2015 College Kickoff Specialist Rankings

Every college football kickoff specialist with enough work in the 2015 regular season (at least 30), ranked by kickoff points added. Each kickoff's expected-points result compared with the league-average kickoff, added up over the season. Onside kicks are left out. It credits the kicker and the coverage team together.

College rule from 2012 to 2017: a kickoff touchback started the receiving team at its 25, so a touchback was a good result for the kicking team. Kickoff Points Added accounts for the rule, so it is the fair way to compare kickoff specialists across leagues and seasons.

Final 2015 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

2015 College Leaders

Kickoff Touchback Percentage

Nick Rose (Texas): 77% 46 of 60
Jake Elliott (Memphis): 76% 72 of 95
Zane Gonzalez (Arizona State): 75% 58 of 77
Daniel Carlson (Auburn): 73% 45 of 62
Taylor Symmank (Texas Tech): 72% 26 of 36

Full Kickoff Touchback Percentage leaderboard

Average Kickoff Return Allowed

Alex Howell (Boston College): 12.7 14 returns
Nick Fields (Bowling Green): 12.7 11 returns
Jake Elliott (Memphis): 12.8 23 returns
Alex Hanks (Georgia Southern): 13.2 14 returns
Carlos Alvarez (Louisiana): 13.5 13 returns

Full Average Kickoff Return Allowed leaderboard

Kickoff Points Added

Adam Griffith (Alabama): +16.8 79 kickoffs
Nathan Noble (Ole Miss): +16.6 86 kickoffs
Aaron Medley (Tennessee): +16.4 80 kickoffs
Jack Willoughby (Ohio State): +15.3 76 kickoffs
Jake Elliott (Memphis): +15.2 95 kickoffs

Full Kickoff Points Added leaderboard

Average Kickoff Distance

Ka'imi Fairbairn (UCLA): 64.6 79 kickoffs
Zane Gonzalez (Arizona State): 64.5 77 kickoffs
Taylor Symmank (Texas Tech): 64.5 36 kickoffs
Jake Elliott (Memphis): 64.3 95 kickoffs
Daniel Carlson (Auburn): 64.3 62 kickoffs

Full Average Kickoff Distance leaderboard

Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage

Nick Hodgson (Oklahoma): 0.0% 0 of 98
Nick Weiler (North Carolina): 0.0% 0 of 97
Spencer Evans (Baylor): 0.0% 0 of 97
Jake Elliott (Memphis): 0.0% 0 of 95
Ty Cummings (Houston): 0.0% 0 of 93

Full Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage leaderboard

30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed

Christian Hagan (Northern Illinois): 0.0% 0 of 37
Amoreto Curraj (Marshall): 0.0% 0 of 31
Kaleb Patterson (Miami (OH)): 0.0% 0 of 25
Brad Craddock (Maryland): 0.0% 0 of 23
Jake Elliott (Memphis): 0.0% 0 of 23

Full 30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed leaderboard

All 2015 College Kickoff Specialist Leaderboards

Kickoffs by Points Added

128 kickoff specialists qualify.

Rk	Player	Team	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Adam Griffith	Alabama	79	63.3	52%	35	+16.8
2	Nathan Noble	Ole Miss	86	64.0	55%	39	+16.6
3	Aaron Medley	Tennessee	80	61.5	39%	48	+16.4
4	Jack Willoughby	Ohio State	76	61.6	33%	49	+15.3
5	Jake Elliott	Memphis	95	64.3	76%	23	+15.2
6	Roberto Aguayo	Florida State	77	62.9	55%	35	+14.2
7	Kenny Allen	Michigan	67	62.1	49%	33	+13.1
8	Lane Saling	Arkansas	66	61.5	17%	55	+12.9
9	Amoreto Curraj	Marshall	72	62.5	57%	31	+12.8
10	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	72	62.3	40%	43	+12.7
11	Luke Ferguson	Arkansas State	86	62.3	43%	49	+12.2
12	Ty Cummings	Houston	93	62.5	29%	66	+11.4
13	Devon Bell	Mississippi State	72	62.1	43%	41	+11.2
14	Marshall Koehn	Iowa	78	63.5	59%	32	+11.2
15	Matt Wogan	Oregon	91	63.5	62%	35	+10.6
16	Younghoe Koo	Georgia Southern	57	63.6	68%	18	+10.4
17	Jason Sanders	New Mexico	66	63.9	70%	20	+9.4
18	Nick Hodgson	Oklahoma	98	63.4	51%	48	+9.4
19	Taylor Bertolet	Texas A&M	66	62.5	47%	35	+9.0
20	Alex Wood	USC	65	62.0	15%	55	+8.3
21	Tyler Mayes	Temple	73	59.8	23%	56	+8.2
22	Ross Martin	Duke	65	59.0	31%	45	+8.1
23	Jaden Oberkrom	TCU	87	61.7	63%	30	+7.9
24	Jed Solomon	Troy	61	61.8	59%	25	+7.8
25	Jay Mattox	UTEP	50	63.8	52%	24	+7.7
26	Jon Semerene	Miami	59	62.6	39%	36	+7.3
27	Andrew Endicott	Wisconsin	36	60.0	25%	27	+7.2
28	Landon Ard	South Carolina	59	63.2	71%	17	+7.0
29	Ka'imi Fairbairn	UCLA	79	64.6	71%	23	+6.7
30	Austin Brasher	BYU	69	63.0	43%	38	+6.5
31	Cameron Gamble	LSU	35	60.6	14%	30	+6.3
32	Greg Joseph	Florida Atlantic	61	62.9	52%	28	+6.1
33	Zane Gonzalez	Arizona State	77	64.5	75%	19	+6.1
34	Chris Blewitt	Pittsburgh	64	63.2	64%	23	+6.0
35	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	62	64.3	73%	16	+5.8
36	Nick O'Toole	West Virginia	66	62.4	26%	48	+5.8
37	Christian Hagan	Northern Illinois	49	58.9	24%	37	+5.7
38	Drew Oehrle	Air Force	32	64.0	72%	9	+5.5
39	Chad Hedlund	SMU	59	64.0	68%	19	+5.5
40	Austin Grebe	Navy	72	61.2	25%	54	+5.5
41	Taylor Symmank	Texas Tech	36	64.5	72%	10	+5.4
42	Nick Weiler	North Carolina	97	62.7	52%	47	+5.3
43	Chris Graham	Colorado	57	63.1	30%	40	+5.2
44	Kaleb Patterson	Miami (OH)	30	60.4	17%	25	+5.1
45	Jake Bailey	Stanford	64	61.8	17%	51	+4.5
46	Joey Slye	Virginia Tech	62	63.5	66%	21	+4.3
47	Garrett Swanson	Fresno State	54	61.8	46%	29	+4.1
48	Tyler Rausa	Boise State	86	61.9	59%	35	+3.9
49	Jake Thompson	Utah State	64	63.7	58%	27	+3.7
50	John Wallace	Louisville	68	62.9	40%	41	+3.7
51	Donny Hageman	San Diego State	79	63.0	29%	56	+3.6
52	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	63	63.4	41%	37	+3.5
53	Griffin Oakes	Indiana	83	63.5	61%	32	+3.4
54	Ian Patterson	Kansas State	58	60.8	26%	43	+3.3
55	Cole Netten	Iowa State	36	59.6	22%	28	+2.7
56	Ryan Norton	Syracuse	58	61.9	36%	37	+2.6
57	Nick Rose	Texas	60	63.8	77%	14	+2.4
58	Joey Julius	Penn State	49	63.2	43%	28	+2.3
59	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	40	60.0	35%	26	+2.1
60	Daniel Portillo	UTSA	41	63.3	39%	25	+1.9
61	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	67	62.3	34%	44	+1.7
62	Daniel Grochowski	Army	51	61.1	41%	30	+1.7
63	Josiah Yazdani	Ohio	65	58.6	11%	58	+1.4
64	Chris Gough	Rutgers	55	59.5	20%	44	+1.2
65	Andy Phillips	Utah	75	60.3	25%	56	+0.6
66	Craig Ford	UL Monroe	56	56.7	11%	49	+0.3
67	Brad Craddock	Maryland	37	62.5	38%	23	+0.3
68	Austin MacGinnis	Kentucky	37	61.5	38%	23	+0.1
69	Robert Stein	Akron	57	57.7	28%	41	0.0
70	Dylan Sims	Virginia	60	63.3	50%	30	0.0
71	Drew Brown	Nebraska	69	60.0	42%	40	−0.4
72	Anthony Melchiori	Kent State	30	60.9	20%	24	−0.5
73	Harrison Butker	Georgia Tech	60	63.2	68%	18	−0.5
74	Austin Taylor	Florida International	54	59.6	31%	37	−0.6
75	Austin Hardin	Florida	44	64.2	66%	15	−0.7
76	Luke Strebel	Air Force	42	62.1	57%	18	−0.8
77	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	65	61.5	54%	30	−0.9
78	Mike Weaver	Wake Forest	44	62.3	45%	24	−0.9
79	Stephen Brauchle	Southern Miss	90	59.0	16%	76	−1.3
80	Ethan Wood	Wyoming	43	62.4	37%	27	−1.3
81	Kevin Cronin	Michigan State	74	59.9	28%	53	−1.4
82	Jack Fox	Rice	41	63.6	46%	22	−1.5
83	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	78	61.4	23%	59	−1.5
84	Clayton Hatfield	Texas Tech	64	61.7	45%	32	−1.5
85	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	53	61.9	47%	27	−1.6
86	Josh Orne	Northern Illinois	30	56.3	10%	26	−1.6
87	Andrew Gantz	Cincinnati	83	62.7	36%	53	−1.7
88	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	59	62.1	53%	28	−1.8
89	Blake Brewer	Charlotte	49	61.6	27%	36	−1.9
90	Jackson Maples	NC State	69	61.0	55%	31	−1.9
91	Corey Fatony	Missouri	43	62.8	42%	25	−1.9
92	Matt Micucci	Northwestern	31	57.4	23%	24	−2.0
93	Casey Skowron	Arizona	79	60.7	41%	47	−2.0
94	Taylor Zalewski	Illinois	58	59.9	34%	38	−2.0
95	Nicolai Bornand	UNLV	65	61.7	35%	42	−2.2
96	Matthew Wyman	Kansas	42	60.9	48%	22	−2.3
97	Hayden Lekacz	Vanderbilt	45	57.8	22%	35	−2.9
98	Donald Delahaye	UCF	32	61.5	34%	21	−3.2
99	Josh Rode	Toledo	36	57.4	3%	35	−3.3
100	Samuel Vucelich	Toledo	34	59.1	9%	31	−3.7
101	Marshall Morgan	Georgia	56	62.5	30%	38	−3.8
102	Zach Matics	App State	76	62.1	51%	37	−3.8
103	Trevor Simms	Tulane	51	63.3	43%	29	−3.9
104	Ben Grogan	Oklahoma State	84	59.7	26%	62	−4.3
105	Tyler Tate	Bowling Green	85	61.9	48%	44	−4.4
106	Ryan Nuss	Western Kentucky	64	57.0	13%	56	−4.5
107	Ammon Lakip	Clemson	72	59.3	39%	43	−4.7
108	Brendan Renius	Eastern Michigan	57	61.3	49%	29	−5.0
109	Eric Keena	North Texas	32	62.6	44%	18	−5.2
110	Trent Domingue	LSU	31	58.4	23%	24	−5.8
111	Erik Powell	Washington State	71	56.1	25%	53	−6.6
112	Michael Hill	South Florida	53	55.1	4%	51	−7.2
113	Paul Griggs	Purdue	52	61.8	33%	35	−7.2
114	Ron Coluzzi	Central Michigan	59	60.8	36%	38	−8.1
115	Austin Lopez	San José State	39	60.4	49%	20	−8.4
116	Lumi Kaba	Texas State	56	63.3	66%	19	−8.5
117	Brent Zuzo	Nevada	60	61.1	42%	34	−9.0
118	Blake Lucas	Massachusetts	53	61.0	32%	36	−9.0
119	Stevie Artigue	Louisiana	50	56.6	14%	42	−9.7
120	Wil Lutz	Georgia State	61	62.6	54%	27	−9.9
121	Canon Rooker	Middle Tennessee	72	60.8	25%	54	−10.3
122	Garrett Owens	Oregon State	46	56.3	15%	37	−10.8
123	Matt Anderson	California	76	56.4	20%	60	−12.9
124	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	67	61.7	49%	34	−13.0
125	Spencer Evans	Baylor	97	59.5	34%	61	−13.4
126	Jonathan Barnes	Louisiana Tech	78	59.2	24%	59	−13.8
127	Tyler Grassman	Buffalo	63	58.8	33%	42	−17.1
128	Preston Soper	Tulsa	76	58.2	16%	64	−17.9

Points compare each kickoff's expected-points result with the league-average kickoff (for college, expected points come from where the receiving team started its first play). Onside kicks are listed separately and left out of points. Average distance is measured from the kicking spot to where the ball was caught or reached the goal line; a touchback counts the full distance. Returns exclude touchbacks, out-of-bounds kicks and fair catches. Minimum 30 kickoffs.

Kickoff Specialist Rankings in Other Seasons

2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018 · 2017 · 2016 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011

Other 2015 College Rankings

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