Noah Ruggles is returning to Ohio State for another season.
The Ohio State kicker is planning to use his additional year of eligibility to play a second season with the Buckeyes and a sixth overall season of college football, an Ohio State spokesperson said Tuesday after Bucknuts first reported that Ruggles was expected to return to the Buckeyes in 2022.
Ruggles made the news official on Friday.
Wasnt ready to say goodbye just yet #OneLastRide #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/x9RTngAK9H
— Noah Ruggles (@noahruggles) January 21, 2022
Ruggles, who spent four seasons at North Carolina before transferring to Ohio State last summer, established himself as an NFL prospect this past season when he made all but one of his 21 field goal attempts for the entire season. Ruggles, who tied for the second-best field goal percentage in the entire Football Bowl Subdivision for the 2021 season, went 4-for-4 on field goals in back-to-back games against Nebraska and Penn State and made the game-winning field goal in Ohio State’s 48-45 win over Utah in the Rose Bowl.
Nonetheless, Ruggles is expected to put the NFL on hold for one more year and stay in Columbus for another season, giving the Buckeyes a kicker they know they can rely on for 2022. Ohio State is now set to return all three of its primary specialists from 2021, as Bradley Robinson is using a seventh year of eligibility to return as Ohio State’s long snapper while Jesse Mirco enters his second season as the Buckeyes’ punter.
