects heading into the 2024 NFL draft. Not only did he handle both kicking and punting for Idaho at the FCS level, but he did so using different feet for each responsibility -- field goals and kickoffs with his right foot, punts with his left.
It's not a hard trick to pull off for the former soccer player, so long as he keeps a consistent muscle balance on each leg. The Los Angeles native developed the skill while playing with the youth academies at Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy, and one he hopes can be an asset to an NFL team.
Idaho will host a pro day for its prospects, including Chavez, on March 27.
"You don't see it too much in the NFL where you have a guy who does both [kicking and punting]," Chavez said. "But being able to do it with both legs is kind of an advantage for me."
Chavez was born to Mexican parents who are ardent fans of Liga MX club Chivas, so his first love, naturally, was soccer. His uncles lived down the street and would visit for watch parties and carne asadas whenever Chivas and archrival Club America faced off in their Mexican Súper Clásicos. He followed Chivas goalie Luis Michel closely when he was their netminder from 2006 to '13, and outside Liga MX, he found himself influenced by Brazilian star forward Neymar's style of play.
On the pitch, Chavez played everything from midfielder to defender but was used primarily at goalkeeper. It was under these goalposts that he learned to use both legs.
"To me, it was something natural as a goalkeeper. All my kicks on the floor were with my right foot, and all my kicks in the air -- like for despejes [punts] -- that was something for me that I just did," he said. "And when I picked up a football to punt it, it was natural for me to punt with my left, and the field goal was with my right."
Eventually, Chavez's focus turned to football at Valley View High School in Southern California's Moreno Valley. That focus and his potential are aimed squarely at making a career out of his unique talent.
"I still played soccer for the [high school] team, but to me it wasn't something that I loved anymore. I would just play to play," he said. "Once I got into football and the kicking world, it was just something that I felt that love again, to love a sport. ... I decided I wanted to do this for the rest of my life."
Chavez said he has put more time and effort into his field goal kicking and didn't pick up the intricacies of punting until his sophomore year at Idaho, doing so to "open up more doors" for himself. He has no preference between either specialty if it means ending up on an NFL roster.
"Whatever a team wants me to go in as, whether they want me as a kicker or as a punter, I'm all for it," he said. "Whatever they need."
Chavez finds inspiration in the Indianapolis Colts' Rigoberto Sanchez, a punter whose style he feels suits him and with whom he shares a Mexican heritage.
"That's something that definitely gives me that other step to go over and follow him and see the way he takes his game to the next level," Chavez said.