2018 College Average Kickoff Distance Leaders

The average length of a specialist's kickoffs in yards, from the kicking spot to where the ball was caught or crossed the goal line. Onside kicks are left out.

A touchback counts the full distance to the goal line, so a deep kick and a kick into the end zone score the same. In 2018, Sean Young (64.9) led college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff distance, ahead of Caleb Pratt (64.8) and Jordan Stout (64.8). 128 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 61.8.

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.

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

All 2018 College kickoff specialist rankings

Average Kickoff Distance in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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