2015 College Kickoff Touchback Percentage Leaders

The share of a kickoff specialist's kickoffs that were touchbacks. High means power; whether it is good depends on the rules and the coach's plan.

More is better under this season's rules: a touchback ends the play with no return. Only specialists with enough kickoffs are ranked. In 2015, Nick Rose (77%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Jake Elliott (76%) and Zane Gonzalez (75%). 128 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 39%.

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.

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

All 2015 College kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Touchback Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2014 2013 2012 2011

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