Stallions’ Kicker ramiz ahmed has learned to stay prepared for opportunity to call.

APRIL 25, 2024 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

By Steve Irvine

Ramiz Ahmed was guaranteed a job for a week when he joined the Birmingham Stallions. His suitcase suggested a much more optimistic approach.

“I packed a bag for the rest of the season,” Ahmed said.

As things turned out, that was a solid decision. At this point, it appears that Ahmed will be the Stallions kicker for at least the remainder of the regular season. Chris Blewitt, who established himself as one of the better kickers in the UFL through the first three weeks of the season, missed last week’s game with an injury and was placed on injured reserve this week with six games left in the regular season.

Ahmed took his spot in last Saturday’s 20-18 win over DC Defenders and immediately put together one of the top UFL performances. He made all four of his field goal attempts on a rainy night, including a game-winning 46-yarder with just four seconds remaining.

Good thing he packed that full suitcase.

“It’s just something that you’ve got to be prepared for,” Ahmed said. “You never know what can happen in the kicking game and football in general. I was prepared for whatever. If they wanted to send me home after a week, I would just check the bag on the way home. I’d rather be prepared for it than not prepared.”

Ahmed’s life as a kicker has been far from traditional. The Las Vegas native grew up playing soccer, kicked for a couple years of high school, including for a Nevada state championship Bishop Gorman team in 2013, and didn’t attempt to play football again until his third year of college. His first season of college football began with an unconventional walk-on tryout.

“The walk-on tryout was the funny one,” Ahmed said. “I didn’t get to kick too many field goals. There was a three-year starter already there. The special teams coordinator, who I’m good buddies with now, I think his opinion was, ‘Listen, we got a three-year starter, he’s been solid for us, it’s not really a position we’re thinking is open.’ They really looked at me for kickoffs. So, I kicked off at walk-on tryout. I was kicking touchbacks.”

About two hours later, he got the call that he made the team. However, he wasn’t eligible for the season opener because he joined the team late in fall camp. He was ready to go for the second game, though, and immediately was the team’s kickoff specialist.

“It was cool, the progression,” said Ahmed, who attended UNLV as a freshman and Arizona State as a sophomore but did not play football either year. “Obviously, I wish I could have kicked field goals the first year. I was a little naïve, as a kid back then. I was hoping I would just come in, get a starting position. I didn’t necessarily know the ins and outs of college football and what it was like to be in a football building. There was a whole lot of learning I needed to do. I don’t regret how anything has gone.”

He was part of the field goal kicker competition the following spring. He won the job during spring practice and was the team’s kicker throughout the 2018 season. He was 15 of 20 on field goals, including 15 of 16 from inside of 40 yards, and 40 of 44 on extra point attempts.

Ahmed signed with the Chicago Bears in 2020 but was waived in training camp. He spent the 2022 season with the Pittsburgh Maulers, hitting 14 of 22 field goals and 7 of 10 extra points. He set a USFL record with a 61-yard field goal against the New Jersey Generals at Legion Field. The week before he made a 58-yard field goal in a loss to the Birmingham Stallions.

In the winter of 2022, he got his first NFL action. He was a member of the Green Bay Packers practice squad before being activated to handle kickoff duties against the Dallas Cowboys. After kicking off six times in that game, he went back to the practice squad. He was activated again later that season but a groin injury suffered in pregame warmups kept him out of the Packers’ game against the Minnesota Vikings.

While it was a full season between opportunities, he was prepared when the UFL called.

“It’s something that you got to be ready for,” Ahmed said. “To do this at the highest level is, of course, something I would love to do, know I can do (and) would love to get back to. You just got to be ready for any situation thrown in front of you. When I got picked up by the Packers, it was a similar situation. I got picked up and our game was on either Friday or Saturday. I had two kicking situations, very much like when I got picked up by the Stallions, and next thing you know I’m kicking in a game. You just got to go out and perform.”