2017 College Kickoff Touchback Percentage Leaders

The share of a kickoff specialist's kickoffs that were touchbacks. High means power; whether it is good depends on the rules and the coach's plan.

More is better under this season's rules: a touchback ends the play with no return. Only specialists with enough kickoffs are ranked. In 2017, Joey Slye (85%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Tyler Bass (85%) and Jason Sanders (81%). 128 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 44%.

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

All 2017 College kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Touchback Percentage 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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