2016 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 2016, Joey Slye (68) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchbacks, ahead of Jason Sanders (67) and Jake Elliott (60). 190 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 2016 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	TB	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Joey Slye	Virginia Tech	68	87	64.5	78%	19	+18.0
2	Jason Sanders	New Mexico	67	81	63.4	83%	14	+0.6
3	Jake Elliott	Memphis	60	88	63.7	68%	28	+18.9
4	Zane Gonzalez	Arizona State	59	76	64.4	78%	17	+11.1
5	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	54	68	63.6	79%	13	+10.6
6	Matt Wogan	Oregon	52	78	64.6	67%	26	+6.8
7	Logan Tyler	Florida State	50	76	64.4	66%	26	+15.8
8	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	49	67	64.0	73%	17	+10.7
9	Michael Badgley	Miami	48	82	63.4	59%	34	−0.3
10	P.J. Rosowski	Wisconsin	47	74	63.3	64%	27	+8.5
11	Harrison Butker	Georgia Tech	46	65	64.5	71%	19	+8.6
12	Adam Griffith	Alabama	46	88	63.4	52%	41	+6.0
13	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	45	66	64.4	68%	21	+5.5
14	Kenny Allen	Michigan	45	77	64.2	58%	32	+11.8
15	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	45	92	63.3	49%	47	+1.0
16	Joey Julius	Penn State	45	93	62.1	48%	48	+7.7
17	Nick Weiler	North Carolina	44	77	63.7	57%	33	+8.3
18	Eddy Pineiro	Florida	42	58	64.5	72%	15	+3.9
19	Tucker McCann	Missouri	42	63	63.4	67%	21	+0.5
20	Bentlee Critcher	App State	42	65	63.7	65%	23	+1.4
21	Aaron Medley	Tennessee	42	76	64.8	55%	33	+7.0
22	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	41	60	60.8	68%	19	+2.0
23	Matt Boermeester	USC	40	77	63.2	52%	37	+10.3
24	Greg Joseph	Florida Atlantic	39	50	64.7	78%	11	+5.8
25	Tyler Rausa	Boise State	39	71	64.1	55%	32	+8.1
26	Ron Coluzzi	Iowa	38	60	62.0	63%	22	−0.5
27	Jake Bailey	Stanford	37	62	63.9	60%	25	+9.9
28	Emmit Carpenter	Minnesota	37	72	61.7	51%	35	+3.3
29	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	37	99	59.1	37%	60	−3.7
30	Ty Cummings	Houston	36	80	62.8	45%	43	+6.9
31	Greg Huegel	Clemson	36	85	60.8	42%	49	+7.0
32	Chris Francis	Iowa State	35	67	62.1	52%	32	+0.6
33	Luke Strebel	Air Force	35	70	60.6	50%	35	−8.8
34	Matt Ammendola	Oklahoma State	35	76	63.1	46%	41	+15.8
35	Erik Powell	Washington State	35	85	60.1	41%	50	+5.4
36	Tyler Durbin	Ohio State	34	90	60.3	38%	55	+6.8
37	Jay Mattox	UTEP	32	48	63.8	67%	16	+7.4
38	Eric Keena	North Texas	32	55	63.0	58%	23	+1.6
39	Donald De La Haye	UCF	32	64	60.6	50%	32	−1.9
40	Redford Jones	Tulsa	32	90	61.1	36%	58	−7.4
41	Michael Barden	Texas Tech	31	45	63.8	69%	14	+3.9
42	Mike Weaver	Wake Forest	31	56	64.1	55%	25	+7.4
43	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	31	58	61.4	53%	27	−0.1
44	Jack Mitchell	Northwestern	31	58	63.1	53%	27	+1.7
45	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	30	76	62.8	39%	46	−0.5
46	Nathan Noble	Ole Miss	30	77	63.0	39%	47	+8.2
47	Jonathan Barnes	Louisiana Tech	30	90	59.7	33%	60	−12.7
48	Bobby Puyol	UConn	29	43	62.8	67%	14	+6.2
49	Matthew Wyman	Kansas	29	52	63.3	56%	23	+0.3
50	Hayes Hicken	Utah	29	57	62.4	51%	28	+6.8
51	Cole Bunce	TCU	27	69	62.5	39%	41	+8.7
52	Drew Brown	Nebraska	26	55	63.8	47%	29	+4.8
53	Jake Thompson	Utah State	25	58	61.3	43%	33	+2.9
54	Jack Fox	Rice	25	59	60.9	42%	34	−2.4
55	Mitchell Becker	Texas	25	68	63.1	37%	43	+6.5
56	John Baron II	San Diego State	25	80	62.4	31%	55	+11.9
57	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	24	53	61.9	45%	29	−1.9
58	Justin Yoon	Notre Dame	24	54	61.9	44%	30	+7.9
59	Canon Rooker	Middle Tennessee	24	86	59.7	28%	62	−35.0
60	Chris Blewitt	Pittsburgh	24	87	61.7	28%	63	+7.3
61	Kevin Cronin	Michigan State	23	61	59.5	38%	38	−0.5
62	Austin MacGinnis	Kentucky	23	71	61.4	32%	48	+6.7
63	Mike Molina	West Virginia	23	75	58.4	31%	51	−16.4
64	Noah Beito	California	23	81	55.6	28%	49	+0.4
65	Amoreto Curraj	Marshall	22	40	62.8	55%	18	+5.7
66	Brent Zuzo	Nevada	22	54	59.9	41%	32	+2.1
67	Griffin Oakes	Indiana	22	56	59.9	39%	32	−4.6
68	Daniel Portillo	UTSA	22	58	60.4	38%	36	−3.8
69	Drew Galitz	Baylor	22	74	62.6	30%	52	+13.6
70	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	22	89	61.4	25%	66	−1.6
71	Bennett Moehring	Navy	21	79	57.5	27%	56	+8.4
72	Adley Rutschman	Oregon State	20	53	60.4	38%	33	−0.4
73	Emilio Nadelman	South Florida	20	68	61.0	29%	48	+0.2
74	Zachary Block	Tulane	19	45	60.3	42%	26	+1.2
75	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	19	50	62.3	38%	31	−8.9
76	JJ Molson	UCLA	19	60	61.8	32%	40	−4.0
77	Rigoberto Sanchez	Hawai'i	19	61	60.6	31%	42	−3.8
78	Christian Hagan	Northern Illinois	19	62	60.8	31%	42	−6.3
79	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	18	54	62.7	33%	36	+3.7
80	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	18	63	59.7	29%	44	+8.3
81	Brendan Renius	Eastern Michigan	18	73	58.9	25%	55	−0.9
82	Chris Graham	Colorado	17	42	61.8	40%	24	−5.9
83	Clayton Hatfield	Texas Tech	17	46	62.2	37%	29	+3.5
84	Elliott Fry	South Carolina	17	51	61.8	33%	33	−2.9
85	Diego Gonzalez	Colorado	16	19	65.0	84%	3	−1.5
86	Stevie Artigue	Louisiana	16	53	60.0	30%	37	+4.1
87	Mitch Lochbihler	Kansas State	15	22	63.9	68%	7	+2.4
88	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	15	35	62.0	43%	20	−5.8
89	Corey Edwards	BYU	15	47	61.8	32%	32	+1.8
90	Evan Pantels	UNLV	15	49	60.9	31%	34	−10.3
91	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	15	55	62.2	27%	40	+2.8
92	Samuel Vucelich	Toledo	15	69	60.4	22%	54	+10.9
93	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	14	25	63.3	56%	11	+3.8
94	Mike Knoll	Boston College	14	48	60.7	29%	34	+7.3
95	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	14	53	59.5	26%	39	−4.7
96	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	14	66	60.5	21%	52	+15.8
97	Edgar Gastelum	Arizona	13	29	62.5	45%	16	−5.6
98	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	13	41	58.3	32%	28	−7.1
99	Tyler Sarrazin	Southern Miss	13	46	60.1	28%	33	−4.4
100	Josh Williams	SMU	13	49	57.6	27%	36	−18.8
101	Nick Fields	Bowling Green	13	55	53.5	24%	39	−6.4
102	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	12	45	61.6	27%	33	+1.4
103	Tommy Openshaw	Vanderbilt	12	47	61.8	26%	35	−5.7
104	Cameron Gamble	LSU	12	59	61.3	20%	47	+6.7
105	Matthew McCrane	Kansas State	11	32	60.5	34%	21	+2.1
106	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	11	50	56.9	22%	38	−11.1
107	Blake Brewer	Charlotte	11	56	59.4	20%	45	−9.2
108	Austin Taylor	Florida International	11	59	57.2	19%	48	−14.9
109	Dylan Sims	Virginia	10	28	61.1	36%	18	−2.7
110	Aaron Boumerhi	Temple	10	47	58.3	21%	37	−9.4
111	Cole Murphy	Syracuse	10	53	59.3	19%	42	+0.3
112	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	10	69	53.4	14%	59	−15.0
113	Sam Hayward	Virginia	9	23	61.4	39%	14	+0.2
114	Mitchell Howard	Army	9	25	60.8	36%	16	+0.6
115	Kyle Bambard	NC State	9	39	61.5	23%	30	+3.2
116	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	9	42	61.7	21%	33	−0.4
117	Brad Wall	Mississippi State	8	29	61.5	28%	20	+4.4
118	Brian Eavey	Central Michigan	8	33	57.5	24%	25	−1.1
119	Butch Hampton	Western Michigan	8	47	59.7	17%	39	−8.8
120	Mike Caggiano	Massachusetts	8	57	59.4	14%	49	−12.5
121	Gavin Patterson	South Alabama	7	50	58.6	14%	39	−10.5
122	Blanton Creque	Louisville	7	54	59.7	13%	46	−4.6
123	J.D. Dellinger	Purdue	7	54	55.2	13%	46	−5.6
124	Ian Shannon	Auburn	6	11	64.4	55%	5	+3.0
125	Jimmy Camacho	Fresno State	6	20	60.9	30%	14	+4.7
126	Jackson Maples	NC State	6	22	61.0	27%	16	−3.5
127	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	6	30	61.1	20%	24	+3.6
128	Austin Jones	Temple	6	39	60.3	15%	33	−1.7
129	Tom O'Leary	Akron	6	46	57.5	13%	40	−10.6
130	Craig Ford	UL Monroe	6	56	57.1	11%	50	−4.2
131	Van Valkenburg	Fresno State	5	18	61.9	28%	13	+2.2
132	Nicolai Bornand	UNLV	5	19	60.4	26%	14	−6.3
133	Adam McFain	Arkansas	5	24	59.7	21%	19	−1.7
134	Lumi Kaba	Texas State	5	30	59.0	17%	25	−4.2
135	Danny Sutton	Maryland	5	31	58.9	16%	26	−1.1
136	Shane Hynes	Kent State	5	47	56.1	11%	41	−10.8
137	Aaron Del Grosso	Indiana	4	7	60.1	57%	3	+1.2
138	JK Scott	Alabama	4	9	62.3	44%	5	+1.9
139	Ryan Frain	Illinois	4	9	64.2	44%	5	+3.6
140	William Ham	Georgia	4	11	60.5	36%	7	+3.3
141	Davis Price	Colorado	4	14	60.9	29%	10	−0.4
142	John Chereson	Notre Dame	4	16	56.7	25%	12	−4.5
143	Ian Patterson	Kansas State	4	20	62.3	20%	16	−1.6
144	Austin Parker	Duke	4	25	60.2	16%	21	+1.9
145	Taylor Sheets	Buffalo	4	28	56.9	14%	24	−6.2
146	Louie Zervos	Ohio	4	38	54.9	11%	33	−9.1
147	Andy Phillips	Utah	3	10	58.2	30%	6	−1.1
148	Parker Shaunfield	Southern Miss	3	11	56.6	27%	8	−6.2
149	James Sherman	Texas State	3	12	61.2	25%	9	+1.9
150	Josh Pollack	Arizona	3	19	54.3	16%	16	−4.2
151	David Bonagura	Rutgers	3	20	54.8	15%	16	−7.7
152	Blake Wilson	Army	3	25	54.2	12%	22	+2.6
153	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	3	25	56.0	12%	22	−1.3
154	Anthony George	Louisville	3	40	60.3	8%	37	+1.0
155	Daniel LaCamera	Texas A&M	2	4	68.0	50%	2	−1.1
156	Rogier ten Lohuis	Georgia State	2	5	63.8	40%	3	−2.1
157	Tavis Guerra	Colorado State	2	5	64.4	40%	3	+0.9
158	Turner Adams	Missouri	2	5	41.0	40%	2	−3.6
159	Spencer Lindsay	Nebraska	2	7	62.1	29%	5	+0.6
160	James Foug	Michigan	2	8	57.5	25%	6	−1.0
161	Nick Schrage	Army	2	12	57.6	17%	10	−2.2
162	Nick Gasser	Akron	2	14	60.9	14%	12	−1.2
163	Michael Armstrong	SMU	2	18	54.7	11%	15	−5.2
164	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	2	20	59.4	10%	18	+1.7
165	Will Kline	Duke	2	21	60.3	10%	19	−1.1
166	Adam Greene	Maryland	2	24	58.1	8%	22	+3.6
167	Michael Farkas	Ohio	2	34	57.3	6%	32	−0.1
168	Andrew Strauch	UCLA	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
169	C.J. Beathard	Iowa	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
170	Chad Whitener	Oklahoma State	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
171	Conrad Ukropina	Stanford	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
172	Eric Lauderdale	Arizona State	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
173	Sam Fenlason	Idaho	1	1	65.0	100%	0	−1.1
174	Shawn Davis	Georgia Tech	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
175	Steven Coutts	Louisiana	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
176	Cameron Van Winkle	Washington	1	2	63.0	50%	1	+0.6
177	Michael Cintron	Rutgers	1	2	61.0	50%	1	+0.4
178	Sy Slater	New Mexico State	1	2	68.5	50%	1	0.0
179	Trent Domingue	Texas	1	2	42.0	50%	1	−2.1
180	Colton Lichtenberg	Boston College	1	3	60.7	33%	2	−1.2
181	Erik Harris	Navy	1	3	63.0	33%	2	+1.0
182	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	1	3	61.7	33%	2	−0.5
183	Dalton Schomp	Florida Atlantic	1	7	63.6	14%	6	+0.8
184	David Reisner	Illinois	1	7	59.4	14%	6	−6.8
185	Zach Sinor	Oklahoma State	1	7	61.1	14%	6	+3.0
186	Alex Spence	Clemson	1	8	62.0	13%	7	−0.2
187	Sam Loy	Vanderbilt	1	8	61.1	13%	7	0.0
188	Nick Van Valkenburg	Fresno State	1	11	61.6	9%	10	+1.6
189	Brandon Behr	South Florida	1	15	60.3	7%	14	−3.1
190	Davis Plowman	East Carolina	1	22	59.1	5%	20	+1.2

All 2016 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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