2016 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 2016, Jason Sanders (83%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Daniel Carlson (79%) and Joey Slye (78%). 125 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 38%.

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

All 2016 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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