2017 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 2017, Parker White (64.6) led college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff distance, ahead of Caleb Pratt (64.6) and Jake Bailey (64.4). 128 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 61.9.

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 2017 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg dist	Kickoffs	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Parker White	South Carolina	64.6	58	72%	16	+6.3
2	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	64.6	61	66%	21	+3.7
3	Jake Bailey	Stanford	64.4	75	71%	22	+15.1
4	Cole Murphy	Syracuse	64.3	63	48%	33	+1.6
5	Joshua Rowland	Texas	64.2	62	52%	30	−1.4
6	Aaron Medley	Tennessee	64.2	41	71%	12	+1.3
7	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	64.2	70	70%	21	+12.5
8	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	64.2	75	63%	28	+8.1
9	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	64.1	82	73%	22	+12.9
10	Logan Tyler	Florida State	64.1	66	59%	27	+4.4
11	Gabe Siemieniec	California	64.1	52	52%	25	+10.2
12	Eddy Pineiro	Florida	64.0	50	78%	11	−11.3
13	Aidan Schneider	Oregon	64.0	80	49%	41	+5.2
14	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	64.0	52	85%	8	0.0
15	Davis Price	Colorado	63.8	64	63%	24	+8.0
16	Jason Sanders	New Mexico	63.8	48	81%	9	+5.6
17	Chris Francis	Iowa State	63.7	65	58%	25	+4.9
18	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	63.7	66	59%	27	+9.4
19	Canon Rooker	Middle Tennessee	63.7	61	59%	25	−7.7
20	Greg Joseph	Florida Atlantic	63.6	93	75%	23	+11.5
21	Cameron Gamble	LSU	63.6	62	48%	32	+4.0
22	Michael Barden	Texas Tech	63.6	67	57%	29	−6.6
23	Michael Tarbutt	UConn	63.6	58	62%	22	+5.6
24	Joey Slye	Virginia Tech	63.6	59	85%	9	+5.4
25	Freeman Jones	North Carolina	63.5	59	51%	28	+13.2
26	Kaare Vedvik	Marshall	63.4	54	48%	28	+9.9
27	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	63.4	78	53%	37	+9.5
28	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	63.4	85	73%	20	+1.5
29	Maximilian Schulze-Geisthovel	Boston College	63.4	42	52%	20	+5.6
30	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	63.4	32	50%	16	−0.2
31	JJ Molson	UCLA	63.4	79	43%	45	−0.1
32	Brandon Ruiz	Arizona State	63.3	72	68%	23	+7.8
33	Brian Delaney	Virginia	63.2	54	37%	34	−2.7
34	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	63.1	87	67%	29	−3.5
35	Miguel Recinos	Iowa	63.1	63	49%	32	+17.3
36	Jack Fox	Rice	63.1	39	69%	12	−0.2
37	JK Scott	Alabama	63.1	89	47%	47	+7.3
38	James Foug	Michigan	63.0	64	48%	33	+16.5
39	Tucker McCann	Missouri	63.0	77	53%	36	−0.1
40	Sean Young	Florida International	63.0	57	54%	26	+5.7
41	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	62.9	56	50%	28	−1.4
42	John Baron II	San Diego State	62.9	70	44%	39	+6.8
43	Redford Jones	Tulsa	62.6	67	45%	37	−0.8
44	Andrew Mikkelsen	BYU	62.6	31	32%	21	+7.6
45	Tommy Openshaw	Vanderbilt	62.5	55	65%	19	−0.7
46	Justin Yoon	Notre Dame	62.5	51	29%	36	−4.0
47	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	62.4	43	72%	12	+2.7
48	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	62.4	44	30%	31	+4.5
49	Matt Wylie	UL Monroe	62.4	69	36%	44	+1.4
50	Jimmy Camacho	Fresno State	62.4	73	51%	36	+12.6
51	Emilio Nadelman	South Florida	62.4	79	42%	46	−5.6
52	Jack Driggers	Duke	62.3	57	30%	40	+11.2
53	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	62.3	48	31%	33	+5.9
54	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	62.2	62	69%	19	+0.8
55	Michael Badgley	Miami	62.1	71	44%	40	−1.6
56	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	62.1	61	49%	31	−0.6
57	Tyler Davis	Penn State	62.1	81	38%	50	+3.2
58	Drew Brown	Nebraska	62.1	56	45%	31	+1.1
59	Cole Bunce	TCU	62.1	80	40%	44	+7.2
60	Stevie Artigue	Louisiana	62.1	38	47%	20	−4.1
61	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	62.0	59	39%	36	+3.0
62	Erik Powell	Washington State	62.0	63	48%	33	−8.8
63	Jameson Vest	Toledo	61.9	80	48%	42	+1.3
64	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	61.9	102	77%	22	−3.0
65	Griffin Oakes	Indiana	61.9	60	50%	30	−1.7
66	Chase McGrath	USC	61.8	55	33%	37	+2.1
67	Ramiz Ahmed	Nevada	61.8	53	53%	25	+2.0
68	Trevor Moore	North Texas	61.8	77	49%	38	+2.2
69	Spencer Evans	Purdue	61.7	47	55%	21	−4.0
70	Nick Vogel	UAB	61.7	67	42%	39	−1.8
71	Alex Spence	Clemson	61.7	52	27%	38	+0.8
72	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	61.6	52	33%	35	−2.9
73	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	61.5	69	51%	34	−12.9
74	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	61.5	68	56%	30	+8.1
75	Michael Rubino	App State	61.4	72	35%	47	+4.6
76	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	61.4	53	42%	31	−4.5
77	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	61.2	76	33%	51	−4.0
78	James Sherman	Texas State	61.2	41	34%	27	−3.6
79	Matt Ammendola	Oklahoma State	61.1	98	35%	64	+9.0
80	Shane Hynes	Kent State	61.1	36	25%	27	−3.5
81	Matthew McCrane	Kansas State	61.1	57	56%	25	+7.0
82	Jonathan Barnes	Louisiana Tech	60.9	71	41%	42	0.0
83	Barry Brown	Georgia State	60.8	30	0%	30	−4.4
84	Daniel Portillo	UTSA	60.8	52	31%	36	+1.2
85	Nick Schrage	Army	60.7	60	32%	41	+4.6
86	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	60.7	66	32%	45	+5.3
87	Brett Scanlon	Michigan State	60.7	55	24%	42	+1.2
88	Blanton Creque	Louisville	60.7	78	28%	55	+1.3
89	Luke Strebel	Air Force	60.6	54	54%	25	+1.0
90	Aaron Boumerhi	Temple	60.5	64	28%	45	+5.1
91	Zachary Block	Tulane	60.5	50	38%	31	+3.8
92	Cade Coffey	Idaho	60.5	51	51%	25	−1.5
93	Adam Mitcheson	Buffalo	60.4	61	36%	39	−4.3
94	Caden Novikoff	Houston	60.3	59	42%	34	−2.5
95	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	60.3	60	22%	46	+3.2
96	Brady Viles	UTEP	60.1	32	66%	11	−1.1
97	Jesse Kelly	Eastern Michigan	60.0	57	28%	41	−1.9
98	Mike Weaver	Wake Forest	59.9	75	43%	43	−8.9
99	Matthew Wright	UCF	59.7	97	24%	73	+1.7
100	Austin MacGinnis	Kentucky	59.7	66	44%	36	−15.8
101	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	59.7	57	39%	35	−8.6
102	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	59.7	61	25%	46	−6.7
103	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	59.6	82	15%	70	+15.4
104	Bennett Moehring	Navy	59.4	44	36%	28	+3.8
105	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	59.4	47	15%	40	−2.1
106	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	59.3	32	53%	14	−6.3
107	Josh Orne	Northern Illinois	59.3	38	34%	25	−2.0
108	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	59.2	58	36%	37	−5.8
109	Luke Otto	Northwestern	59.2	63	32%	43	−4.7
110	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	59.1	56	34%	37	−8.2
111	Danny Sutton	Maryland	59.0	57	9%	52	0.0
112	Liam Jones	Kansas	58.9	48	35%	31	−7.5
113	Evan Staley	West Virginia	58.8	74	36%	47	−8.9
114	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	58.8	70	23%	51	+6.0
115	Evan Rabon	Coastal Carolina	58.8	33	21%	26	+2.6
116	Michael Farkas	Ohio	58.8	81	20%	65	+4.7
117	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	58.6	50	26%	37	+1.7
118	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	58.4	36	31%	25	−11.4
119	Josh Williams	SMU	58.3	61	28%	42	−5.5
120	Kyle Bambard	NC State	58.2	69	28%	49	−9.2
121	Nick Gasser	Akron	58.0	58	19%	47	−11.5
122	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	57.7	50	4%	48	+1.6
123	Spencer Smith	Memphis	57.4	73	26%	52	−2.3
124	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	57.4	76	26%	53	−2.6
125	Nick Fields	Bowling Green	55.7	64	28%	46	−9.3
126	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	55.2	30	67%	9	−7.3
127	Michael Schreiner	Massachusetts	54.8	36	8%	33	−20.9
128	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	54.8	63	30%	44	−19.6

All 2017 College kickoff specialist rankings

Average Kickoff Distance in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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