2018 College Kickoff Return Yards Allowed Leaders

Total return yards gained against a specialist's kickoffs. It reflects his kick and his coverage team.

Lower is better, but volume matters. In 2018, Shawn Davis (1200) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff return yards allowed, ahead of Caden Novikoff (1167) and Luke Logan (976). 231 kickoff specialists qualify.

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	Ret yds	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Shawn Davis	Georgia Tech	1200	71	60.7	24%	53	−8.0
2	Caden Novikoff	Houston	1167	93	61.3	33%	62	+2.2
3	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	976	80	61.1	41%	46	−14.2
4	Joseph Petrino	Maryland	960	64	56.5	17%	52	−18.3
5	Asa Fuller	Fresno State	931	82	60.7	27%	60	+3.6
6	Matthew Wright	UCF	931	92	60.9	35%	58	−3.5
7	Peyton Henry	Washington	880	69	60.1	30%	47	−5.4
8	Zach Emerson	Oregon	878	74	61.8	31%	51	+1.8
9	Bailey Hale	Louisiana Tech	845	59	57.6	17%	48	−13.6
10	Kyle Pfau	Louisiana	819	67	57.8	25%	50	−13.3
11	Kyle Bambard	NC State	814	77	61.2	35%	49	+6.8
12	Michael Rubino	App State	792	78	61.9	59%	32	−12.0
13	Jared Smolar	Indiana	782	64	57.7	36%	40	−15.2
14	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	775	53	60.9	25%	40	−2.1
15	Danny Longman	Boston College	755	60	61.4	22%	46	+0.4
16	Michael Farkas	Ohio	743	86	59.0	24%	65	+6.1
17	Landon Salyers	Army	736	65	59.1	17%	54	−0.5
18	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	736	45	57.6	13%	39	−13.6
19	Will Mobley	Temple	731	71	56.6	18%	57	−5.3
20	Kevin Robledo	SMU	728	61	53.6	18%	50	−11.7
21	Massimo Biscardi	Coastal Carolina	728	44	59.0	20%	35	−2.7
22	Justin Rohrwasser	Marshall	712	64	61.4	41%	38	+1.2
23	Jack Crane	Washington State	709	78	61.4	47%	41	−6.1
24	Joseph Bulovas	Alabama	705	108	61.9	63%	38	+6.1
25	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	702	47	54.3	13%	41	−20.8
26	Cooper Garcia	Massachusetts	678	53	59.2	23%	41	−5.6
27	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	661	73	60.6	41%	42	−4.6
28	Scott Goodman	Mississippi State	661	63	62.9	49%	31	+0.2
29	Jameson Vest	Toledo	658	88	62.8	57%	38	+3.0
30	Nate Needham	Bowling Green	652	55	56.4	16%	46	−5.1
31	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	649	64	55.1	19%	51	−3.6
32	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	625	52	59.9	21%	41	+1.7
33	Tucker McCann	Missouri	612	86	62.0	59%	35	−0.3
34	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	610	100	63.1	62%	38	+10.2
35	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	608	59	60.2	36%	38	+8.6
36	Ramiz Ahmed	Nevada	606	73	64.1	60%	29	+6.2
37	Chris Francis	Iowa State	594	59	59.3	31%	39	+3.2
38	Evan Staley	West Virginia	589	68	60.5	38%	42	−2.5
39	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	586	63	59.3	41%	37	+3.0
40	Adam Mitcheson	Buffalo	585	84	59.5	58%	35	−4.6
41	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	581	76	59.1	41%	45	+4.4
42	Spencer Evans	Purdue	577	70	62.0	59%	29	−6.4
43	JJ Molson	UCLA	574	59	64.1	64%	21	−2.9
44	Evan McPherson	Florida	572	72	63.9	53%	34	+10.6
45	Bennett Moehring	Navy	562	38	59.4	16%	31	−3.6
46	Riley Patterson	Memphis	556	97	62.0	61%	36	+5.2
47	Darren Ford	Wake Forest	550	56	63.0	50%	28	+1.8
48	Colt McFadden	Kent State	549	54	55.2	26%	40	−16.9
49	Cole Bunce	TCU	549	59	59.4	32%	39	−2.2
50	Cameron Dicker	Texas	541	76	63.2	62%	29	+4.2
51	Emmit Carpenter	Minnesota	537	66	61.0	50%	33	−2.4
52	B.T. Potter	Clemson	533	100	64.1	69%	31	+20.9
53	Aaron Peart	Liberty	531	51	59.2	41%	30	−8.7
54	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	529	68	62.6	59%	28	−4.3
55	Bryce Crawford	San José State	527	54	58.7	33%	36	−6.7
56	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	523	66	63.1	53%	28	+1.0
57	Bubba Baxa	Miami	522	67	61.6	61%	26	+0.2
58	Andrew Mikkelsen	BYU	510	54	61.9	37%	34	+8.3
59	Cameron Braaten	Western Michigan	510	33	58.2	6%	31	−0.7
60	Austin Laszewski	Florida Atlantic	500	55	56.9	7%	51	+3.8
61	Blanton Creque	Louisville	497	43	60.4	30%	30	+0.4
62	Jake Moody	Michigan	492	85	61.3	59%	31	−18.4
63	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	488	53	62.0	53%	25	−7.0
64	John Parker Romo	Tulsa	487	58	61.7	48%	30	−0.5
65	Jesse Kelly	Eastern Michigan	475	58	59.4	31%	40	−1.2
66	Cole Hahn	Michigan State	475	56	60.4	46%	30	−1.1
67	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	469	52	63.7	48%	27	+1.5
68	Michael Tarbutt	UConn	468	33	58.9	33%	21	−11.7
69	Brandon Ruiz	Arizona State	467	72	63.2	61%	28	+3.2
70	Chris Landgrebe	California	467	51	63.3	57%	22	+5.8
71	James Sherman	Texas State	465	51	61.2	35%	32	+3.6
72	Brian Delaney	Virginia	460	67	63.3	66%	23	+2.0
73	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	457	96	61.8	57%	33	+12.3
74	Davis Price	Colorado	457	63	63.1	52%	30	+10.1
75	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	457	62	63.6	63%	23	+6.7
76	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	456	53	62.4	51%	26	+10.7
77	Matt Gay	Utah	447	77	63.8	71%	22	+6.7
78	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	447	63	62.6	67%	21	+10.1
79	Andrew Gantz	Northern Illinois	446	45	61.9	40%	27	−2.0
80	Clayton Hatfield	Texas Tech	445	86	61.9	57%	36	+6.5
81	Jake Stone	South Florida	445	43	55.6	28%	30	−6.4
82	Jake Koehnke	Air Force	433	56	61.0	41%	33	+11.1
83	Jake Collins	Northwestern	430	27	55.6	11%	24	−7.6
84	Jacob Meeks	UL Monroe	428	60	61.5	45%	33	+8.6
85	Rafael Checa	Penn State	424	73	61.6	53%	31	+4.6
86	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	423	40	58.8	23%	26	+2.5
87	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	422	51	62.9	59%	21	−1.8
88	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	420	71	63.9	68%	23	+1.8
89	Jake McClure	Oklahoma State	407	81	63.2	62%	29	+3.0
90	Nick McLellan	Kansas State	405	36	61.3	25%	27	+3.3
91	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	398	48	62.9	56%	21	+0.4
92	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	396	54	61.6	57%	23	0.0
93	Liam Jones	Kansas	395	49	60.3	43%	27	+3.2
94	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	393	104	64.8	86%	15	−2.0
95	Grant McKinniss	Kentucky	392	60	61.7	55%	27	+6.6
96	Drew Galitz	Baylor	387	56	62.6	59%	23	+5.5
97	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	383	93	64.1	61%	34	+21.1
98	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	382	31	56.6	10%	28	+4.6
99	Alex Stadthaus	USC	382	60	64.7	63%	21	−0.6
100	Miguel Recinos	Iowa	378	72	61.8	54%	33	−16.5
101	Alex Probert	Liberty	377	19	57.8	26%	14	−6.0
102	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	370	33	58.4	39%	20	−3.1
103	Freeman Jones	North Carolina	368	56	64.2	57%	24	+10.5
104	AJ Reed	Duke	368	25	61.6	16%	21	+4.2
105	Ryley Guay	Vanderbilt	361	63	64.1	71%	18	+4.3
106	Josh Grant	Western Michigan	353	27	55.5	7%	25	−3.5
107	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	347	49	63.0	55%	22	+2.5
108	Hunter Duplessis	UTSA	340	29	58.3	24%	22	−1.8
109	Noah Iden	UConn	326	20	58.8	30%	14	−7.2
110	Eric Osteen	Wake Forest	324	18	59.9	28%	13	−4.0
111	Evan Pantels	UNLV	321	52	60.4	48%	27	+1.3
112	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	313	91	64.2	86%	13	+1.7
113	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	310	62	64.2	66%	21	+6.5
114	Zachary Block	Tulane	307	47	62.9	62%	18	+2.0
115	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	306	54	62.9	54%	21	+3.7
116	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	306	40	62.0	60%	16	−0.2
117	Wyatt Bryan	Colorado State	302	35	58.1	31%	24	+0.7
118	Jack Driggers	Duke	293	36	62.7	50%	18	+5.7
119	Mike Caggiano	Massachusetts	286	15	59.7	7%	14	+1.1
120	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	282	35	61.0	37%	22	+2.6
121	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	282	45	63.4	67%	15	+1.3
122	Logan Tyler	Florida State	282	51	63.0	69%	14	−4.4
123	Michael Boyle	Hawai'i	279	27	60.3	30%	19	−3.0
124	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	276	58	64.8	76%	14	+7.5
125	Jack Fox	Rice	264	51	63.8	67%	17	+9.8
126	John Baron II	San Diego State	259	62	62.8	71%	18	−0.3
127	Myles Prosser	Coastal Carolina	256	18	56.6	17%	15	−1.6
128	Blake Lynch	Kansas State	256	13	59.8	0%	13	+2.0
129	Justin Yoon	Notre Dame	245	24	59.8	29%	14	+0.5
130	Trent Schneider	South Florida	241	22	57.5	27%	16	−0.2
131	Barry Brown	Georgia State	227	24	53.8	17%	17	−2.8
132	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	209	70	64.5	70%	20	+13.1
133	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	204	73	63.7	82%	13	+0.5
134	Crews Holt	Middle Tennessee	192	10	56.9	0%	10	−2.2
135	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	190	62	64.0	82%	11	+3.6
136	Barret Pickering	Nebraska	181	18	59.8	33%	12	+2.5
137	Sean Young	Florida International	177	52	64.9	81%	10	+7.2
138	Danny Sutton	New Mexico	175	49	62.9	69%	15	+10.0
139	Parker White	South Carolina	172	19	64.5	68%	6	−0.7
140	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	167	29	58.2	59%	8	−5.4
141	Jake Bailey	Stanford	166	69	64.3	83%	12	+8.4
142	Calvin Linden	Louisiana	166	9	58.7	11%	8	−1.7
143	Anders Carlson	Auburn	165	60	64.4	82%	11	+6.3
144	Jose Borregales	Florida International	163	17	58.1	35%	11	+1.1
145	Drew Luckenbaugh	Northwestern	161	26	57.9	27%	19	+2.0
146	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	161	13	56.5	8%	11	+1.4
147	Jordan Stout	Virginia Tech	160	67	64.8	90%	7	+6.9
148	Evan O'Hara	Louisville	157	7	60.9	14%	6	−0.8
149	Luke Hogan	West Virginia	156	13	59.1	31%	9	−2.2
150	Colton Lichtenberg	Boston College	152	8	60.5	13%	7	−2.3
151	Nick Vogel	UAB	134	72	64.5	88%	9	+3.1
152	Andrew Hicks	Kansas State	127	9	61.9	0%	9	+0.2
153	Charlie Kuhbander	Northwestern	125	6	60.5	17%	5	−0.2
154	Jay Sedwick	Baylor	119	7	62.9	43%	4	−1.7
155	Hayes Hicken	UNLV	114	4	63.0	25%	3	−2.0
156	Alexander Woznick	South Carolina	108	12	58.1	33%	8	+0.1
157	Will Tommie	South Carolina	108	40	64.2	83%	7	+6.5
158	Avery Atkins	LSU	106	69	64.0	93%	5	+5.1
159	Ryan Tice	Central Michigan	101	7	62.1	14%	6	−2.1
160	Parker Shaunfield	Southern Miss	99	21	49.1	24%	16	−0.3
161	Owen White	Navy	90	16	56.1	13%	14	−0.1
162	Matthew Philichi	Air Force	84	10	62.5	60%	4	+0.7
163	Myles Homan	Purdue	81	3	57.3	0%	3	−1.7
164	Jared Sackett	UTSA	80	10	55.2	0%	10	+2.7
165	Lester Coleman	Virginia	77	1	57.0	0%	1	+0.4
166	Aaron Boumerhi	Temple	75	4	59.3	0%	4	+0.4
167	Adam Stack	Oregon	73	4	57.0	0%	4	−1.5
168	Jake Pinegar	Penn State	68	3	61.3	0%	3	−0.2
169	Vladimir Rivas	Florida Atlantic	67	10	60.4	30%	7	+2.2
170	Peyton Paddock	Iowa State	67	5	54.8	0%	5	+0.9
171	Zach Williams	North Texas	66	9	58.6	33%	6	−0.3
172	J.R. Osborn	Navy	66	6	61.5	33%	4	+0.9
173	John Richardson	Northern Illinois	62	6	63.7	50%	3	+1.0
174	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	62	5	65.0	40%	3	+0.7
175	Wesley Wells	Georgia Tech	61	5	61.8	20%	4	+0.3
176	Quinn Skillin	Boise State	59	17	63.9	71%	5	+2.4
177	Nick Rice	Old Dominion	56	5	54.0	0%	5	−0.5
178	Dylan Kelly-Romero	New Mexico	55	8	60.6	38%	5	+0.8
179	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	54	15	58.5	60%	6	−1.5
180	Stuart Ashley	Liberty	54	2	62.5	0%	2	−0.5
181	Ian Shannon	Auburn	51	9	63.4	56%	4	+0.8
182	Adam Williams	Memphis	51	3	56.7	0%	3	−3.2
183	Kenneth Almendares	Louisiana	51	4	56.3	25%	3	+0.8
184	Haden Hoggarth	Boise State	47	5	59.8	40%	3	+0.1
185	Jordan Woods	Florida International	47	3	63.0	0%	3	−0.4
186	Gavin Haggerty	Rutgers	46	3	56.3	0%	3	+1.1
187	Calum Sutherland	Oklahoma	45	3	50.3	0%	3	−0.8
188	Joshua Earl	Northern Illinois	44	4	62.0	25%	3	−0.4
189	Gabriel Rui	Kansas	43	3	62.7	33%	2	+0.3
190	Dane Roy	Houston	41	2	51.0	0%	1	−3.2
191	Michael Salerno	SMU	40	4	58.5	50%	2	−0.9
192	Matt Hockett	Oklahoma State	39	5	60.2	20%	2	+0.7
193	Jorge Powell	Florida	38	7	59.0	29%	4	+2.1
194	Stephen Ruiz	New Mexico	38	2	64.5	0%	2	+0.9
195	Patrick LeCorre	Ball State	34	5	64.2	20%	4	+0.7
196	Connor Coles	Utah State	33	1	64.0	0%	1	−0.6
197	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	32	8	51.5	38%	5	−3.4
198	Casey Legg	West Virginia	32	1	53.0	0%	1	−1.6
199	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	30	4	61.3	50%	2	+0.8
200	Trenton Gill	NC State	30	3	64.3	33%	2	−1.3
201	Austin Jones	Alabama	28	1	54.0	0%	1	−1.1
202	Justin Tobin	Penn State	27	2	56.0	50%	1	+0.4
203	Matt Wylie	UL Monroe	27	1	59.0	0%	1	−0.1
204	Taylor Hintze	Utah State	26	4	65.0	75%	1	+0.4
205	Skyler Southam	BYU	25	3	26.7	0%	3	−5.5
206	James McCourt	Illinois	23	1	65.0	0%	1	+0.2
207	Ricky Aguayo	Florida State	23	2	55.0	50%	1	0.0
208	Evan Legassey	Troy	20	4	46.3	0%	4	+0.4
209	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	20	1	63.0	0%	1	+0.3
210	Devin Anctil	Kansas State	19	2	47.0	0%	2	−0.2
211	P.J. Rosowski	Wisconsin	19	1	60.0	0%	1	+0.2
212	Andrew David	TCU	18	3	62.3	0%	3	+0.4
213	Alejandro Cardenas	Miami	18	2	63.5	50%	1	+0.5
214	Alex Trifonovitch	Hawai'i	18	1	51.0	0%	1	−0.4
215	Corey Hare	Ohio	18	1	61.0	0%	1	+0.3
216	Rhett Almond	BYU	17	3	62.3	33%	2	+1.9
217	Matthew Trickett	Kent State	16	2	48.5	0%	2	+0.2
218	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	16	1	49.0	0%	1	−1.9
219	Gabe Brkic	Oklahoma	15	4	59.5	75%	1	−0.6
220	Gabe Siemieniec	California	15	2	64.0	50%	1	+0.7
221	Trey Klock	Northwestern	14	1	57.0	0%	1	+0.3
222	Chris Kessler	Texas State	12	1	52.0	0%	1	+0.1
223	Paul Inzerillo	Maryland	12	1	39.0	0%	1	−1.0
224	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	12	1	60.0	0%	1	−0.4
225	Cameron Syblis	Florida Atlantic	11	1	50.0	0%	1	0.0
226	Merek Glover	Tulane	10	2	25.0	0%	2	−2.1
227	Collin Wareham	Duke	10	1	65.0	0%	1	+1.0
228	Jamie Sackville	SMU	10	1	69.0	0%	1	−0.2
229	Gavin Peddie	Western Michigan	8	1	61.0	0%	1	0.0
230	Isaac Armstrong	Nebraska	4	1	52.0	0%	1	−0.4
231	John Mack	Minnesota	1	1	60.0	0%	1	+0.9

All 2018 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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