From Croatia to Texas to Bloomington: The making of Indiana kicker Nicolas Radicic
Nicolas Radicic didn’t grow up dreaming about packed football stadiums or game-winning kicks. His childhood wasn’t marked by Pop Warner fields or backyard goalposts. Instead, his earliest sports interests revolved around the San Francisco Giants, basketball and the soccer pitches where he spent most of his time.
Born in California, Radicic spent his first three years in the United States before his parents, feeling the tug of home, moved the family back to Croatia. There, soccer shaped his childhood. Football, the American version, wasn’t part of the culture, let alone his life.
The family returned to the U.S. when his father landed a job in Texas. The move, they believed, also opened doors that weren’t available overseas. Still, football remained distant. Radicic threw himself into soccer, excelling to the point of signing a youth contract with FC Dallas of Major League Soccer.
Then, in seventh grade, his friends persuaded him to try something new.
“I finally went out to a football field and I kicked like a 45 [yard field] in seventh grade — it was some lower 40s,” Radicic recalled after practice Friday. “[My friends] were like, ‘You need to play football.’ I signed up for it in eighth grade and from there it took off.”
That casual kick marked the beginning of a deliberate process. He began working with the same kicking coach who trained Caden Davis, then a highly rated prospect who would go on to Ole Miss and eventually the NFL. Radicic said it felt surreal to practice with someone already on that trajectory, and it gave him a blueprint.
Progress didn’t come quickly. Beginning his freshman year at Coppell High School, his coach parked him at the 20-yard line and refused to move him until he hit the center of the uprights every time.
“I was probably stuck on that 20-yard line for months. I could say probably half a year — six months — I was on that 20-yard line,” Radicic said. “I’m like, ‘Coach, I need to go farther, I’m tired of this 20-yard line…’ It got to a point where I was getting pretty accurate and then when I get back to 45 or I get back to 55, it just feels like I’m on the 20-yard line.”
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Through his freshman year of high school, Radicic kept one foot in each sport. Soccer still commanded his attention, but by his sophomore year he made a choice.
“It was a really tough decision,” Radicic said. “I talked to my parents a lot, I talked to my coaches — my soccer coach was very mad at me that I decided to quit soccer. But at the end of the day, it was the smartest decision for me.”
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At Coppell High School, in suburban Dallas, the size of the stage accelerated his commitment. The school’s 12,000-seat Buddy Echols Field often brimmed with fans, creating an environment more akin to a small college program than a typical high school team. Radicic grew comfortable in front of crowds that numbered in the tens of thousands.
By the time he arrived at Indiana, he had transformed from a soccer prospect into a football specialist with both technical precision and the temperament for pressure. His 2024 season proved it: 69-for-69 on extra points, a school record, and 10-for-11 on field goals.
Now a redshirt sophomore, Radicic returns as the Hoosiers’ starting kicker, the product of a journey that has moved across countries, sports and expectations.
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