2017 College Kickoff Returns Allowed Leaders

Kickoffs the receiving team brought out of the end zone. More returns mean more chances for a big return, but also more chances to be tackled short.

Compare with return yards allowed. In 2017, Matthew Wright (73) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff returns allowed, ahead of Blake Haubeil (70) and Michael Farkas (65). 236 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	Returns	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Points
1	Matthew Wright	UCF	73	97	59.7	24%	+1.7
2	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	70	82	59.6	15%	+15.4
3	Michael Farkas	Ohio	65	81	58.8	20%	+4.7
4	Matt Ammendola	Oklahoma State	64	98	61.1	35%	+9.0
5	Blanton Creque	Louisville	55	78	60.7	28%	+1.3
6	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	53	76	57.4	26%	−2.6
7	Spencer Smith	Memphis	52	73	57.4	26%	−2.3
8	Danny Sutton	Maryland	52	57	59.0	9%	0.0
9	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	51	76	61.2	33%	−4.0
10	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	51	70	58.8	23%	+6.0
11	Tyler Davis	Penn State	50	81	62.1	38%	+3.2
12	Kyle Bambard	NC State	49	69	58.2	28%	−9.2
13	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	48	50	57.7	4%	+1.6
14	JK Scott	Alabama	47	89	63.1	47%	+7.3
15	Evan Staley	West Virginia	47	74	58.8	36%	−8.9
16	Michael Rubino	App State	47	72	61.4	35%	+4.6
17	Nick Gasser	Akron	47	58	58.0	19%	−11.5
18	Emilio Nadelman	South Florida	46	79	62.4	42%	−5.6
19	Nick Fields	Bowling Green	46	64	55.7	28%	−9.3
20	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	46	61	59.7	25%	−6.7
21	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	46	60	60.3	22%	+3.2
22	JJ Molson	UCLA	45	79	63.4	43%	−0.1
23	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	45	66	60.7	32%	+5.3
24	Aaron Boumerhi	Temple	45	64	60.5	28%	+5.1
25	Cole Bunce	TCU	44	80	62.1	40%	+7.2
26	Matt Wylie	UL Monroe	44	69	62.4	36%	+1.4
27	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	44	63	54.8	30%	−19.6
28	Mike Weaver	Wake Forest	43	75	59.9	43%	−8.9
29	Luke Otto	Northwestern	43	63	59.2	32%	−4.7
30	Jameson Vest	Toledo	42	80	61.9	48%	+1.3
31	Jonathan Barnes	Louisiana Tech	42	71	60.9	41%	0.0
32	Josh Williams	SMU	42	61	58.3	28%	−5.5
33	Brett Scanlon	Michigan State	42	55	60.7	24%	+1.2
34	Aidan Schneider	Oregon	41	80	64.0	49%	+5.2
35	Nick Schrage	Army	41	60	60.7	32%	+4.6
36	Jesse Kelly	Eastern Michigan	41	57	60.0	28%	−1.9
37	Michael Badgley	Miami	40	71	62.1	44%	−1.6
38	Jack Driggers	Duke	40	57	62.3	30%	+11.2
39	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	40	47	59.4	15%	−2.1
40	John Baron II	San Diego State	39	70	62.9	44%	+6.8
41	Nick Vogel	UAB	39	67	61.7	42%	−1.8
42	Adam Mitcheson	Buffalo	39	61	60.4	36%	−4.3
43	Trevor Moore	North Texas	38	77	61.8	49%	+2.2
44	Alex Spence	Clemson	38	52	61.7	27%	+0.8
45	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	37	78	63.4	53%	+9.5
46	Redford Jones	Tulsa	37	67	62.6	45%	−0.8
47	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	37	58	59.2	36%	−5.8
48	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	37	56	59.1	34%	−8.2
49	Chase McGrath	USC	37	55	61.8	33%	+2.1
50	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	37	50	58.6	26%	+1.7
51	Tucker McCann	Missouri	36	77	63.0	53%	−0.1
52	Jimmy Camacho	Fresno State	36	73	62.4	51%	+12.6
53	Austin MacGinnis	Kentucky	36	66	59.7	44%	−15.8
54	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	36	59	62.0	39%	+3.0
55	Daniel Portillo	UTSA	36	52	60.8	31%	+1.2
56	Justin Yoon	Notre Dame	36	51	62.5	29%	−4.0
57	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	35	57	59.7	39%	−8.6
58	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	35	52	61.6	33%	−2.9
59	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	34	69	61.5	51%	−12.9
60	Caden Novikoff	Houston	34	59	60.3	42%	−2.5
61	Brian Delaney	Virginia	34	54	63.2	37%	−2.7
62	James Foug	Michigan	33	64	63.0	48%	+16.5
63	Cole Murphy	Syracuse	33	63	64.3	48%	+1.6
64	Erik Powell	Washington State	33	63	62.0	48%	−8.8
65	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	33	48	62.3	31%	+5.9
66	Michael Schreiner	Massachusetts	33	36	54.8	8%	−20.9
67	Miguel Recinos	Iowa	32	63	63.1	49%	+17.3
68	Cameron Gamble	LSU	32	62	63.6	48%	+4.0
69	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	31	61	62.1	49%	−0.6
70	Drew Brown	Nebraska	31	56	62.1	45%	+1.1
71	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	31	53	61.4	42%	−4.5
72	Zachary Block	Tulane	31	50	60.5	38%	+3.8
73	Liam Jones	Kansas	31	48	58.9	35%	−7.5
74	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	31	44	62.4	30%	+4.5
75	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	30	68	61.5	56%	+8.1
76	Joshua Rowland	Texas	30	62	64.2	52%	−1.4
77	Griffin Oakes	Indiana	30	60	61.9	50%	−1.7
78	Barry Brown	Georgia State	30	30	60.8	0%	−4.4
79	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	29	87	63.1	67%	−3.5
80	Michael Barden	Texas Tech	29	67	63.6	57%	−6.6
81	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	28	75	64.2	63%	+8.1
82	Freeman Jones	North Carolina	28	59	63.5	51%	+13.2
83	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	28	56	62.9	50%	−1.4
84	Kaare Vedvik	Marshall	28	54	63.4	48%	+9.9
85	Bennett Moehring	Navy	28	44	59.4	36%	+3.8
86	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	27	66	63.7	59%	+9.4
87	Logan Tyler	Florida State	27	66	64.1	59%	+4.4
88	James Sherman	Texas State	27	41	61.2	34%	−3.6
89	Shane Hynes	Kent State	27	36	61.1	25%	−3.5
90	Sean Young	Florida International	26	57	63.0	54%	+5.7
91	Evan Rabon	Coastal Carolina	26	33	58.8	21%	+2.6
92	Chris Francis	Iowa State	25	65	63.7	58%	+4.9
93	Canon Rooker	Middle Tennessee	25	61	63.7	59%	−7.7
94	Matthew McCrane	Kansas State	25	57	61.1	56%	+7.0
95	Luke Strebel	Air Force	25	54	60.6	54%	+1.0
96	Ramiz Ahmed	Nevada	25	53	61.8	53%	+2.0
97	Gabe Siemieniec	California	25	52	64.1	52%	+10.2
98	Cade Coffey	Idaho	25	51	60.5	51%	−1.5
99	Josh Orne	Northern Illinois	25	38	59.3	34%	−2.0
100	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	25	36	58.4	31%	−11.4
101	Davis Price	Colorado	24	64	63.8	63%	+8.0
102	Greg Joseph	Florida Atlantic	23	93	63.6	75%	+11.5
103	Brandon Ruiz	Arizona State	23	72	63.3	68%	+7.8
104	Brenton King	Georgia Tech	23	24	59.3	4%	−7.0
105	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	22	102	61.9	77%	−3.0
106	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	22	82	64.1	73%	+12.9
107	Jake Bailey	Stanford	22	75	64.4	71%	+15.1
108	Michael Tarbutt	UConn	22	58	63.6	62%	+5.6
109	Christian Hagan	Northern Illinois	22	28	61.8	21%	+2.7
110	Jay Sedwick	Baylor	22	26	59.6	15%	−4.7
111	Masamitsu Ishibashi	Coastal Carolina	22	24	57.3	8%	−9.7
112	Riley Patterson	Memphis	22	24	59.7	8%	−2.1
113	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	21	70	64.2	70%	+12.5
114	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	21	61	64.6	66%	+3.7
115	Spencer Evans	Purdue	21	47	61.7	55%	−4.0
116	Andrew Mikkelsen	BYU	21	31	62.6	32%	+7.6
117	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	21	28	61.8	25%	−1.4
118	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	20	85	63.4	73%	+1.5
119	Maximilian Schulze-Geisthovel	Boston College	20	42	63.4	52%	+5.6
120	Stevie Artigue	Louisiana	20	38	62.1	47%	−4.1
121	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	19	62	62.2	69%	+0.8
122	Tommy Openshaw	Vanderbilt	19	55	62.5	65%	−0.7
123	Shawn Davis	Georgia Tech	19	27	59.8	30%	−5.1
124	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	19	24	60.5	21%	−4.3
125	Frankie Onate	South Alabama	18	20	57.9	10%	−6.0
126	Calvin Linden	Louisiana	18	18	55.7	0%	−5.0
127	Nigel Macauley	Charlotte	17	27	62.9	37%	+4.6
128	Parker White	South Carolina	16	58	64.6	72%	+6.3
129	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	16	32	63.4	50%	−0.2
130	Drew Galitz	Baylor	15	23	61.0	35%	−2.6
131	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	14	32	59.3	53%	−6.3
132	Kevin Robledo	SMU	14	24	59.0	42%	−9.7
133	Sean Nuernberger	Ohio State	14	15	51.2	0%	−6.1
134	Corey Edwards	BYU	13	18	61.3	28%	+1.2
135	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	12	43	62.4	72%	+2.7
136	Aaron Medley	Tennessee	12	41	64.2	71%	+1.3
137	Jack Fox	Rice	12	39	63.1	69%	−0.2
138	J.R. Osborn	Navy	12	12	58.3	0%	+0.4
139	Eddy Pineiro	Florida	11	50	64.0	78%	−11.3
140	Brady Viles	UTEP	11	32	60.1	66%	−1.1
141	Samuel Vucelich	Toledo	11	18	62.1	39%	+2.4
142	Van Soderberg	Washington	11	12	61.9	8%	−2.6
143	Blake Patterson	TCU	10	12	59.6	17%	−2.6
144	Joey Slye	Virginia Tech	9	59	63.6	85%	+5.4
145	Jason Sanders	New Mexico	9	48	63.8	81%	+5.6
146	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	9	30	55.2	67%	−7.3
147	Mitch Lochbihler	Kansas State	9	19	62.3	53%	+1.7
148	Jack Crane	Washington State	9	9	59.8	0%	+3.5
149	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	8	52	64.0	85%	0.0
150	Greg Huegel	Clemson	8	17	64.4	53%	+3.8
151	Reid Budrovich	USC	8	16	63.9	50%	+0.3
152	Nick Bartolotta	Missouri	8	12	54.8	33%	−1.5
153	Christian Groomes	Clemson	8	10	61.1	20%	+0.7
154	Connor Martin	Baylor	8	9	60.9	11%	−8.1
155	Hayes Hicken	Utah	7	11	54.5	36%	−3.7
156	Matthew Philichi	Air Force	7	11	61.6	36%	+0.6
157	Austin Parker	Duke	7	9	62.6	22%	+1.2
158	Matt Anderson	California	7	9	61.0	22%	+1.6
159	Kyle Corbett	Charlotte	7	8	61.8	13%	+1.7
160	Brian Johnson	Virginia Tech	6	12	63.2	50%	+1.9
161	P.J. Rosowski	Wisconsin	6	11	64.3	45%	+2.5
162	Brent Cimaglia	Tennessee	6	10	63.6	40%	−0.1
163	Michael Brown	USC	6	9	64.7	33%	−1.6
164	Bryce Crawford	San José State	5	15	59.4	67%	−2.3
165	Gavin Patterson	South Alabama	5	7	54.0	14%	+1.1
166	Matthew Cluck	Texas Tech	5	7	63.9	29%	−1.8
167	Alex Barbir	Penn State	5	6	61.2	0%	+0.5
168	Connor Culp	LSU	5	6	63.3	17%	+2.1
169	Evan O'Hara	Louisville	5	5	56.4	0%	−0.2
170	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	5	5	62.2	0%	−0.6
171	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	5	5	60.6	0%	+1.4
172	Garrett Owens	Iowa State	4	7	62.1	43%	+0.7
173	Josh Grant	Western Michigan	4	6	60.8	33%	+1.1
174	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	4	6	59.0	33%	+1.3
175	Bennett Barton	Georgia Tech	4	5	55.4	20%	−0.3
176	Jason Evans	Western Michigan	4	5	59.0	20%	+0.1
177	Jet Toner	Stanford	4	5	40.2	0%	−2.0
178	Jose Borregales	Florida International	4	5	58.6	20%	+0.3
179	Evan Pantels	UNLV	3	9	65.9	67%	+1.8
180	Jaleel Berry	Boston College	3	6	62.7	50%	+1.5
181	Matt Hockett	Oklahoma State	3	5	52.4	40%	−0.6
182	Drew Costa	Clemson	3	4	63.3	25%	+0.8
183	Connor Coles	Utah State	3	3	55.0	0%	+0.9
184	Daniel LaCamera	Texas A&M	3	3	49.3	0%	−1.7
185	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	3	3	61.0	0%	−1.7
186	Noah Motto	Florida International	3	3	51.3	0%	−1.4
187	Riley Garner	Texas A&M	3	3	48.3	0%	−1.8
188	Emmit Carpenter	Minnesota	2	4	57.3	50%	+0.2
189	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	2	4	61.5	50%	−1.8
190	Jared Sackett	UTSA	2	3	55.7	33%	−2.9
191	Ben Brown	Wake Forest	2	2	58.0	0%	+0.1
192	David Marvin	Georgia	2	2	64.0	0%	−0.3
193	Drew Riethman	Texas A&M	2	2	61.5	0%	+0.8
194	Gabriel Rui	Kansas	2	2	31.0	0%	−0.7
195	Jonathan Hernandez	South Florida	2	2	61.0	0%	+1.3
196	Josh Pollack	Arizona	2	2	34.0	0%	−0.6
197	Merek Glover	Tulane	2	2	61.0	0%	+1.1
198	Owen White	Navy	2	2	55.0	0%	−0.7
199	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	1	6	64.5	83%	+1.2
200	Myles Homan	Purdue	1	4	63.3	75%	+0.2
201	Austin Johnson	Louisville	1	2	55.5	50%	−0.5
202	Blake Wilson	Army	1	2	62.5	50%	+0.4
203	Brandon Monroe	San José State	1	2	47.5	50%	−0.6
204	Grant Urenovitch	Kent State	1	2	60.5	0%	−0.5
205	A.J. Mejia	Virginia	1	1	55.0	0%	+0.8
206	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	1	1	62.0	0%	−0.4
207	Alexander Woznick	South Carolina	1	1	65.0	0%	−1.4
208	Andrew King	Virginia	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.4
209	Brandon Ritchie	TCU	1	1	64.0	0%	+0.6
210	Broderick Washington, Jr.	Texas Tech	1	1	64.0	0%	−0.2
211	Bryan Kristan	Ohio State	1	1	40.0	0%	−0.9
212	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	1	1	61.0	0%	−1.1
213	Chandler Staton	App State	1	1	64.0	0%	+0.8
214	Chris Graham	Colorado	1	1	46.0	0%	+0.2
215	Cole Moos	Kansas	1	1	12.0	0%	−2.3
216	Crews Holt	Middle Tennessee	1	1	60.0	0%	+0.1
217	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	1	1	63.0	0%	+0.4
218	Dylan Barnas	UCF	1	1	56.0	0%	+0.9
219	Greg Hoyd III	Washington State	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.9
220	Ismail Saleem	Troy	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.9
221	Jake Verity	East Carolina	1	1	9.0	0%	−2.8
222	James Skalski	Clemson	1	1	60.0	0%	+0.3
223	Jason Filley	UTEP	1	1	10.0	0%	−2.8
224	Landon Salyers	Army	1	1	60.0	0%	−0.8
225	Lexington Thomas	UNLV	1	1	70.0	0%	−3.4
226	Luke Ancrum	Florida	1	1	16.0	0%	−3.1
227	Matt Gay	Utah	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.1
228	Michael Almond	South Carolina	1	1	45.0	0%	+0.4
229	Noah Crabbe	Air Force	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.6
230	Parker Shaunfield	Southern Miss	1	1	48.0	0%	−0.3
231	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	1	1	58.0	0%	−1.5
232	Sage Ledbetter	Auburn	1	1	44.0	0%	+0.4
233	Spencer Pettit	Nevada	1	1	8.0	0%	−2.6
234	Stone Wilson	Florida International	1	1	47.0	0%	−2.1
235	Tyler Sumpter	Troy	1	1	51.0	0%	−1.3
236	Wade Lees	Maryland	1	1	67.0	0%	−1.3

All 2017 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

More 2017 College kickoff specialist leaderboards

Other 2017 College rankings

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