2016 College Average Kickoff Distance Leaders

The average length of a specialist's kickoffs in yards, from the kicking spot to where the ball was caught or crossed the goal line. Onside kicks are left out.

A touchback counts the full distance to the goal line, so a deep kick and a kick into the end zone score the same. In 2016, Aaron Medley (64.8) led college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff distance, ahead of Greg Joseph (64.7) and Matt Wogan (64.6). 125 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 61.4.

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.

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

All 2016 College kickoff specialist rankings

Average Kickoff Distance in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

More 2016 College kickoff specialist leaderboards

Other 2016 College rankings

Loading the interactive stats…