2016 College Kickoff Specialist Rankings

Every college football kickoff specialist with enough work in the 2016 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 2016 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

2016 College Leaders

Kickoff Touchback Percentage

Jason Sanders (New Mexico): 83% 67 of 81
Daniel Carlson (Auburn): 79% 54 of 68
Joey Slye (Virginia Tech): 78% 68 of 87
Greg Joseph (Florida Atlantic): 78% 39 of 50
Zane Gonzalez (Arizona State): 78% 59 of 76

Full Kickoff Touchback Percentage leaderboard

Average Kickoff Return Allowed

Blake Wilson (Army): 11.8 22 returns
Josh Pollack (Arizona): 12.9 16 returns
Nick Fields (Bowling Green): 13.5 39 returns
Michael Carrizosa (San José State): 14.2 19 returns
Bennett Moehring (Navy): 14.3 56 returns

Full Average Kickoff Return Allowed leaderboard

Kickoff Points Added

Jake Elliott (Memphis): +18.9 88 kickoffs
Joey Slye (Virginia Tech): +18.0 87 kickoffs
Sawyer Williams (Arkansas State): +15.8 66 kickoffs
Matt Ammendola (Oklahoma State): +15.8 76 kickoffs
Logan Tyler (Florida State): +15.8 76 kickoffs

Full Kickoff Points Added leaderboard

Average Kickoff Distance

Aaron Medley (Tennessee): 64.8 76 kickoffs
Greg Joseph (Florida Atlantic): 64.7 50 kickoffs
Matt Wogan (Oregon): 64.6 78 kickoffs
Eddy Pineiro (Florida): 64.5 58 kickoffs
Joey Slye (Virginia Tech): 64.5 87 kickoffs

Full Average Kickoff Distance leaderboard

Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage

Tristan Vizcaino (Washington): 0.0% 0 of 99
Joey Julius (Penn State): 0.0% 0 of 93
Austin Seibert (Oklahoma): 0.0% 0 of 92
Jonathan Barnes (Louisiana Tech): 0.0% 0 of 90
Redford Jones (Tulsa): 0.0% 0 of 90

Full Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage leaderboard

30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed

Logan Tyler (Florida State): 0.0% 0 of 26
Adam Greene (Maryland): 0.0% 0 of 22
Blake Wilson (Army): 0.0% 0 of 22
Bobby Puyol (UConn): 0.0% 0 of 14
Michael Barden (Texas Tech): 0.0% 0 of 14

Full 30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed leaderboard

All 2016 College Kickoff Specialist Leaderboards

Kickoffs by Points Added

125 kickoff specialists qualify.

Rk	Player	Team	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Jake Elliott	Memphis	88	63.7	68%	28	+18.9
2	Joey Slye	Virginia Tech	87	64.5	78%	19	+18.0
3	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	66	60.5	21%	52	+15.8
4	Matt Ammendola	Oklahoma State	76	63.1	46%	41	+15.8
5	Logan Tyler	Florida State	76	64.4	66%	26	+15.8
6	Drew Galitz	Baylor	74	62.6	30%	52	+13.6
7	John Baron II	San Diego State	80	62.4	31%	55	+11.9
8	Kenny Allen	Michigan	77	64.2	58%	32	+11.8
9	Zane Gonzalez	Arizona State	76	64.4	78%	17	+11.1
10	Samuel Vucelich	Toledo	69	60.4	22%	54	+10.9
11	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	67	64.0	73%	17	+10.7
12	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	68	63.6	79%	13	+10.6
13	Matt Boermeester	USC	77	63.2	52%	37	+10.3
14	Jake Bailey	Stanford	62	63.9	60%	25	+9.9
15	Cole Bunce	TCU	69	62.5	39%	41	+8.7
16	Harrison Butker	Georgia Tech	65	64.5	71%	19	+8.6
17	P.J. Rosowski	Wisconsin	74	63.3	64%	27	+8.5
18	Bennett Moehring	Navy	79	57.5	27%	56	+8.4
19	Nick Weiler	North Carolina	77	63.7	57%	33	+8.3
20	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	63	59.7	29%	44	+8.3
21	Nathan Noble	Ole Miss	77	63.0	39%	47	+8.2
22	Tyler Rausa	Boise State	71	64.1	55%	32	+8.1
23	Justin Yoon	Notre Dame	54	61.9	44%	30	+7.9
24	Joey Julius	Penn State	93	62.1	48%	48	+7.7
25	Mike Weaver	Wake Forest	56	64.1	55%	25	+7.4
26	Jay Mattox	UTEP	48	63.8	67%	16	+7.4
27	Mike Knoll	Boston College	48	60.7	29%	34	+7.3
28	Chris Blewitt	Pittsburgh	87	61.7	28%	63	+7.3
29	Greg Huegel	Clemson	85	60.8	42%	49	+7.0
30	Aaron Medley	Tennessee	76	64.8	55%	33	+7.0
31	Ty Cummings	Houston	80	62.8	45%	43	+6.9
32	Tyler Durbin	Ohio State	90	60.3	38%	55	+6.8
33	Matt Wogan	Oregon	78	64.6	67%	26	+6.8
34	Hayes Hicken	Utah	57	62.4	51%	28	+6.8
35	Cameron Gamble	LSU	59	61.3	20%	47	+6.7
36	Austin MacGinnis	Kentucky	71	61.4	32%	48	+6.7
37	Mitchell Becker	Texas	68	63.1	37%	43	+6.5
38	Bobby Puyol	UConn	43	62.8	67%	14	+6.2
39	Adam Griffith	Alabama	88	63.4	52%	41	+6.0
40	Greg Joseph	Florida Atlantic	50	64.7	78%	11	+5.8
41	Amoreto Curraj	Marshall	40	62.8	55%	18	+5.7
42	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	66	64.4	68%	21	+5.5
43	Erik Powell	Washington State	85	60.1	41%	50	+5.4
44	Drew Brown	Nebraska	55	63.8	47%	29	+4.8
45	Stevie Artigue	Louisiana	53	60.0	30%	37	+4.1
46	Eddy Pineiro	Florida	58	64.5	72%	15	+3.9
47	Michael Barden	Texas Tech	45	63.8	69%	14	+3.9
48	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	54	62.7	33%	36	+3.7
49	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	30	61.1	20%	24	+3.6
50	Clayton Hatfield	Texas Tech	46	62.2	37%	29	+3.5
51	Emmit Carpenter	Minnesota	72	61.7	51%	35	+3.3
52	Kyle Bambard	NC State	39	61.5	23%	30	+3.2
53	Jake Thompson	Utah State	58	61.3	43%	33	+2.9
54	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	55	62.2	27%	40	+2.8
55	Matthew McCrane	Kansas State	32	60.5	34%	21	+2.1
56	Brent Zuzo	Nevada	54	59.9	41%	32	+2.1
57	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	60	60.8	68%	19	+2.0
58	Corey Edwards	BYU	47	61.8	32%	32	+1.8
59	Jack Mitchell	Northwestern	58	63.1	53%	27	+1.7
60	Eric Keena	North Texas	55	63.0	58%	23	+1.6
61	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	45	61.6	27%	33	+1.4
62	Bentlee Critcher	App State	65	63.7	65%	23	+1.4
63	Zachary Block	Tulane	45	60.3	42%	26	+1.2
64	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	92	63.3	49%	47	+1.0
65	Anthony George	Louisville	40	60.3	8%	37	+1.0
66	Jason Sanders	New Mexico	81	63.4	83%	14	+0.6
67	Chris Francis	Iowa State	67	62.1	52%	32	+0.6
68	Tucker McCann	Missouri	63	63.4	67%	21	+0.5
69	Noah Beito	California	81	55.6	28%	49	+0.4
70	Matthew Wyman	Kansas	52	63.3	56%	23	+0.3
71	Cole Murphy	Syracuse	53	59.3	19%	42	+0.3
72	Emilio Nadelman	South Florida	68	61.0	29%	48	+0.2
73	Michael Farkas	Ohio	34	57.3	6%	32	−0.1
74	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	58	61.4	53%	27	−0.1
75	Michael Badgley	Miami	82	63.4	59%	34	−0.3
76	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	42	61.7	21%	33	−0.4
77	Adley Rutschman	Oregon State	53	60.4	38%	33	−0.4
78	Ron Coluzzi	Iowa	60	62.0	63%	22	−0.5
79	Kevin Cronin	Michigan State	61	59.5	38%	38	−0.5
80	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	76	62.8	39%	46	−0.5
81	Brendan Renius	Eastern Michigan	73	58.9	25%	55	−0.9
82	Danny Sutton	Maryland	31	58.9	16%	26	−1.1
83	Brian Eavey	Central Michigan	33	57.5	24%	25	−1.1
84	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	89	61.4	25%	66	−1.6
85	Austin Jones	Temple	39	60.3	15%	33	−1.7
86	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	53	61.9	45%	29	−1.9
87	Donald De La Haye	UCF	64	60.6	50%	32	−1.9
88	Jack Fox	Rice	59	60.9	42%	34	−2.4
89	Elliott Fry	South Carolina	51	61.8	33%	33	−2.9
90	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	99	59.1	37%	60	−3.7
91	Rigoberto Sanchez	Hawai'i	61	60.6	31%	42	−3.8
92	Daniel Portillo	UTSA	58	60.4	38%	36	−3.8
93	JJ Molson	UCLA	60	61.8	32%	40	−4.0
94	Lumi Kaba	Texas State	30	59.0	17%	25	−4.2
95	Craig Ford	UL Monroe	56	57.1	11%	50	−4.2
96	Tyler Sarrazin	Southern Miss	46	60.1	28%	33	−4.4
97	Blanton Creque	Louisville	54	59.7	13%	46	−4.6
98	Griffin Oakes	Indiana	56	59.9	39%	32	−4.6
99	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	53	59.5	26%	39	−4.7
100	J.D. Dellinger	Purdue	54	55.2	13%	46	−5.6
101	Tommy Openshaw	Vanderbilt	47	61.8	26%	35	−5.7
102	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	35	62.0	43%	20	−5.8
103	Chris Graham	Colorado	42	61.8	40%	24	−5.9
104	Christian Hagan	Northern Illinois	62	60.8	31%	42	−6.3
105	Nick Fields	Bowling Green	55	53.5	24%	39	−6.4
106	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	41	58.3	32%	28	−7.1
107	Redford Jones	Tulsa	90	61.1	36%	58	−7.4
108	Butch Hampton	Western Michigan	47	59.7	17%	39	−8.8
109	Luke Strebel	Air Force	70	60.6	50%	35	−8.8
110	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	50	62.3	38%	31	−8.9
111	Louie Zervos	Ohio	38	54.9	11%	33	−9.1
112	Blake Brewer	Charlotte	56	59.4	20%	45	−9.2
113	Aaron Boumerhi	Temple	47	58.3	21%	37	−9.4
114	Evan Pantels	UNLV	49	60.9	31%	34	−10.3
115	Gavin Patterson	South Alabama	50	58.6	14%	39	−10.5
116	Tom O'Leary	Akron	46	57.5	13%	40	−10.6
117	Shane Hynes	Kent State	47	56.1	11%	41	−10.8
118	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	50	56.9	22%	38	−11.1
119	Mike Caggiano	Massachusetts	57	59.4	14%	49	−12.5
120	Jonathan Barnes	Louisiana Tech	90	59.7	33%	60	−12.7
121	Austin Taylor	Florida International	59	57.2	19%	48	−14.9
122	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	69	53.4	14%	59	−15.0
123	Mike Molina	West Virginia	75	58.4	31%	51	−16.4
124	Josh Williams	SMU	49	57.6	27%	36	−18.8
125	Canon Rooker	Middle Tennessee	86	59.7	28%	62	−35.0

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 · 2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011

Other 2016 College Rankings

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