2017 College Average Kickoff Return Allowed Leaders

Return yards divided by returns. It shows how well his kicks and coverage contain returners.

Lower is better. Only specialists with enough returns are ranked. In 2017, Blake Haubeil (13.8) topped college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff return allowed, ahead of Matthew McCrane (14.2) and Bennett Moehring (14.3). 143 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 19.3.

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 ret	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	13.8	82	59.6	15%	70	+15.4
2	Matthew McCrane	Kansas State	14.2	57	61.1	56%	25	+7.0
3	Bennett Moehring	Navy	14.3	44	59.4	36%	28	+3.8
4	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	14.7	50	58.6	26%	37	+1.7
5	Josh Orne	Northern Illinois	15.0	38	59.3	34%	25	−2.0
6	Jake Bailey	Stanford	15.4	75	64.4	71%	22	+15.1
7	James Foug	Michigan	15.5	64	63.0	48%	33	+16.5
8	Nigel Macauley	Charlotte	15.5	27	62.9	37%	17	+4.6
9	Kaare Vedvik	Marshall	15.6	54	63.4	48%	28	+9.9
10	Spencer Smith	Memphis	15.7	73	57.4	26%	52	−2.3
11	Luke Strebel	Air Force	15.9	54	60.6	54%	25	+1.0
12	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	15.9	76	57.4	26%	53	−2.6
13	Nick Fields	Bowling Green	16.0	64	55.7	28%	46	−9.3
14	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	16.2	66	60.7	32%	45	+5.3
15	Luke Otto	Northwestern	16.2	63	59.2	32%	43	−4.7
16	Brady Viles	UTEP	16.5	32	60.1	66%	11	−1.1
17	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	16.5	68	61.5	56%	30	+8.1
18	Zachary Block	Tulane	16.6	50	60.5	38%	31	+3.8
19	Andrew Mikkelsen	BYU	16.8	31	62.6	32%	21	+7.6
20	Miguel Recinos	Iowa	16.8	63	63.1	49%	32	+17.3
21	Cole Bunce	TCU	16.8	80	62.1	40%	44	+7.2
22	Greg Joseph	Florida Atlantic	16.9	93	63.6	75%	23	+11.5
23	Jack Fox	Rice	17.0	39	63.1	69%	12	−0.2
24	Caden Novikoff	Houston	17.1	59	60.3	42%	34	−2.5
25	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	17.2	44	62.4	30%	31	+4.5
26	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	17.2	58	59.2	36%	37	−5.8
27	Michael Farkas	Ohio	17.3	81	58.8	20%	65	+4.7
28	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	17.4	32	63.4	50%	16	−0.2
29	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	17.4	66	63.7	59%	27	+9.4
30	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	17.4	63	54.8	30%	44	−19.6
31	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	17.5	70	58.8	23%	51	+6.0
32	Daniel Portillo	UTSA	17.6	52	60.8	31%	36	+1.2
33	Calvin Linden	Louisiana	17.6	18	55.7	0%	18	−5.0
34	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	17.7	43	62.4	72%	12	+2.7
35	Evan Staley	West Virginia	17.7	74	58.8	36%	47	−8.9
36	J.R. Osborn	Navy	17.8	12	58.3	0%	12	+0.4
37	Kyle Bambard	NC State	17.8	69	58.2	28%	49	−9.2
38	Nick Schrage	Army	17.8	60	60.7	32%	41	+4.6
39	Austin MacGinnis	Kentucky	17.9	66	59.7	44%	36	−15.8
40	Maximilian Schulze-Geisthovel	Boston College	17.9	42	63.4	52%	20	+5.6
41	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	18.0	47	59.4	15%	40	−2.1
42	Jimmy Camacho	Fresno State	18.0	73	62.4	51%	36	+12.6
43	Danny Sutton	Maryland	18.0	57	59.0	9%	52	0.0
44	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	18.1	48	62.3	31%	33	+5.9
45	Matthew Wright	UCF	18.1	97	59.7	24%	73	+1.7
46	Sean Young	Florida International	18.1	57	63.0	54%	26	+5.7
47	Tyler Davis	Penn State	18.2	81	62.1	38%	50	+3.2
48	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	18.2	60	60.3	22%	46	+3.2
49	Jack Driggers	Duke	18.4	57	62.3	30%	40	+11.2
50	Ramiz Ahmed	Nevada	18.4	53	61.8	53%	25	+2.0
51	Tommy Openshaw	Vanderbilt	18.4	55	62.5	65%	19	−0.7
52	JK Scott	Alabama	18.5	89	63.1	47%	47	+7.3
53	Jameson Vest	Toledo	18.5	80	61.9	48%	42	+1.3
54	Matt Ammendola	Oklahoma State	18.5	98	61.1	35%	64	+9.0
55	Corey Edwards	BYU	18.6	18	61.3	28%	13	+1.2
56	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	18.6	70	64.2	70%	21	+12.5
57	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	18.6	61	62.1	49%	31	−0.6
58	Freeman Jones	North Carolina	18.7	59	63.5	51%	28	+13.2
59	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	18.7	62	62.2	69%	19	+0.8
60	Cade Coffey	Idaho	18.8	51	60.5	51%	25	−1.5
61	Cole Murphy	Syracuse	18.8	63	64.3	48%	33	+1.6
62	Alex Spence	Clemson	18.8	52	61.7	27%	38	+0.8
63	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	19.0	53	61.4	42%	31	−4.5
64	Nick Gasser	Akron	19.1	58	58.0	19%	47	−11.5
65	Drew Galitz	Baylor	19.1	23	61.0	35%	15	−2.6
66	Riley Patterson	Memphis	19.2	24	59.7	8%	22	−2.1
67	Aaron Boumerhi	Temple	19.2	64	60.5	28%	45	+5.1
68	Mike Weaver	Wake Forest	19.2	75	59.9	43%	43	−8.9
69	Blanton Creque	Louisville	19.2	78	60.7	28%	55	+1.3
70	Michael Rubino	App State	19.3	72	61.4	35%	47	+4.6
71	Davis Price	Colorado	19.3	64	63.8	63%	24	+8.0
72	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	19.3	82	64.1	73%	22	+12.9
73	Adam Mitcheson	Buffalo	19.5	61	60.4	36%	39	−4.3
74	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	19.5	56	59.1	34%	37	−8.2
75	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	19.5	102	61.9	77%	22	−3.0
76	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	19.6	59	62.0	39%	36	+3.0
77	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	19.7	78	63.4	53%	37	+9.5
78	Cameron Gamble	LSU	19.7	62	63.6	48%	32	+4.0
79	Drew Brown	Nebraska	19.7	56	62.1	45%	31	+1.1
80	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	19.8	50	57.7	4%	48	+1.6
81	Josh Williams	SMU	19.9	61	58.3	28%	42	−5.5
82	Jonathan Barnes	Louisiana Tech	20.0	71	60.9	41%	42	0.0
83	Logan Tyler	Florida State	20.0	66	64.1	59%	27	+4.4
84	Samuel Vucelich	Toledo	20.1	18	62.1	39%	11	+2.4
85	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	20.1	76	61.2	33%	51	−4.0
86	Jesse Kelly	Eastern Michigan	20.2	57	60.0	28%	41	−1.9
87	Gabe Siemieniec	California	20.3	52	64.1	52%	25	+10.2
88	Redford Jones	Tulsa	20.3	67	62.6	45%	37	−0.8
89	Tucker McCann	Missouri	20.4	77	63.0	53%	36	−0.1
90	Stevie Artigue	Louisiana	20.4	38	62.1	47%	20	−4.1
91	Sean Nuernberger	Ohio State	20.5	15	51.2	0%	14	−6.1
92	Brandon Ruiz	Arizona State	20.5	72	63.3	68%	23	+7.8
93	Trevor Moore	North Texas	20.5	77	61.8	49%	38	+2.2
94	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	20.5	57	59.7	39%	35	−8.6
95	Spencer Evans	Purdue	20.6	47	61.7	55%	21	−4.0
96	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	20.6	61	59.7	25%	46	−6.7
97	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	20.7	87	63.1	67%	29	−3.5
98	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	20.7	28	61.8	25%	21	−1.4
99	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	20.8	75	64.2	63%	28	+8.1
100	John Baron II	San Diego State	20.8	70	62.9	44%	39	+6.8
101	Evan Rabon	Coastal Carolina	21.0	33	58.8	21%	26	+2.6
102	Michael Badgley	Miami	21.1	71	62.1	44%	40	−1.6
103	Brett Scanlon	Michigan State	21.1	55	60.7	24%	42	+1.2
104	Shawn Davis	Georgia Tech	21.2	27	59.8	30%	19	−5.1
105	Griffin Oakes	Indiana	21.2	60	61.9	50%	30	−1.7
106	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	21.3	52	61.6	33%	35	−2.9
107	Chase McGrath	USC	21.3	55	61.8	33%	37	+2.1
108	Frankie Onate	South Alabama	21.5	20	57.9	10%	18	−6.0
109	Nick Vogel	UAB	21.5	67	61.7	42%	39	−1.8
110	Parker White	South Carolina	21.6	58	64.6	72%	16	+6.3
111	Aidan Schneider	Oregon	21.7	80	64.0	49%	41	+5.2
112	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	21.7	56	62.9	50%	28	−1.4
113	Eddy Pineiro	Florida	21.7	50	64.0	78%	11	−11.3
114	Matt Wylie	UL Monroe	21.8	69	62.4	36%	44	+1.4
115	Christian Hagan	Northern Illinois	21.8	28	61.8	21%	22	+2.7
116	Michael Schreiner	Massachusetts	21.8	36	54.8	8%	33	−20.9
117	Jay Sedwick	Baylor	21.9	26	59.6	15%	22	−4.7
118	Liam Jones	Kansas	22.2	48	58.9	35%	31	−7.5
119	Aaron Medley	Tennessee	22.3	41	64.2	71%	12	+1.3
120	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	22.3	69	61.5	51%	34	−12.9
121	Emilio Nadelman	South Florida	22.4	79	62.4	42%	46	−5.6
122	Michael Barden	Texas Tech	22.6	67	63.6	57%	29	−6.6
123	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	22.7	24	60.5	21%	19	−4.3
124	James Sherman	Texas State	22.8	41	61.2	34%	27	−3.6
125	Justin Yoon	Notre Dame	23.1	51	62.5	29%	36	−4.0
126	Michael Tarbutt	UConn	23.1	58	63.6	62%	22	+5.6
127	Brian Delaney	Virginia	23.1	54	63.2	37%	34	−2.7
128	Chris Francis	Iowa State	23.2	65	63.7	58%	25	+4.9
129	JJ Molson	UCLA	23.3	79	63.4	43%	45	−0.1
130	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	23.4	32	59.3	53%	14	−6.3
131	Barry Brown	Georgia State	23.6	30	60.8	0%	30	−4.4
132	Erik Powell	Washington State	23.8	63	62.0	48%	33	−8.8
133	Van Soderberg	Washington	24.4	12	61.9	8%	11	−2.6
134	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	24.4	85	63.4	73%	20	+1.5
135	Shane Hynes	Kent State	24.6	36	61.1	25%	27	−3.5
136	Masamitsu Ishibashi	Coastal Carolina	24.9	24	57.3	8%	22	−9.7
137	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	25.4	61	64.6	66%	21	+3.7
138	Brenton King	Georgia Tech	25.4	24	59.3	4%	23	−7.0
139	Joshua Rowland	Texas	25.6	62	64.2	52%	30	−1.4
140	Canon Rooker	Middle Tennessee	25.7	61	63.7	59%	25	−7.7
141	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	25.7	36	58.4	31%	25	−11.4
142	Kevin Robledo	SMU	27.9	24	59.0	42%	14	−9.7
143	Blake Patterson	TCU	29.4	12	59.6	17%	10	−2.6

All 2017 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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Other 2017 College rankings

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