2018 College Kickoff Specialist Rankings

Every college football kickoff specialist with enough work in the 2018 regular season (at least 30), ranked by kickoff points added. Each kickoff's expected-points result compared with the league-average kickoff, added up over the season. Onside kicks are left out. It credits the kicker and the coverage team together.

College rule: a kickoff touchback, or a fair catch inside the 25, starts the receiving team at its 25, so a touchback is 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 2018 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

2018 College Leaders

Kickoff Touchback Percentage

Avery Atkins (LSU): 93% 64 of 69
Jordan Stout (Virginia Tech): 90% 60 of 67
Nick Vogel (UAB): 88% 63 of 72
Rodrigo Blankenship (Georgia): 86% 78 of 91
Austin Seibert (Oklahoma): 86% 89 of 104

Full Kickoff Touchback Percentage leaderboard

Average Kickoff Return Allowed

Parker Shaunfield (Southern Miss): 6.2 16 returns
Owen White (Navy): 6.4 14 returns
Jared Sackett (UTSA): 8.0 10 returns
Drew Luckenbaugh (Northwestern): 8.5 19 returns
Austin Laszewski (Florida Atlantic): 9.8 51 returns

Full Average Kickoff Return Allowed leaderboard

Kickoff Points Added

Sterling Hofrichter (Syracuse): +21.1 93 kickoffs
B.T. Potter (Clemson): +20.9 100 kickoffs
Braden Mann (Texas A&M): +13.1 70 kickoffs
Blake Haubeil (Ohio State): +12.3 96 kickoffs
Jake Koehnke (Air Force): +11.1 56 kickoffs

Full Kickoff Points Added leaderboard

Average Kickoff Distance

Sean Young (Florida International): 64.9 52 kickoffs
Caleb Pratt (East Carolina): 64.8 58 kickoffs
Jordan Stout (Virginia Tech): 64.8 67 kickoffs
Austin Seibert (Oklahoma): 64.8 104 kickoffs
Alex Stadthaus (USC): 64.7 60 kickoffs

Full Average Kickoff Distance leaderboard

Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage

Joseph Bulovas (Alabama): 0.0% 0 of 108
Austin Seibert (Oklahoma): 0.0% 0 of 104
B.T. Potter (Clemson): 0.0% 0 of 100
Dominik Eberle (Utah State): 0.0% 0 of 100
Riley Patterson (Memphis): 0.0% 0 of 97

Full Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage leaderboard

30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed

Austin Laszewski (Florida Atlantic): 0.0% 0 of 51
Andrew Mikkelsen (BYU): 0.0% 0 of 34
B.T. Potter (Clemson): 0.0% 0 of 31
Evan Pantels (UNLV): 0.0% 0 of 27
Josh Grant (Western Michigan): 0.0% 0 of 25

Full 30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed leaderboard

All 2018 College Kickoff Specialist Leaderboards

Kickoffs by Points Added

128 kickoff specialists qualify.

Rk	Player	Team	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	93	64.1	61%	34	+21.1
2	B.T. Potter	Clemson	100	64.1	69%	31	+20.9
3	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	70	64.5	70%	20	+13.1
4	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	96	61.8	57%	33	+12.3
5	Jake Koehnke	Air Force	56	61.0	41%	33	+11.1
6	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	53	62.4	51%	26	+10.7
7	Evan McPherson	Florida	72	63.9	53%	34	+10.6
8	Freeman Jones	North Carolina	56	64.2	57%	24	+10.5
9	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	100	63.1	62%	38	+10.2
10	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	63	62.6	67%	21	+10.1
11	Davis Price	Colorado	63	63.1	52%	30	+10.1
12	Danny Sutton	New Mexico	49	62.9	69%	15	+10.0
13	Jack Fox	Rice	51	63.8	67%	17	+9.8
14	Jacob Meeks	UL Monroe	60	61.5	45%	33	+8.6
15	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	59	60.2	36%	38	+8.6
16	Jake Bailey	Stanford	69	64.3	83%	12	+8.4
17	Andrew Mikkelsen	BYU	54	61.9	37%	34	+8.3
18	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	58	64.8	76%	14	+7.5
19	Sean Young	Florida International	52	64.9	81%	10	+7.2
20	Jordan Stout	Virginia Tech	67	64.8	90%	7	+6.9
21	Kyle Bambard	NC State	77	61.2	35%	49	+6.8
22	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	62	63.6	63%	23	+6.7
23	Matt Gay	Utah	77	63.8	71%	22	+6.7
24	Grant McKinniss	Kentucky	60	61.7	55%	27	+6.6
25	Clayton Hatfield	Texas Tech	86	61.9	57%	36	+6.5
26	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	62	64.2	66%	21	+6.5
27	Will Tommie	South Carolina	40	64.2	83%	7	+6.5
28	Anders Carlson	Auburn	60	64.4	82%	11	+6.3
29	Ramiz Ahmed	Nevada	73	64.1	60%	29	+6.2
30	Joseph Bulovas	Alabama	108	61.9	63%	38	+6.1
31	Michael Farkas	Ohio	86	59.0	24%	65	+6.1
32	Chris Landgrebe	California	51	63.3	57%	22	+5.8
33	Jack Driggers	Duke	36	62.7	50%	18	+5.7
34	Drew Galitz	Baylor	56	62.6	59%	23	+5.5
35	Riley Patterson	Memphis	97	62.0	61%	36	+5.2
36	Avery Atkins	LSU	69	64.0	93%	5	+5.1
37	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	31	56.6	10%	28	+4.6
38	Rafael Checa	Penn State	73	61.6	53%	31	+4.6
39	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	76	59.1	41%	45	+4.4
40	Ryley Guay	Vanderbilt	63	64.1	71%	18	+4.3
41	Cameron Dicker	Texas	76	63.2	62%	29	+4.2
42	Austin Laszewski	Florida Atlantic	55	56.9	7%	51	+3.8
43	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	54	62.9	54%	21	+3.7
44	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	62	64.0	82%	11	+3.6
45	Asa Fuller	Fresno State	82	60.7	27%	60	+3.6
46	James Sherman	Texas State	51	61.2	35%	32	+3.6
47	Nick McLellan	Kansas State	36	61.3	25%	27	+3.3
48	Brandon Ruiz	Arizona State	72	63.2	61%	28	+3.2
49	Chris Francis	Iowa State	59	59.3	31%	39	+3.2
50	Liam Jones	Kansas	49	60.3	43%	27	+3.2
51	Nick Vogel	UAB	72	64.5	88%	9	+3.1
52	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	63	59.3	41%	37	+3.0
53	Jake McClure	Oklahoma State	81	63.2	62%	29	+3.0
54	Jameson Vest	Toledo	88	62.8	57%	38	+3.0
55	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	35	61.0	37%	22	+2.6
56	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	40	58.8	23%	26	+2.5
57	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	49	63.0	55%	22	+2.5
58	Caden Novikoff	Houston	93	61.3	33%	62	+2.2
59	Zachary Block	Tulane	47	62.9	62%	18	+2.0
60	Brian Delaney	Virginia	67	63.3	66%	23	+2.0
61	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	71	63.9	68%	23	+1.8
62	Zach Emerson	Oregon	74	61.8	31%	51	+1.8
63	Darren Ford	Wake Forest	56	63.0	50%	28	+1.8
64	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	91	64.2	86%	13	+1.7
65	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	52	59.9	21%	41	+1.7
66	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	52	63.7	48%	27	+1.5
67	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	45	63.4	67%	15	+1.3
68	Evan Pantels	UNLV	52	60.4	48%	27	+1.3
69	Justin Rohrwasser	Marshall	64	61.4	41%	38	+1.2
70	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	66	63.1	53%	28	+1.0
71	Wyatt Bryan	Colorado State	35	58.1	31%	24	+0.7
72	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	73	63.7	82%	13	+0.5
73	Danny Longman	Boston College	60	61.4	22%	46	+0.4
74	Blanton Creque	Louisville	43	60.4	30%	30	+0.4
75	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	48	62.9	56%	21	+0.4
76	Bubba Baxa	Miami	67	61.6	61%	26	+0.2
77	Scott Goodman	Mississippi State	63	62.9	49%	31	+0.2
78	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	54	61.6	57%	23	0.0
79	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	40	62.0	60%	16	−0.2
80	Tucker McCann	Missouri	86	62.0	59%	35	−0.3
81	John Baron II	San Diego State	62	62.8	71%	18	−0.3
82	Landon Salyers	Army	65	59.1	17%	54	−0.5
83	John Parker Romo	Tulsa	58	61.7	48%	30	−0.5
84	Alex Stadthaus	USC	60	64.7	63%	21	−0.6
85	Cameron Braaten	Western Michigan	33	58.2	6%	31	−0.7
86	Cole Hahn	Michigan State	56	60.4	46%	30	−1.1
87	Jesse Kelly	Eastern Michigan	58	59.4	31%	40	−1.2
88	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	51	62.9	59%	21	−1.8
89	Andrew Gantz	Northern Illinois	45	61.9	40%	27	−2.0
90	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	104	64.8	86%	15	−2.0
91	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	53	60.9	25%	40	−2.1
92	Cole Bunce	TCU	59	59.4	32%	39	−2.2
93	Emmit Carpenter	Minnesota	66	61.0	50%	33	−2.4
94	Evan Staley	West Virginia	68	60.5	38%	42	−2.5
95	Massimo Biscardi	Coastal Carolina	44	59.0	20%	35	−2.7
96	JJ Molson	UCLA	59	64.1	64%	21	−2.9
97	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	33	58.4	39%	20	−3.1
98	Matthew Wright	UCF	92	60.9	35%	58	−3.5
99	Bennett Moehring	Navy	38	59.4	16%	31	−3.6
100	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	64	55.1	19%	51	−3.6
101	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	68	62.6	59%	28	−4.3
102	Logan Tyler	Florida State	51	63.0	69%	14	−4.4
103	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	73	60.6	41%	42	−4.6
104	Adam Mitcheson	Buffalo	84	59.5	58%	35	−4.6
105	Nate Needham	Bowling Green	55	56.4	16%	46	−5.1
106	Will Mobley	Temple	71	56.6	18%	57	−5.3
107	Peyton Henry	Washington	69	60.1	30%	47	−5.4
108	Cooper Garcia	Massachusetts	53	59.2	23%	41	−5.6
109	Jack Crane	Washington State	78	61.4	47%	41	−6.1
110	Spencer Evans	Purdue	70	62.0	59%	29	−6.4
111	Jake Stone	South Florida	43	55.6	28%	30	−6.4
112	Bryce Crawford	San José State	54	58.7	33%	36	−6.7
113	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	53	62.0	53%	25	−7.0
114	Shawn Davis	Georgia Tech	71	60.7	24%	53	−8.0
115	Aaron Peart	Liberty	51	59.2	41%	30	−8.7
116	Kevin Robledo	SMU	61	53.6	18%	50	−11.7
117	Michael Tarbutt	UConn	33	58.9	33%	21	−11.7
118	Michael Rubino	App State	78	61.9	59%	32	−12.0
119	Kyle Pfau	Louisiana	67	57.8	25%	50	−13.3
120	Bailey Hale	Louisiana Tech	59	57.6	17%	48	−13.6
121	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	45	57.6	13%	39	−13.6
122	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	80	61.1	41%	46	−14.2
123	Jared Smolar	Indiana	64	57.7	36%	40	−15.2
124	Miguel Recinos	Iowa	72	61.8	54%	33	−16.5
125	Colt McFadden	Kent State	54	55.2	26%	40	−16.9
126	Joseph Petrino	Maryland	64	56.5	17%	52	−18.3
127	Jake Moody	Michigan	85	61.3	59%	31	−18.4
128	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	47	54.3	13%	41	−20.8

Points compare each kickoff's expected-points result with the league-average kickoff (for college, expected points come from where the receiving team started its first play). Onside kicks are listed separately and left out of points. Average distance is measured from the kicking spot to where the ball was caught or reached the goal line; a touchback counts the full distance. Returns exclude touchbacks, out-of-bounds kicks and fair catches. Minimum 30 kickoffs.

Kickoff Specialist Rankings in Other Seasons

2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2017 · 2016 · 2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011

Other 2018 College Rankings

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