2015 College Kickoff Touchbacks Leaders

Kickoffs that reached the end zone and were kept there, giving the receiving team the ball at its own 25, 30 or 35, depending on the league and the rule that season. A touchback avoids a return but gives up field position.

More is better under this season's rules: a touchback ends the play with no return. Read with touchback percentage. In 2015, Jake Elliott (72) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchbacks, ahead of Zane Gonzalez (58) and Ka'imi Fairbairn (56). 179 kickoff specialists qualify.

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	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Jake Elliott	Memphis	72	95	64.3	76%	23	+15.2
2	Zane Gonzalez	Arizona State	58	77	64.5	75%	19	+6.1
3	Ka'imi Fairbairn	UCLA	56	79	64.6	71%	23	+6.7
4	Matt Wogan	Oregon	56	91	63.5	62%	35	+10.6
5	Jaden Oberkrom	TCU	55	87	61.7	63%	30	+7.9
6	Griffin Oakes	Indiana	51	83	63.5	61%	32	+3.4
7	Tyler Rausa	Boise State	51	86	61.9	59%	35	+3.9
8	Nick Weiler	North Carolina	50	97	62.7	52%	47	+5.3
9	Nick Hodgson	Oklahoma	50	98	63.4	51%	48	+9.4
10	Nathan Noble	Ole Miss	47	86	64.0	55%	39	+16.6
11	Nick Rose	Texas	46	60	63.8	77%	14	+2.4
12	Jason Sanders	New Mexico	46	66	63.9	70%	20	+9.4
13	Marshall Koehn	Iowa	46	78	63.5	59%	32	+11.2
14	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	45	62	64.3	73%	16	+5.8
15	Landon Ard	South Carolina	42	59	63.2	71%	17	+7.0
16	Roberto Aguayo	Florida State	42	77	62.9	55%	35	+14.2
17	Harrison Butker	Georgia Tech	41	60	63.2	68%	18	−0.5
18	Joey Slye	Virginia Tech	41	62	63.5	66%	21	+4.3
19	Chris Blewitt	Pittsburgh	41	64	63.2	64%	23	+6.0
20	Amoreto Curraj	Marshall	41	72	62.5	57%	31	+12.8
21	Adam Griffith	Alabama	41	79	63.3	52%	35	+16.8
22	Tyler Tate	Bowling Green	41	85	61.9	48%	44	−4.4
23	Chad Hedlund	SMU	40	59	64.0	68%	19	+5.5
24	Younghoe Koo	Georgia Southern	39	57	63.6	68%	18	+10.4
25	Zach Matics	App State	39	76	62.1	51%	37	−3.8
26	Jackson Maples	NC State	38	69	61.0	55%	31	−1.9
27	Lumi Kaba	Texas State	37	56	63.3	66%	19	−8.5
28	Jake Thompson	Utah State	37	64	63.7	58%	27	+3.7
29	Luke Ferguson	Arkansas State	37	86	62.3	43%	49	+12.2
30	Jed Solomon	Troy	36	61	61.8	59%	25	+7.8
31	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	35	65	61.5	54%	30	−0.9
32	Wil Lutz	Georgia State	33	61	62.6	54%	27	−9.9
33	Kenny Allen	Michigan	33	67	62.1	49%	33	+13.1
34	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	33	67	61.7	49%	34	−13.0
35	Spencer Evans	Baylor	33	97	59.5	34%	61	−13.4
36	Greg Joseph	Florida Atlantic	32	61	62.9	52%	28	+6.1
37	Casey Skowron	Arizona	32	79	60.7	41%	47	−2.0
38	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	31	59	62.1	53%	28	−1.8
39	Taylor Bertolet	Texas A&M	31	66	62.5	47%	35	+9.0
40	Devon Bell	Mississippi State	31	72	62.1	43%	41	+11.2
41	Aaron Medley	Tennessee	31	80	61.5	39%	48	+16.4
42	Dylan Sims	Virginia	30	60	63.3	50%	30	0.0
43	Austin Brasher	BYU	30	69	63.0	43%	38	+6.5
44	Andrew Gantz	Cincinnati	30	83	62.7	36%	53	−1.7
45	Austin Hardin	Florida	29	44	64.2	66%	15	−0.7
46	Clayton Hatfield	Texas Tech	29	64	61.7	45%	32	−1.5
47	Drew Brown	Nebraska	29	69	60.0	42%	40	−0.4
48	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	29	72	62.3	40%	43	+12.7
49	Brendan Renius	Eastern Michigan	28	57	61.3	49%	29	−5.0
50	Ammon Lakip	Clemson	28	72	59.3	39%	43	−4.7
51	John Wallace	Louisville	27	68	62.9	40%	41	+3.7
52	Ty Cummings	Houston	27	93	62.5	29%	66	+11.4
53	Taylor Symmank	Texas Tech	26	36	64.5	72%	10	+5.4
54	Jay Mattox	UTEP	26	50	63.8	52%	24	+7.7
55	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	26	63	63.4	41%	37	+3.5
56	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	25	53	61.9	47%	27	−1.6
57	Garrett Swanson	Fresno State	25	54	61.8	46%	29	+4.1
58	Brent Zuzo	Nevada	25	60	61.1	42%	34	−9.0
59	Jack Willoughby	Ohio State	25	76	61.6	33%	49	+15.3
60	Luke Strebel	Air Force	24	42	62.1	57%	18	−0.8
61	Drew Oehrle	Air Force	23	32	64.0	72%	9	+5.5
62	Jon Semerene	Miami	23	59	62.6	39%	36	+7.3
63	Nicolai Bornand	UNLV	23	65	61.7	35%	42	−2.2
64	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	23	67	62.3	34%	44	+1.7
65	Donny Hageman	San Diego State	23	79	63.0	29%	56	+3.6
66	Trevor Simms	Tulane	22	51	63.3	43%	29	−3.9
67	Ben Grogan	Oklahoma State	22	84	59.7	26%	62	−4.3
68	Joey Julius	Penn State	21	49	63.2	43%	28	+2.3
69	Daniel Grochowski	Army	21	51	61.1	41%	30	+1.7
70	Ryan Norton	Syracuse	21	58	61.9	36%	37	+2.6
71	Ron Coluzzi	Central Michigan	21	59	60.8	36%	38	−8.1
72	Tyler Grassman	Buffalo	21	63	58.8	33%	42	−17.1
73	Kevin Cronin	Michigan State	21	74	59.9	28%	53	−1.4
74	Matthew Wyman	Kansas	20	42	60.9	48%	22	−2.3
75	Mike Weaver	Wake Forest	20	44	62.3	45%	24	−0.9
76	Taylor Zalewski	Illinois	20	58	59.9	34%	38	−2.0
77	Ross Martin	Duke	20	65	59.0	31%	45	+8.1
78	Austin Lopez	San José State	19	39	60.4	49%	20	−8.4
79	Jack Fox	Rice	19	41	63.6	46%	22	−1.5
80	Andy Phillips	Utah	19	75	60.3	25%	56	+0.6
81	Jonathan Barnes	Louisiana Tech	19	78	59.2	24%	59	−13.8
82	Corey Fatony	Missouri	18	43	62.8	42%	25	−1.9
83	Erik Powell	Washington State	18	71	56.1	25%	53	−6.6
84	Austin Grebe	Navy	18	72	61.2	25%	54	+5.5
85	Canon Rooker	Middle Tennessee	18	72	60.8	25%	54	−10.3
86	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	18	78	61.4	23%	59	−1.5
87	Paul Griggs	Purdue	17	52	61.8	33%	35	−7.2
88	Blake Lucas	Massachusetts	17	53	61.0	32%	36	−9.0
89	Austin Taylor	Florida International	17	54	59.6	31%	37	−0.6
90	Marshall Morgan	Georgia	17	56	62.5	30%	38	−3.8
91	Chris Graham	Colorado	17	57	63.1	30%	40	+5.2
92	Nick O'Toole	West Virginia	17	66	62.4	26%	48	+5.8
93	Tyler Mayes	Temple	17	73	59.8	23%	56	+8.2
94	Daniel Portillo	UTSA	16	41	63.3	39%	25	+1.9
95	Ethan Wood	Wyoming	16	43	62.4	37%	27	−1.3
96	Robert Stein	Akron	16	57	57.7	28%	41	0.0
97	Ian Patterson	Kansas State	15	58	60.8	26%	43	+3.3
98	Matt Anderson	California	15	76	56.4	20%	60	−12.9
99	Rigoberto Sanchez	Hawai'i	14	23	64.2	61%	9	+7.2
100	Eric Keena	North Texas	14	32	62.6	44%	18	−5.2
101	Austin MacGinnis	Kentucky	14	37	61.5	38%	23	+0.1
102	Brad Craddock	Maryland	14	37	62.5	38%	23	+0.3
103	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	14	40	60.0	35%	26	+2.1
104	Stephen Brauchle	Southern Miss	14	90	59.0	16%	76	−1.3
105	Blake Brewer	Charlotte	13	49	61.6	27%	36	−1.9
106	Christian Hagan	Northern Illinois	12	49	58.9	24%	37	+5.7
107	Preston Soper	Tulsa	12	76	58.2	16%	64	−17.9
108	Jack Mitchell	Northwestern	11	24	61.0	46%	13	+2.0
109	Donald Delahaye	UCF	11	32	61.5	34%	21	−3.2
110	Chris Gough	Rutgers	11	55	59.5	20%	44	+1.2
111	Jake Bailey	Stanford	11	64	61.8	17%	51	+4.5
112	Lane Saling	Arkansas	11	66	61.5	17%	55	+12.9
113	Bobby Puyol	UConn	10	22	59.9	45%	12	−2.2
114	Hayden Lekacz	Vanderbilt	10	45	57.8	22%	35	−2.9
115	Alex Wood	USC	10	65	62.0	15%	55	+8.3
116	Victor Falcon	UTSA	9	15	64.3	60%	6	−0.1
117	Andrew Endicott	Wisconsin	9	36	60.0	25%	27	+7.2
118	Alex Hanks	Georgia Southern	8	22	60.2	36%	14	+3.3
119	Cole Netten	Iowa State	8	36	59.6	22%	28	+2.7
120	Ryan Nuss	Western Kentucky	8	64	57.0	13%	56	−4.5
121	Matt Micucci	Northwestern	7	31	57.4	23%	24	−2.0
122	Trent Domingue	LSU	7	31	58.4	23%	24	−5.8
123	Garrett Owens	Oregon State	7	46	56.3	15%	37	−10.8
124	Stevie Artigue	Louisiana	7	50	56.6	14%	42	−9.7
125	Josiah Yazdani	Ohio	7	65	58.6	11%	58	+1.4
126	Jorge Powell	Florida	6	18	62.8	33%	12	+2.2
127	Bryce Crawford	San José State	6	22	57.4	27%	16	−14.7
128	Anthony Melchiori	Kent State	6	30	60.9	20%	24	−0.5
129	Craig Ford	UL Monroe	6	56	56.7	11%	49	+0.3
130	Collin Barber	Georgia	5	9	62.1	56%	4	−2.2
131	Emilio Nadelman	South Florida	5	19	59.1	26%	14	−11.5
132	Michael Tarbutt	UConn	5	25	57.4	20%	20	−4.6
133	Gavin Patterson	South Alabama	5	29	60.8	17%	24	−1.0
134	Kaleb Patterson	Miami (OH)	5	30	60.4	17%	25	+5.1
135	Cameron Gamble	LSU	5	35	60.6	14%	30	+6.3
136	Mauro Bondi	Hawai'i	4	13	63.8	31%	9	−3.4
137	Conrad Ukropina	Stanford	4	17	59.5	24%	13	−0.4
138	Alex Howell	Boston College	4	18	55.4	22%	14	+1.3
139	Greg Huegel	Clemson	4	22	62.0	18%	18	+1.2
140	Colton Lichtenberg	Boston College	4	24	60.1	17%	20	0.0
141	Bentlee Critcher	App State	3	3	65.0	100%	0	+0.4
142	James Mayden	Rice	3	5	63.8	60%	2	+1.2
143	Mike Molina	West Virginia	3	7	63.6	43%	4	+2.7
144	Michael Badgley	Miami	3	8	62.8	38%	5	−0.7
145	Tyler Davis	Penn State	3	9	59.3	33%	6	+1.1
146	Josh Orne	Northern Illinois	3	30	56.3	10%	26	−1.6
147	Samuel Vucelich	Toledo	3	34	59.1	9%	31	−3.7
148	Daniel Zivney	Air Force	2	3	64.3	67%	1	+1.0
149	Daniel LaCamera	Texas A&M	2	4	63.0	50%	2	+0.2
150	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	2	4	49.3	50%	2	−2.2
151	Justin Vogel	Miami	2	5	61.8	40%	3	−0.4
152	Cameron Decell	Rice	2	6	65.0	33%	4	−0.1
153	Adam Greene	Maryland	2	19	55.8	11%	17	−2.2
154	Jack Russell	Wisconsin	2	20	55.6	10%	18	−3.1
155	Chris Francis	Iowa State	2	24	59.2	8%	22	−1.6
156	Miles Butler	Kentucky	2	25	59.6	8%	23	−14.4
157	Jake Collins	Western Kentucky	2	27	56.4	7%	25	−12.2
158	Michael Hill	South Florida	2	53	55.1	4%	51	−7.2
159	Cale Brewer	Army	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
160	Dalyn Dawkins	Colorado State	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.7
161	Jon Brown	Louisville	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
162	Mitchell Kaufman	SMU	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
163	Tres Houston	Arkansas State	1	1	70.0	100%	0	+0.1
164	David Reisner	Illinois	1	2	58.0	50%	1	−0.5
165	Will Kline	Duke	1	2	40.0	50%	1	−2.0
166	Cameron Van Winkle	Washington	1	3	65.0	33%	2	+1.0
167	Mike Knoll	Boston College	1	3	63.3	33%	2	0.0
168	Brock Warren	Utah State	1	4	56.3	25%	3	−0.8
169	Kyle Jacobs	Colorado State	1	4	62.3	25%	3	0.0
170	Connor Torruella	East Carolina	1	5	63.0	20%	4	+0.4
171	Stone Wilson	Florida International	1	5	61.0	20%	4	−0.9
172	Corey Edwards	BYU	1	7	56.4	14%	6	−0.2
173	P.J. Rosowski	Wisconsin	1	8	59.0	13%	7	+1.4
174	Trevor Moore	North Texas	1	8	63.5	13%	7	+3.8
175	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	1	9	61.8	11%	8	0.0
176	Matt Boermeester	USC	1	18	62.1	6%	17	−0.9
177	Aleem Sunanon	South Alabama	1	23	49.9	4%	21	−11.0
178	Chris Kirtley	Old Dominion	1	27	51.4	4%	26	−10.0
179	Josh Rode	Toledo	1	36	57.4	3%	35	−3.3

All 2015 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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