Texas A&M kicker David Olano made own path from Futbol to Football
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José de Jesus Ortiz, Founder & Editor in Chief
- July 20, 2026
David Olano arrives at Texas A&M with strong Colombian foundation
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – While playing youth soccer at 8 years old in Boston, Texas A&M kicker David Olano and his older brother Pablo were almost always scheduled to kick off their games at 6:30 a.m. Many children that age would need their parents to wake them up and get them ready.
Gustavo and Patty Olano never needed to motivate their boys. David and Pablo were in their uniforms and ready to leave their home by 5:45 a.m. That’s how excited they were to get on the pitch.
They loved to play futbol, the sport their father Gustavo played in his native Colombia at such a high level that he garnered an invitation to a tryout camp with Bogota’s Millonarios Futbol Club.
“We never had to push them,” Gustavo Olano said in Spanish. “Early on we knew they could do sports well. After time the coaches always told us they stood out. There was a light. By the time they were 8-9 years old they played very well.
“They were always among the best or the best on their team, so early on we learned that they didn’t just do it well, but they liked it too.”
Quick study
David Olano, who transferred from the University of Illinois to Texas A&M in January, excelled in many sports as a child. While keeping soccer as his main sport, he played lacrosse early in life and then baseball, followed by basketball and eventually tennis.
“With futbol he had the foundation for reaction, mentality and the desire to get on the field,” Gustavo says of David.
Soccer remained David’s No. 1 sport for most of his childhood. When David first brought up the idea of playing football, his father thought it was a passing interest similar to what lacrosse, baseball and basketball had been.
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The elder Olano put off letting David play American Football until he couldn’t. David came home one day and didn’t ask permission to play for his Naperville (Ill.) North High football team.
“He was telling me he was put on varsity and told me he was going to play,” Gustavo said. “After that moment, he made a literal switch. He focused on kicking for his team to learn all the things needed, techniques, tactics.”
Parental support
David understood how much his dad wanted him to keep playing his beloved futbol. He appreciates his dad’s unconditional support.
“I played (soccer) for 13 years, and he loved every bit of it,” David says of his father. “But when I came up to him and told him that I fell out of passion with the sport, he kinda didn’t believe it. He told me to sleep on it. Then the next week, I was pretty firm on my decision.
“So when I came up to him – him being my father and being so supportive as he is – he said, ‘Let’s do it.’ We went head on. We sacrificed a lot of things we had planned just to make sure I was getting the best opportunities to play at the collegiate level.”
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound David Olano was born in Miami. He moved to Boston as a young child before eventually moving to Naperville, Ill.
He excelled at Naperville North High despite a late transition to football. Olano made the most of his two varsity seasons while also hitting the kicking camp circuit.
Kohl’s Kicking ranked Olano as the 10th best kicker in America in the class of 2023. Sailer Kicking ranked him No. 3 in the country. He showcased his foot with a record 50-yard field goal in the high school All-American Bowl at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
After drawing interest from Notre Dame, David Olano signed with the University of Illinois. He served as a kickoff specialist as a freshman in 2023. Then he took over the starting kicking duties in 2024. He converted 17 of his 20 field goal attempts and 38 of 39 extra points as a sophomore, setting a career-long with a 50-yarder against Kansas.
David Olano proves clutch
David Olano converted all 44 extra points and 20 of his 23 field goals last season. Along the way, he proved to be clutch with the game on the line. Olano hit a walk-off field goal to beat No. 21 USC in the closing seconds last September. He capped his Illinois career with a walk-off field goal to beat Tennessee in the Music City Bowl.
Olano was an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention selection as a sophomore and junior. He also was named to the Big Ten All-Academic Team each of those two seasons. Now he’s ready to help the Aggies.
Texas A&M made school history last season with its first appearance in the College Football Playoff. The Aggies finished 11-2 overall and 7-1 in the SEC despite a disappointing season by their kickers.
Tight family
It was no surprise when Mike Elko dipped into the transfer portal for a kicker after last season. Olano is ready to showcase his talents in College Station. Eventually, Texas A&M fans will likely see the tight bond the Olanos share. Illinois fans saw that bond during the Music Bowl when David jumped into the stands to celebrate with his family after his walk-off kick.
“When we talk about my family, where I come from in the Hispanic culture, I think family is everything,” David Olano says. “And those guys have been by my corner through every phase of my life.
“When I loved soccer, when I started football, they’ve kind of just been with me every step and have helped me as much as they can to make sure I’m in the best possible spot to do what I want to do.”
José de Jesus Ortiz
Founder & Editor in Chief
Award-winning writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz, a former lead sports columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has covered Major League Baseball since 1997 in Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, New York and Houston. He was the first Latino to serve as president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
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