Meet The 2026 UCF Knights: Countdown To Kickoff - No. 44 Kyle Hicks

With 44 days to go until the 2026 UCF football season kicks off, learn more about the player wearing the Knights' No. 44 jersey: Long snapper Kyle Hicks.

Nov 1, 2025; Waco, Texas, USA; UCF Knights head coach Scott Frost leaves the field following the game against the Baylor Bears at McLane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Welcome to UCF Knights on SI's countdown to kickoff!

In this series, we are going to introduce you to every single player on the 2026 UCF football roster so that you can know what to expect from them or even pinpoint the ones you want to follow throughout the coming season. We are going to go through the Knights' roster in reverse jersey-number order, with the day each player's entry is published corresponding to the number of days remaining until UCF's season-opener on Sep. 3 at 7 p.m. against Bethune-Cookman.

So, with 45 days to go, let's meet UCF long snapper Kyle Hicks:

1. Who is Kyle Hicks?
2. What did he do last season?
3. What role is he going to have in 2026?

1. Who is Kyle Hicks?

Welcome to UCF, @KyleHicks2024 ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/8tmJsCbifz

— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) January 20, 2026

Position: Long Snapper

Class: Redshirt Sophomore

Height/Weight: 6-foot-3 / 235 pounds

Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

High School: Hillsboro High School

Kyle Hicks played long snapper and tight end in high school and started all four years. He began his college football career at Tennessee State after they were the first Division I school to extend him an offer in 2023, according to a post by Hicks on Twitter/X at the time. While with the Tigers, he majored in Human Performance and Sports Science, earned an Ohio Valley Conference Academic Medal of Honor thanks to his 4.0 GPA and redshirted his true freshman season in 2024 before making his first on-field appearance in 2025.

2. What did he do last season?

Hicks was named to Phil Steele's FCS Freshman All-American Third Team after playing in all 12 games with Tennessee State last season. According to his UCF Athletics profile page, he earned a 90.3 grade from Pro Football Focus, which was the highest among all FCS long snappers and the second-highest in all of Division I, or both the FBS and FCS. He also made nine tackles, five of which were solo.

Of the Knights' two long snappers on their roster, Hicks and redshirt freshman Rocklyn Kelly, Hicks is the only one with playing experience coming into 2026, making him the most likely player to take the starting job. Following an April 7 practice session, Pete Alamar, UCF's special teams coordinator, said Hicks threw a "phenomenal short ball" and praised his accuracy.

"He's going to give you 12 o'clock laces over the spot consistently all the time," Alamar said.

Catch up on the rest of the list below:

No. 13 Caleb Rollerson

No. 14 Alonza Barnett III and Kahmel Johnson

No. 15 Will Stone and Preston Hall

No. 16 Dante Carr and TJ Branch	No. 17 Jailen Duffie	No. 18 Caleb Flagg and Caden Piening	No. 19 Rashad Henry	No. 20 Lewis Carter and Kaj Baker
No. 21 Ty Bartrum	No. 22 Amarion Queen	No. 23 Jordan Nunuha and Jayden Burnett	No. 24 Tackett Curtis and Arthur Lewis IV	No. 25 Rukeem Stroud
No. 26 Duke Watson and Elijah Keys	No. 27 Nicholas Antoine	No. 28 Matt Irwin	No. 29 Tyce Porcher	No. 30 Otis Hardy
No. 31 Noah McGough	No. 32 Matthew Occhipinti	No. 33 Phil Picciotti	No. 34 Jahleel Culbreath	No. 35 Agyeman Addae
No. 36 Dylan Bennett	No. 37 Rocklyn Kelley	No. 38 Jayden Jennings	No. 39 Andrea Parisi	No. 41 Bruno Dall
No. 42 Artavius Jones and Chance Nixon	No. 43 Cole Kozlowski	No. 44 Kyle Hicks	No. 45 Quentin Hatch	No. 47 Arthur Kingdom and Sam Powell
No. 49 Atticus Bertrams and Donnell Johnson III	No. 53 LaParka Langston	No. 54 Cooper Terpstra and Trenton Turner	No. 55 Jacob Maiava and Noah Mercer	No. 56 Patrick Ryan
No. 57 Camp Lott	No. 58 Connor Meadows	No. 61 Owen Spell	No. 66 Brady Wayburn	No. 67 Noah Senka
No. 68 Ethan Higgins	No. 70 RaiShaun McHaney	No. 71 Amahn Williams	No. 72 Dominick Campbell	No. 73 Henry Tabansi
No. 74 Matthew Prigmore	No. 75 Tyler Gibson	No. 76 Justin Royes	No. 77 Kasiyah Charlton	No. 78 Preston Cushman
No. 79 Daniel Marcellinus	No. 80 Elijah Hardy	No. 81 Zack Palmer	No. 82 Jordyn Bridgewater	No. 83 Dylan Burk
No. 84 Thomas Wadsworth	No. 85 Carson Hinshaw	No. 86 Chase Hinshaw	No. 87 Brooks Hall	No. 88 Grayson Brousseau
No. 90 Mujahid Jefferson	No. 91 Donteye Drew	No. 92 Jeffson Lafontant	No. 93 Brad Gurley	No. 94 L A Jesse Harrold
No. 95 RJ Jackson Jr.	No. 96 Anthony Coaxum	No. 97 Josh Schell and Mason Denaberg	No. 98 Alhassan Iddrissu	No. 99 Thomas Collins