2017 College Kickoff Return Yards Allowed Leaders

Total return yards gained against a specialist's kickoffs. It reflects his kick and his coverage team.

Lower is better, but volume matters. In 2017, Matthew Wright (1321) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff return yards allowed, ahead of Matt Ammendola (1184) and Michael Farkas (1127). 225 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 2017 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Ret yds	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Matthew Wright	UCF	1321	97	59.7	24%	73	+1.7
2	Matt Ammendola	Oklahoma State	1184	98	61.1	35%	64	+9.0
3	Michael Farkas	Ohio	1127	81	58.8	20%	65	+4.7
4	Blanton Creque	Louisville	1058	78	60.7	28%	55	+1.3
5	JJ Molson	UCLA	1047	79	63.4	43%	45	−0.1
6	Emilio Nadelman	South Florida	1029	79	62.4	42%	46	−5.6
7	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	1026	76	61.2	33%	51	−4.0
8	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	966	82	59.6	15%	70	+15.4
9	Matt Wylie	UL Monroe	957	69	62.4	36%	44	+1.4
10	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	949	50	57.7	4%	48	+1.6
11	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	949	61	59.7	25%	46	−6.7
12	Danny Sutton	Maryland	938	57	59.0	9%	52	0.0
13	Tyler Davis	Penn State	909	81	62.1	38%	50	+3.2
14	Michael Rubino	App State	905	72	61.4	35%	47	+4.6
15	Nick Gasser	Akron	898	58	58.0	19%	47	−11.5
16	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	894	70	58.8	23%	51	+6.0
17	Aidan Schneider	Oregon	889	80	64.0	49%	41	+5.2
18	Brett Scanlon	Michigan State	887	55	60.7	24%	42	+1.2
19	Kyle Bambard	NC State	873	69	58.2	28%	49	−9.2
20	JK Scott	Alabama	868	89	63.1	47%	47	+7.3
21	Aaron Boumerhi	Temple	865	64	60.5	28%	45	+5.1
22	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	844	76	57.4	26%	53	−2.6
23	Michael Badgley	Miami	842	71	62.1	44%	40	−1.6
24	Nick Vogel	UAB	840	67	61.7	42%	39	−1.8
25	Jonathan Barnes	Louisiana Tech	839	71	60.9	41%	42	0.0
26	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	838	60	60.3	22%	46	+3.2
27	Josh Williams	SMU	835	61	58.3	28%	42	−5.5
28	Evan Staley	West Virginia	831	74	58.8	36%	47	−8.9
29	Justin Yoon	Notre Dame	831	51	62.5	29%	36	−4.0
30	Jesse Kelly	Eastern Michigan	828	57	60.0	28%	41	−1.9
31	Mike Weaver	Wake Forest	827	75	59.9	43%	43	−8.9
32	Spencer Smith	Memphis	815	73	57.4	26%	52	−2.3
33	John Baron II	San Diego State	811	70	62.9	44%	39	+6.8
34	Chase McGrath	USC	788	55	61.8	33%	37	+2.1
35	Brian Delaney	Virginia	787	54	63.2	37%	34	−2.7
36	Erik Powell	Washington State	787	63	62.0	48%	33	−8.8
37	Trevor Moore	North Texas	780	77	61.8	49%	38	+2.2
38	Jameson Vest	Toledo	776	80	61.9	48%	42	+1.3
39	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	767	63	54.8	30%	44	−19.6
40	Joshua Rowland	Texas	767	62	64.2	52%	30	−1.4
41	Adam Mitcheson	Buffalo	759	61	60.4	36%	39	−4.3
42	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	757	69	61.5	51%	34	−12.9
43	Redford Jones	Tulsa	752	67	62.6	45%	37	−0.8
44	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	745	52	61.6	33%	35	−2.9
45	Cole Bunce	TCU	740	80	62.1	40%	44	+7.2
46	Nick Fields	Bowling Green	735	64	55.7	28%	46	−9.3
47	Jack Driggers	Duke	734	57	62.3	30%	40	+11.2
48	Tucker McCann	Missouri	733	77	63.0	53%	36	−0.1
49	Nick Schrage	Army	731	60	60.7	32%	41	+4.6
50	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	728	78	63.4	53%	37	+9.5
51	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	727	66	60.7	32%	45	+5.3
52	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	722	56	59.1	34%	37	−8.2
53	Michael Schreiner	Massachusetts	720	36	54.8	8%	33	−20.9
54	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	719	47	59.4	15%	40	−2.1
55	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	719	57	59.7	39%	35	−8.6
56	Alex Spence	Clemson	716	52	61.7	27%	38	+0.8
57	Barry Brown	Georgia State	709	30	60.8	0%	30	−4.4
58	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	707	59	62.0	39%	36	+3.0
59	Luke Otto	Northwestern	695	63	59.2	32%	43	−4.7
60	Liam Jones	Kansas	688	48	58.9	35%	31	−7.5
61	Shane Hynes	Kent State	665	36	61.1	25%	27	−3.5
62	Michael Barden	Texas Tech	654	67	63.6	57%	29	−6.6
63	Jimmy Camacho	Fresno State	648	73	62.4	51%	36	+12.6
64	Austin MacGinnis	Kentucky	643	66	59.7	44%	36	−15.8
65	Canon Rooker	Middle Tennessee	642	61	63.7	59%	25	−7.7
66	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	642	36	58.4	31%	25	−11.4
67	Griffin Oakes	Indiana	637	60	61.9	50%	30	−1.7
68	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	635	58	59.2	36%	37	−5.8
69	Daniel Portillo	UTSA	632	52	60.8	31%	36	+1.2
70	Cameron Gamble	LSU	631	62	63.6	48%	32	+4.0
71	Cole Murphy	Syracuse	620	63	64.3	48%	33	+1.6
72	James Sherman	Texas State	616	41	61.2	34%	27	−3.6
73	Drew Brown	Nebraska	612	56	62.1	45%	31	+1.1
74	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	608	56	62.9	50%	28	−1.4
75	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	599	87	63.1	67%	29	−3.5
76	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	596	48	62.3	31%	33	+5.9
77	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	589	53	61.4	42%	31	−4.5
78	Brenton King	Georgia Tech	585	24	59.3	4%	23	−7.0
79	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	581	75	64.2	63%	28	+8.1
80	Chris Francis	Iowa State	581	65	63.7	58%	25	+4.9
81	Caden Novikoff	Houston	580	59	60.3	42%	34	−2.5
82	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	578	61	62.1	49%	31	−0.6
83	Masamitsu Ishibashi	Coastal Carolina	548	24	57.3	8%	22	−9.7
84	Evan Rabon	Coastal Carolina	546	33	58.8	21%	26	+2.6
85	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	544	50	58.6	26%	37	+1.7
86	Logan Tyler	Florida State	540	66	64.1	59%	27	+4.4
87	Miguel Recinos	Iowa	537	63	63.1	49%	32	+17.3
88	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	533	61	64.6	66%	21	+3.7
89	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	532	44	62.4	30%	31	+4.5
90	Freeman Jones	North Carolina	524	59	63.5	51%	28	+13.2
91	Zachary Block	Tulane	515	50	60.5	38%	31	+3.8
92	James Foug	Michigan	510	64	63.0	48%	33	+16.5
93	Michael Tarbutt	UConn	509	58	63.6	62%	22	+5.6
94	Gabe Siemieniec	California	507	52	64.1	52%	25	+10.2
95	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	495	68	61.5	56%	30	+8.1
96	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	488	85	63.4	73%	20	+1.5
97	Jay Sedwick	Baylor	482	26	59.6	15%	22	−4.7
98	Christian Hagan	Northern Illinois	479	28	61.8	21%	22	+2.7
99	Brandon Ruiz	Arizona State	472	72	63.3	68%	23	+7.8
100	Sean Young	Florida International	471	57	63.0	54%	26	+5.7
101	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	470	66	63.7	59%	27	+9.4
102	Cade Coffey	Idaho	469	51	60.5	51%	25	−1.5
103	Davis Price	Colorado	463	64	63.8	63%	24	+8.0
104	Ramiz Ahmed	Nevada	460	53	61.8	53%	25	+2.0
105	Kaare Vedvik	Marshall	437	54	63.4	48%	28	+9.9
106	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	434	28	61.8	25%	21	−1.4
107	Spencer Evans	Purdue	432	47	61.7	55%	21	−4.0
108	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	431	24	60.5	21%	19	−4.3
109	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	430	102	61.9	77%	22	−3.0
110	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	425	82	64.1	73%	22	+12.9
111	Riley Patterson	Memphis	422	24	59.7	8%	22	−2.1
112	Stevie Artigue	Louisiana	409	38	62.1	47%	20	−4.1
113	Shawn Davis	Georgia Tech	403	27	59.8	30%	19	−5.1
114	Bennett Moehring	Navy	401	44	59.4	36%	28	+3.8
115	Luke Strebel	Air Force	398	54	60.6	54%	25	+1.0
116	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	391	70	64.2	70%	21	+12.5
117	Kevin Robledo	SMU	391	24	59.0	42%	14	−9.7
118	Greg Joseph	Florida Atlantic	389	93	63.6	75%	23	+11.5
119	Frankie Onate	South Alabama	387	20	57.9	10%	18	−6.0
120	Josh Orne	Northern Illinois	374	38	59.3	34%	25	−2.0
121	Maximilian Schulze-Geisthovel	Boston College	358	42	63.4	52%	20	+5.6
122	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	356	62	62.2	69%	19	+0.8
123	Matthew McCrane	Kansas State	355	57	61.1	56%	25	+7.0
124	Andrew Mikkelsen	BYU	352	31	62.6	32%	21	+7.6
125	Tommy Openshaw	Vanderbilt	350	55	62.5	65%	19	−0.7
126	Parker White	South Carolina	346	58	64.6	72%	16	+6.3
127	Jake Bailey	Stanford	338	75	64.4	71%	22	+15.1
128	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	328	32	59.3	53%	14	−6.3
129	Calvin Linden	Louisiana	316	18	55.7	0%	18	−5.0
130	Blake Patterson	TCU	294	12	59.6	17%	10	−2.6
131	Drew Galitz	Baylor	287	23	61.0	35%	15	−2.6
132	Sean Nuernberger	Ohio State	287	15	51.2	0%	14	−6.1
133	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	278	32	63.4	50%	16	−0.2
134	Van Soderberg	Washington	268	12	61.9	8%	11	−2.6
135	Aaron Medley	Tennessee	267	41	64.2	71%	12	+1.3
136	Nigel Macauley	Charlotte	264	27	62.9	37%	17	+4.6
137	Connor Martin	Baylor	264	9	60.9	11%	8	−8.1
138	Corey Edwards	BYU	242	18	61.3	28%	13	+1.2
139	Eddy Pineiro	Florida	239	50	64.0	78%	11	−11.3
140	Samuel Vucelich	Toledo	221	18	62.1	39%	11	+2.4
141	J.R. Osborn	Navy	213	12	58.3	0%	12	+0.4
142	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	212	43	62.4	72%	12	+2.7
143	Jack Fox	Rice	204	39	63.1	69%	12	−0.2
144	Reid Budrovich	USC	187	16	63.9	50%	8	+0.3
145	Michael Brown	USC	186	9	64.7	33%	6	−1.6
146	Brady Viles	UTEP	181	32	60.1	66%	11	−1.1
147	Joey Slye	Virginia Tech	180	59	63.6	85%	9	+5.4
148	Mitch Lochbihler	Kansas State	180	19	62.3	53%	9	+1.7
149	Jack Crane	Washington State	159	9	59.8	0%	9	+3.5
150	Greg Huegel	Clemson	159	17	64.4	53%	8	+3.8
151	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	146	52	64.0	85%	8	0.0
152	Kyle Corbett	Charlotte	143	8	61.8	13%	7	+1.7
153	Jason Sanders	New Mexico	141	48	63.8	81%	9	+5.6
154	Austin Parker	Duke	140	9	62.6	22%	7	+1.2
155	Matt Anderson	California	131	9	61.0	22%	7	+1.6
156	Christian Groomes	Clemson	129	10	61.1	20%	8	+0.7
157	Brent Cimaglia	Tennessee	125	10	63.6	40%	6	−0.1
158	P.J. Rosowski	Wisconsin	119	11	64.3	45%	6	+2.5
159	Matthew Philichi	Air Force	112	11	61.6	36%	7	+0.6
160	Drew Riethman	Texas A&M	111	2	61.5	0%	2	+0.8
161	Hayes Hicken	Utah	108	11	54.5	36%	7	−3.7
162	Connor Culp	LSU	96	6	63.3	17%	5	+2.1
163	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	94	5	62.2	0%	5	−0.6
164	Evan O'Hara	Louisville	92	5	56.4	0%	5	−0.2
165	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	88	5	60.6	0%	5	+1.4
166	Bryce Crawford	San José State	86	15	59.4	67%	5	−2.3
167	Gavin Patterson	South Alabama	85	7	54.0	14%	5	+1.1
168	Matthew Cluck	Texas Tech	83	7	63.9	29%	5	−1.8
169	Lexington Thomas	UNLV	82	1	70.0	0%	1	−3.4
170	Garrett Owens	Iowa State	81	7	62.1	43%	4	+0.7
171	Brian Johnson	Virginia Tech	77	12	63.2	50%	6	+1.9
172	Jason Evans	Western Michigan	77	5	59.0	20%	4	+0.1
173	Nick Bartolotta	Missouri	76	12	54.8	33%	8	−1.5
174	Josh Grant	Western Michigan	76	6	60.8	33%	4	+1.1
175	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	75	30	55.2	67%	9	−7.3
176	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	71	3	61.0	0%	3	−1.7
177	Jose Borregales	Florida International	70	5	58.6	20%	4	+0.3
178	Bennett Barton	Georgia Tech	63	5	55.4	20%	4	−0.3
179	Drew Costa	Clemson	62	4	63.3	25%	3	+0.8
180	Alex Barbir	Penn State	60	6	61.2	0%	5	+0.5
181	Jared Sackett	UTSA	60	3	55.7	33%	2	−2.9
182	David Marvin	Georgia	55	2	64.0	0%	2	−0.3
183	Noah Motto	Florida International	54	3	51.3	0%	3	−1.4
184	Jet Toner	Stanford	53	5	40.2	0%	4	−2.0
185	Daniel LaCamera	Texas A&M	53	3	49.3	0%	3	−1.7
186	Riley Garner	Texas A&M	51	3	48.3	0%	3	−1.8
187	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	49	6	59.0	33%	4	+1.3
188	Jaleel Berry	Boston College	48	6	62.7	50%	3	+1.5
189	Evan Pantels	UNLV	43	9	65.9	67%	3	+1.8
190	Alexander Woznick	South Carolina	42	1	65.0	0%	1	−1.4
191	Owen White	Navy	40	2	55.0	0%	2	−0.7
192	Ben Brown	Wake Forest	37	2	58.0	0%	2	+0.1
193	Merek Glover	Tulane	33	2	61.0	0%	2	+1.1
194	Connor Coles	Utah State	31	3	55.0	0%	3	+0.9
195	Landon Salyers	Army	31	1	60.0	0%	1	−0.8
196	Andrew King	Virginia	30	1	65.0	0%	1	+0.4
197	Chandler Staton	App State	30	1	64.0	0%	1	+0.8
198	Broderick Washington, Jr.	Texas Tech	28	1	64.0	0%	1	−0.2
199	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	26	4	61.5	50%	2	−1.8
200	Jonathan Hernandez	South Florida	26	2	61.0	0%	2	+1.3
201	Matt Gay	Utah	25	1	65.0	0%	1	+0.1
202	Emmit Carpenter	Minnesota	23	4	57.3	50%	2	+0.2
203	Grant Urenovitch	Kent State	22	2	60.5	0%	1	−0.5
204	Myles Homan	Purdue	22	4	63.3	75%	1	+0.2
205	Matt Hockett	Oklahoma State	21	5	52.4	40%	3	−0.6
206	Crews Holt	Middle Tennessee	21	1	60.0	0%	1	+0.1
207	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	21	1	58.0	0%	1	−1.5
208	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	19	1	63.0	0%	1	+0.4
209	Blake Wilson	Army	17	2	62.5	50%	1	+0.4
210	James Skalski	Clemson	17	1	60.0	0%	1	+0.3
211	Noah Crabbe	Air Force	17	1	65.0	0%	1	+0.6
212	Stone Wilson	Florida International	17	1	47.0	0%	1	−2.1
213	Greg Hoyd III	Washington State	16	1	65.0	0%	1	+0.9
214	Austin Johnson	Louisville	15	2	55.5	50%	1	−0.5
215	Brandon Ritchie	TCU	15	1	64.0	0%	1	+0.6
216	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	15	6	64.5	83%	1	+1.2
217	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	15	1	61.0	0%	1	−1.1
218	Chris Graham	Colorado	15	1	46.0	0%	1	+0.2
219	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	14	1	62.0	0%	1	−0.4
220	Parker Shaunfield	Southern Miss	13	1	48.0	0%	1	−0.3
221	Wade Lees	Maryland	13	1	67.0	0%	1	−1.3
222	Ismail Saleem	Troy	12	1	65.0	0%	1	+0.9
223	Tyler Sumpter	Troy	12	1	51.0	0%	1	−1.3
224	Dylan Barnas	UCF	5	1	56.0	0%	1	+0.9
225	Jason Filley	UTEP	5	1	10.0	0%	1	−2.8

All 2017 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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