UCF football's special teams unit undergoes overhaul, strives for unity

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ORLANDO — Dalton Riggs excelled in his first pressure-packed situation as a UCF Knight.
Before the Aug. 28 opener against Jacksonville State, each newcomer faces the task of standing in front of the team and showcasing a hidden talent. Riggs — a 6-foot-3, 230-pound redshirt junior long snapper — said he was put on the spot, given just 15 seconds to think of something.
Instincts — and his training in hot yoga and Pilates — kicked in. Riggs dropped into a full split, drawing oohs, aahs, applause, and maybe a few groans and winces from his peers and coaches.
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"You do something like (the split), it gets a little memorable. All of a sudden, the guys want to start talking to you, like, 'That's hilarious. I can't believe you did that. How did you learn how to do that?' You started striking convos with guys you hadn't talked to before," said Riggs, who transferred from Big 12 rival BYU.
"I think it's definitely one of those things that unifies you."
Building unity has been a core theme for Scott Frost ahead of his second stint on the UCF sidelines, and arguably no unit has undergone more change than its specialists. None of the six rostered kickers, punters or long snappers practiced for the Knights four months ago during spring camp.
Riggs signed with UCF on Feb. 25 and arrived after graduating at his previous school. Redshirt senior kicker Noe Ruelas and redshirt junior punter Anthony Venneri joined via the transfer portal at the conclusion of spring practices — from James Madison and Ohio State, respectively.
UCF rounded out the group with a trio of freshmen — long snapper Rocklyn Kelley, kicker Noah McGough and punter Mason Denaburg, who turned 26 this month and spent the previous seven years pitching in the Washington Nationals' farm system.
Special teams coordinator Pete Alamar sought a blend of veteran experience and youth in his first crack at reshaping the room.
"Statistics, obviously you're going to look at, but the other part of it is that you utilize all your resources. Film's a wonderful thing," Alamar said. "It was hard because I wasn't going to be able to go out and see a lot of these guys live.
"It's like speed dating. It's fast. You have to try to get a grasp, personality-wise, in a very short period of time because everybody else is trying to talk to that guy, too."
That vision aligned with Ruelas, who wanted to work with an experienced snapper (Riggs) and mentor a younger placekicker (McGough) for his final year of eligibility. He became a top target upon entering the portal, maintaining a career accuracy mark of 77.5% on field goal attempts with three makes beyond 50 yards.
"Working together has brought us together," Ruelas said. "We're in here all the time, and we try to hang out off the field as well. That's been key for us, trying to build that friendship first before being teammates."
Frost put faith in Alamar to fix a unit that was a major weakness in the Knights' first two Big 12 seasons. Among the league's 16 teams, UCF finished 15th in kicking accuracy (60%), 12th in net punting (37.8 yards), 14th in kick returns (16.7 yards) 11th in kick return coverage (21.2 yards allowed) and 15th in punt coverage (17.5 yards allowed).
Alamar, who ended last season as Rice's interim head coach, has coached special teams at the Division I level since 1996. He enjoyed a 10-year tenure at Stanford (2012-22), during which he was once honored as Phil Steele's Special Teams Coach of the Year.
Christian McCaffrey won the Jet Award in 2015 as the nation's top kick returner, and two-time All-American Joshua Karty was named a finalist in 2022 for the Lou Groza Award, given to the country's best college kicker.
Frost got his first true glance at the special teams unit during UCF's Aug. 7 scrimmage and expressed satisfaction with the kicking results in his ensuing press conference. Riggs said the snapping-kicking operation has gone smoothly to this point due to effective communication during and after practices and a collective willingness to hit the ground running when camp opened.
As of the team's Aug. 4 local media day, Ruelas had not yet taken his turn unveiling a hidden talent. He has, however, had the benefit of time to think — debating between a brief karate demonstration or singing in Spanish.
"I'm not very advanced, just trying to think outside the box to make the team laugh or cheer," said Ruelas, who obtained a beginner-level yellow belt. "I'm not a good singer (either). I was thinking of singing 'Feliz Navidad' just because everyone knows that."
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights football: Special teams unit undergoes overhaul