2018 College Average Kickoff Return Allowed Leaders

Return yards divided by returns. It shows how well his kicks and coverage contain returners.

Lower is better. Only specialists with enough returns are ranked. In 2018, Parker Shaunfield (6.2) topped college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff return allowed, ahead of Owen White (6.4) and Jared Sackett (8.0). 146 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 16.5.

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 ret	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Parker Shaunfield	Southern Miss	6.2	21	49.1	24%	16	−0.3
2	Owen White	Navy	6.4	16	56.1	13%	14	−0.1
3	Jared Sackett	UTSA	8.0	10	55.2	0%	10	+2.7
4	Drew Luckenbaugh	Northwestern	8.5	26	57.9	27%	19	+2.0
5	Austin Laszewski	Florida Atlantic	9.8	55	56.9	7%	51	+3.8
6	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	10.4	70	64.5	70%	20	+13.1
7	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	11.3	93	64.1	61%	34	+21.1
8	Michael Farkas	Ohio	11.4	86	59.0	24%	65	+6.1
9	Miguel Recinos	Iowa	11.5	72	61.8	54%	33	−16.5
10	Danny Sutton	New Mexico	11.7	49	62.9	69%	15	+10.0
11	Jesse Kelly	Eastern Michigan	11.9	58	59.4	31%	40	−1.2
12	Evan Pantels	UNLV	11.9	52	60.4	48%	27	+1.3
13	Clayton Hatfield	Texas Tech	12.4	86	61.9	57%	36	+6.5
14	Wyatt Bryan	Colorado State	12.6	35	58.1	31%	24	+0.7
15	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	12.7	64	55.1	19%	51	−3.6
16	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	12.8	35	61.0	37%	22	+2.6
17	Will Mobley	Temple	12.8	71	56.6	18%	57	−5.3
18	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	12.9	76	59.1	41%	45	+4.4
19	Jacob Meeks	UL Monroe	13.0	60	61.5	45%	33	+8.6
20	Jake Koehnke	Air Force	13.1	56	61.0	41%	33	+11.1
21	Barry Brown	Georgia State	13.4	24	53.8	17%	17	−2.8
22	Landon Salyers	Army	13.6	65	59.1	17%	54	−0.5
23	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	13.6	31	56.6	10%	28	+4.6
24	Rafael Checa	Penn State	13.7	73	61.6	53%	31	+4.6
25	Colt McFadden	Kent State	13.7	54	55.2	26%	40	−16.9
26	Jake Bailey	Stanford	13.8	69	64.3	83%	12	+8.4
27	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	13.8	96	61.8	57%	33	+12.3
28	Evan Staley	West Virginia	14.0	68	60.5	38%	42	−2.5
29	Jake McClure	Oklahoma State	14.0	81	63.2	62%	29	+3.0
30	Cole Bunce	TCU	14.1	59	59.4	32%	39	−2.2
31	Josh Grant	Western Michigan	14.1	27	55.5	7%	25	−3.5
32	Nate Needham	Bowling Green	14.2	55	56.4	16%	46	−5.1
33	John Baron II	San Diego State	14.4	62	62.8	71%	18	−0.3
34	Grant McKinniss	Kentucky	14.5	60	61.7	55%	27	+6.6
35	James Sherman	Texas State	14.5	51	61.2	35%	32	+3.6
36	Kevin Robledo	SMU	14.6	61	53.6	18%	50	−11.7
37	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	14.6	54	62.9	54%	21	+3.7
38	Liam Jones	Kansas	14.6	49	60.3	43%	27	+3.2
39	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	14.6	13	56.5	8%	11	+1.4
40	Bryce Crawford	San José State	14.6	54	58.7	33%	36	−6.7
41	Michael Boyle	Hawai'i	14.7	27	60.3	30%	19	−3.0
42	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	14.8	62	64.2	66%	21	+6.5
43	Jose Borregales	Florida International	14.8	17	58.1	35%	11	+1.1
44	Jake Stone	South Florida	14.8	43	55.6	28%	30	−6.4
45	Andrew Mikkelsen	BYU	15.0	54	61.9	37%	34	+8.3
46	Nick McLellan	Kansas State	15.0	36	61.3	25%	27	+3.3
47	Anders Carlson	Auburn	15.0	60	64.4	82%	11	+6.3
48	Trent Schneider	South Florida	15.1	22	57.5	27%	16	−0.2
49	Barret Pickering	Nebraska	15.1	18	59.8	33%	12	+2.5
50	Chris Francis	Iowa State	15.2	59	59.3	31%	39	+3.2
51	Davis Price	Colorado	15.2	63	63.1	52%	30	+10.1
52	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	15.2	52	59.9	21%	41	+1.7
53	Freeman Jones	North Carolina	15.3	56	64.2	57%	24	+10.5
54	Riley Patterson	Memphis	15.4	97	62.0	61%	36	+5.2
55	Hunter Duplessis	UTSA	15.5	29	58.3	24%	22	−1.8
56	Asa Fuller	Fresno State	15.5	82	60.7	27%	60	+3.6
57	Jack Fox	Rice	15.5	51	63.8	67%	17	+9.8
58	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	15.7	73	63.7	82%	13	+0.5
59	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	15.7	73	60.6	41%	42	−4.6
60	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	15.8	49	63.0	55%	22	+2.5
61	Cole Hahn	Michigan State	15.8	56	60.4	46%	30	−1.1
62	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	15.8	63	59.3	41%	37	+3.0
63	Jake Moody	Michigan	15.9	85	61.3	59%	31	−18.4
64	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	16.0	59	60.2	36%	38	+8.6
65	Matthew Wright	UCF	16.1	92	60.9	35%	58	−3.5
66	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	16.1	100	63.1	62%	38	+10.2
67	John Parker Romo	Tulsa	16.2	58	61.7	48%	30	−0.5
68	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	16.3	40	58.8	23%	26	+2.5
69	Emmit Carpenter	Minnesota	16.3	66	61.0	50%	33	−2.4
70	Jack Driggers	Duke	16.3	36	62.7	50%	18	+5.7
71	Kyle Pfau	Louisiana	16.4	67	57.8	25%	50	−13.3
72	Danny Longman	Boston College	16.4	60	61.4	22%	46	+0.4
73	Cameron Braaten	Western Michigan	16.5	33	58.2	6%	31	−0.7
74	Andrew Gantz	Northern Illinois	16.5	45	61.9	40%	27	−2.0
75	Cooper Garcia	Massachusetts	16.5	53	59.2	23%	41	−5.6
76	Blanton Creque	Louisville	16.6	43	60.4	30%	30	+0.4
77	Kyle Bambard	NC State	16.6	77	61.2	35%	49	+6.8
78	Brandon Ruiz	Arizona State	16.7	72	63.2	61%	28	+3.2
79	Adam Mitcheson	Buffalo	16.7	84	59.5	58%	35	−4.6
80	Evan McPherson	Florida	16.8	72	63.9	53%	34	+10.6
81	Drew Galitz	Baylor	16.8	56	62.6	59%	23	+5.5
82	Zachary Block	Tulane	17.1	47	62.9	62%	18	+2.0
83	Myles Prosser	Coastal Carolina	17.1	18	56.6	17%	15	−1.6
84	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	17.1	47	54.3	13%	41	−20.8
85	B.T. Potter	Clemson	17.2	100	64.1	69%	31	+20.9
86	Zach Emerson	Oregon	17.2	74	61.8	31%	51	+1.8
87	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	17.2	54	61.6	57%	23	0.0
88	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	17.3	62	64.0	82%	11	+3.6
89	Jack Crane	Washington State	17.3	78	61.4	47%	41	−6.1
90	Jameson Vest	Toledo	17.3	88	62.8	57%	38	+3.0
91	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	17.4	52	63.7	48%	27	+1.5
92	Tucker McCann	Missouri	17.5	86	62.0	59%	35	−0.3
93	Justin Yoon	Notre Dame	17.5	24	59.8	29%	14	+0.5
94	AJ Reed	Duke	17.5	25	61.6	16%	21	+4.2
95	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	17.5	53	62.4	51%	26	+10.7
96	Bailey Hale	Louisiana Tech	17.6	59	57.6	17%	48	−13.6
97	Aaron Peart	Liberty	17.7	51	59.2	41%	30	−8.7
98	Sean Young	Florida International	17.7	52	64.9	81%	10	+7.2
99	Jake Collins	Northwestern	17.9	27	55.6	11%	24	−7.6
100	Bennett Moehring	Navy	18.1	38	59.4	16%	31	−3.6
101	Alex Stadthaus	USC	18.2	60	64.7	63%	21	−0.6
102	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	18.3	71	63.9	68%	23	+1.8
103	Joseph Petrino	Maryland	18.5	64	56.5	17%	52	−18.3
104	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	18.5	33	58.4	39%	20	−3.1
105	Joseph Bulovas	Alabama	18.6	108	61.9	63%	38	+6.1
106	Cameron Dicker	Texas	18.7	76	63.2	62%	29	+4.2
107	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	18.7	66	63.1	53%	28	+1.0
108	Peyton Henry	Washington	18.7	69	60.1	30%	47	−5.4
109	Justin Rohrwasser	Marshall	18.7	64	61.4	41%	38	+1.2
110	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	18.8	45	63.4	67%	15	+1.3
111	Caden Novikoff	Houston	18.8	93	61.3	33%	62	+2.2
112	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	18.9	45	57.6	13%	39	−13.6
113	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	18.9	68	62.6	59%	28	−4.3
114	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	19.0	48	62.9	56%	21	+0.4
115	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	19.1	40	62.0	60%	16	−0.2
116	Crews Holt	Middle Tennessee	19.2	10	56.9	0%	10	−2.2
117	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	19.4	53	60.9	25%	40	−2.1
118	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	19.5	53	62.0	53%	25	−7.0
119	Jared Smolar	Indiana	19.6	64	57.7	36%	40	−15.2
120	Darren Ford	Wake Forest	19.6	56	63.0	50%	28	+1.8
121	Blake Lynch	Kansas State	19.7	13	59.8	0%	13	+2.0
122	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	19.7	58	64.8	76%	14	+7.5
123	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	19.9	62	63.6	63%	23	+6.7
124	Spencer Evans	Purdue	19.9	70	62.0	59%	29	−6.4
125	Brian Delaney	Virginia	20.0	67	63.3	66%	23	+2.0
126	Ryley Guay	Vanderbilt	20.1	63	64.1	71%	18	+4.3
127	Bubba Baxa	Miami	20.1	67	61.6	61%	26	+0.2
128	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	20.1	51	62.9	59%	21	−1.8
129	Logan Tyler	Florida State	20.1	51	63.0	69%	14	−4.4
130	Matt Gay	Utah	20.3	77	63.8	71%	22	+6.7
131	Mike Caggiano	Massachusetts	20.4	15	59.7	7%	14	+1.1
132	Massimo Biscardi	Coastal Carolina	20.8	44	59.0	20%	35	−2.7
133	Ramiz Ahmed	Nevada	20.9	73	64.1	60%	29	+6.2
134	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	21.2	80	61.1	41%	46	−14.2
135	Chris Landgrebe	California	21.2	51	63.3	57%	22	+5.8
136	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	21.3	63	62.6	67%	21	+10.1
137	Scott Goodman	Mississippi State	21.3	63	62.9	49%	31	+0.2
138	Michael Tarbutt	UConn	22.3	33	58.9	33%	21	−11.7
139	Shawn Davis	Georgia Tech	22.6	71	60.7	24%	53	−8.0
140	Noah Iden	UConn	23.3	20	58.8	30%	14	−7.2
141	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	24.1	91	64.2	86%	13	+1.7
142	Michael Rubino	App State	24.8	78	61.9	59%	32	−12.0
143	Eric Osteen	Wake Forest	24.9	18	59.9	28%	13	−4.0
144	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	26.2	104	64.8	86%	15	−2.0
145	Alex Probert	Liberty	26.9	19	57.8	26%	14	−6.0
146	JJ Molson	UCLA	27.3	59	64.1	64%	21	−2.9

All 2018 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

More 2018 College kickoff specialist leaderboards

Other 2018 College rankings

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