2018 College Kickoff Returns Allowed Leaders

Kickoffs the receiving team brought out of the end zone. More returns mean more chances for a big return, but also more chances to be tackled short.

Compare with return yards allowed. In 2018, Michael Farkas (65) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff returns allowed, ahead of Caden Novikoff (62) and Asa Fuller (60). 247 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	Returns	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Points
1	Michael Farkas	Ohio	65	86	59.0	24%	+6.1
2	Caden Novikoff	Houston	62	93	61.3	33%	+2.2
3	Asa Fuller	Fresno State	60	82	60.7	27%	+3.6
4	Matthew Wright	UCF	58	92	60.9	35%	−3.5
5	Will Mobley	Temple	57	71	56.6	18%	−5.3
6	Landon Salyers	Army	54	65	59.1	17%	−0.5
7	Shawn Davis	Georgia Tech	53	71	60.7	24%	−8.0
8	Joseph Petrino	Maryland	52	64	56.5	17%	−18.3
9	Zach Emerson	Oregon	51	74	61.8	31%	+1.8
10	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	51	64	55.1	19%	−3.6
11	Austin Laszewski	Florida Atlantic	51	55	56.9	7%	+3.8
12	Kyle Pfau	Louisiana	50	67	57.8	25%	−13.3
13	Kevin Robledo	SMU	50	61	53.6	18%	−11.7
14	Kyle Bambard	NC State	49	77	61.2	35%	+6.8
15	Bailey Hale	Louisiana Tech	48	59	57.6	17%	−13.6
16	Peyton Henry	Washington	47	69	60.1	30%	−5.4
17	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	46	80	61.1	41%	−14.2
18	Danny Longman	Boston College	46	60	61.4	22%	+0.4
19	Nate Needham	Bowling Green	46	55	56.4	16%	−5.1
20	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	45	76	59.1	41%	+4.4
21	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	42	73	60.6	41%	−4.6
22	Evan Staley	West Virginia	42	68	60.5	38%	−2.5
23	Jack Crane	Washington State	41	78	61.4	47%	−6.1
24	Cooper Garcia	Massachusetts	41	53	59.2	23%	−5.6
25	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	41	52	59.9	21%	+1.7
26	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	41	47	54.3	13%	−20.8
27	Jared Smolar	Indiana	40	64	57.7	36%	−15.2
28	Jesse Kelly	Eastern Michigan	40	58	59.4	31%	−1.2
29	Colt McFadden	Kent State	40	54	55.2	26%	−16.9
30	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	40	53	60.9	25%	−2.1
31	Chris Francis	Iowa State	39	59	59.3	31%	+3.2
32	Cole Bunce	TCU	39	59	59.4	32%	−2.2
33	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	39	45	57.6	13%	−13.6
34	Joseph Bulovas	Alabama	38	108	61.9	63%	+6.1
35	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	38	100	63.1	62%	+10.2
36	Jameson Vest	Toledo	38	88	62.8	57%	+3.0
37	Justin Rohrwasser	Marshall	38	64	61.4	41%	+1.2
38	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	38	59	60.2	36%	+8.6
39	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	37	63	59.3	41%	+3.0
40	Riley Patterson	Memphis	36	97	62.0	61%	+5.2
41	Clayton Hatfield	Texas Tech	36	86	61.9	57%	+6.5
42	Bryce Crawford	San José State	36	54	58.7	33%	−6.7
43	Tucker McCann	Missouri	35	86	62.0	59%	−0.3
44	Adam Mitcheson	Buffalo	35	84	59.5	58%	−4.6
45	Massimo Biscardi	Coastal Carolina	35	44	59.0	20%	−2.7
46	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	34	93	64.1	61%	+21.1
47	Evan McPherson	Florida	34	72	63.9	53%	+10.6
48	Andrew Mikkelsen	BYU	34	54	61.9	37%	+8.3
49	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	33	96	61.8	57%	+12.3
50	Miguel Recinos	Iowa	33	72	61.8	54%	−16.5
51	Emmit Carpenter	Minnesota	33	66	61.0	50%	−2.4
52	Jacob Meeks	UL Monroe	33	60	61.5	45%	+8.6
53	Jake Koehnke	Air Force	33	56	61.0	41%	+11.1
54	Michael Rubino	App State	32	78	61.9	59%	−12.0
55	James Sherman	Texas State	32	51	61.2	35%	+3.6
56	B.T. Potter	Clemson	31	100	64.1	69%	+20.9
57	Jake Moody	Michigan	31	85	61.3	59%	−18.4
58	Rafael Checa	Penn State	31	73	61.6	53%	+4.6
59	Scott Goodman	Mississippi State	31	63	62.9	49%	+0.2
60	Bennett Moehring	Navy	31	38	59.4	16%	−3.6
61	Cameron Braaten	Western Michigan	31	33	58.2	6%	−0.7
62	Davis Price	Colorado	30	63	63.1	52%	+10.1
63	John Parker Romo	Tulsa	30	58	61.7	48%	−0.5
64	Cole Hahn	Michigan State	30	56	60.4	46%	−1.1
65	Aaron Peart	Liberty	30	51	59.2	41%	−8.7
66	Blanton Creque	Louisville	30	43	60.4	30%	+0.4
67	Jake Stone	South Florida	30	43	55.6	28%	−6.4
68	Jake McClure	Oklahoma State	29	81	63.2	62%	+3.0
69	Cameron Dicker	Texas	29	76	63.2	62%	+4.2
70	Ramiz Ahmed	Nevada	29	73	64.1	60%	+6.2
71	Spencer Evans	Purdue	29	70	62.0	59%	−6.4
72	Brandon Ruiz	Arizona State	28	72	63.2	61%	+3.2
73	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	28	68	62.6	59%	−4.3
74	Bratcher Underwood	Troy	28	66	63.1	53%	+1.0
75	Darren Ford	Wake Forest	28	56	63.0	50%	+1.8
76	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	28	31	56.6	10%	+4.6
77	Grant McKinniss	Kentucky	27	60	61.7	55%	+6.6
78	Evan Pantels	UNLV	27	52	60.4	48%	+1.3
79	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	27	52	63.7	48%	+1.5
80	Liam Jones	Kansas	27	49	60.3	43%	+3.2
81	Andrew Gantz	Northern Illinois	27	45	61.9	40%	−2.0
82	Nick McLellan	Kansas State	27	36	61.3	25%	+3.3
83	Bubba Baxa	Miami	26	67	61.6	61%	+0.2
84	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	26	53	62.4	51%	+10.7
85	Sawyer Williams	Arkansas State	26	40	58.8	23%	+2.5
86	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	25	53	62.0	53%	−7.0
87	Josh Grant	Western Michigan	25	27	55.5	7%	−3.5
88	Freeman Jones	North Carolina	24	56	64.2	57%	+10.5
89	Wyatt Bryan	Colorado State	24	35	58.1	31%	+0.7
90	Jake Collins	Northwestern	24	27	55.6	11%	−7.6
91	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	23	71	63.9	68%	+1.8
92	Brian Delaney	Virginia	23	67	63.3	66%	+2.0
93	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	23	62	63.6	63%	+6.7
94	Drew Galitz	Baylor	23	56	62.6	59%	+5.5
95	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	23	54	61.6	57%	0.0
96	Matt Gay	Utah	22	77	63.8	71%	+6.7
97	Chris Landgrebe	California	22	51	63.3	57%	+5.8
98	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	22	49	63.0	55%	+2.5
99	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	22	35	61.0	37%	+2.6
100	Hunter Duplessis	UTSA	22	29	58.3	24%	−1.8
101	Chase McLaughlin	Illinois	21	63	62.6	67%	+10.1
102	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	21	62	64.2	66%	+6.5
103	Alex Stadthaus	USC	21	60	64.7	63%	−0.6
104	JJ Molson	UCLA	21	59	64.1	64%	−2.9
105	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	21	54	62.9	54%	+3.7
106	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	21	51	62.9	59%	−1.8
107	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	21	48	62.9	56%	+0.4
108	Michael Tarbutt	UConn	21	33	58.9	33%	−11.7
109	AJ Reed	Duke	21	25	61.6	16%	+4.2
110	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	20	70	64.5	70%	+13.1
111	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	20	33	58.4	39%	−3.1
112	Michael Boyle	Hawai'i	19	27	60.3	30%	−3.0
113	Drew Luckenbaugh	Northwestern	19	26	57.9	27%	+2.0
114	Ryley Guay	Vanderbilt	18	63	64.1	71%	+4.3
115	John Baron II	San Diego State	18	62	62.8	71%	−0.3
116	Zachary Block	Tulane	18	47	62.9	62%	+2.0
117	Jack Driggers	Duke	18	36	62.7	50%	+5.7
118	Jack Fox	Rice	17	51	63.8	67%	+9.8
119	Barry Brown	Georgia State	17	24	53.8	17%	−2.8
120	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	16	40	62.0	60%	−0.2
121	Trent Schneider	South Florida	16	22	57.5	27%	−0.2
122	Parker Shaunfield	Southern Miss	16	21	49.1	24%	−0.3
123	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	15	104	64.8	86%	−2.0
124	Danny Sutton	New Mexico	15	49	62.9	69%	+10.0
125	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	15	45	63.4	67%	+1.3
126	Myles Prosser	Coastal Carolina	15	18	56.6	17%	−1.6
127	Caleb Pratt	East Carolina	14	58	64.8	76%	+7.5
128	Logan Tyler	Florida State	14	51	63.0	69%	−4.4
129	Justin Yoon	Notre Dame	14	24	59.8	29%	+0.5
130	Noah Iden	UConn	14	20	58.8	30%	−7.2
131	Alex Probert	Liberty	14	19	57.8	26%	−6.0
132	Owen White	Navy	14	16	56.1	13%	−0.1
133	Mike Caggiano	Massachusetts	14	15	59.7	7%	+1.1
134	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	13	91	64.2	86%	+1.7
135	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	13	73	63.7	82%	+0.5
136	Eric Osteen	Wake Forest	13	18	59.9	28%	−4.0
137	Blake Lynch	Kansas State	13	13	59.8	0%	+2.0
138	Jake Bailey	Stanford	12	69	64.3	83%	+8.4
139	Barret Pickering	Nebraska	12	18	59.8	33%	+2.5
140	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	11	62	64.0	82%	+3.6
141	Anders Carlson	Auburn	11	60	64.4	82%	+6.3
142	Jose Borregales	Florida International	11	17	58.1	35%	+1.1
143	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	11	13	56.5	8%	+1.4
144	Sean Young	Florida International	10	52	64.9	81%	+7.2
145	Crews Holt	Middle Tennessee	10	10	56.9	0%	−2.2
146	Jared Sackett	UTSA	10	10	55.2	0%	+2.7
147	Nick Vogel	UAB	9	72	64.5	88%	+3.1
148	Luke Hogan	West Virginia	9	13	59.1	31%	−2.2
149	Andrew Hicks	Kansas State	9	9	61.9	0%	+0.2
150	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	8	29	58.2	59%	−5.4
151	Alexander Woznick	South Carolina	8	12	58.1	33%	+0.1
152	Calvin Linden	Louisiana	8	9	58.7	11%	−1.7
153	Jordan Stout	Virginia Tech	7	67	64.8	90%	+6.9
154	Will Tommie	South Carolina	7	40	64.2	83%	+6.5
155	Vladimir Rivas	Florida Atlantic	7	10	60.4	30%	+2.2
156	Colton Lichtenberg	Boston College	7	8	60.5	13%	−2.3
157	Parker White	South Carolina	6	19	64.5	68%	−0.7
158	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	6	15	58.5	60%	−1.5
159	Zach Williams	North Texas	6	9	58.6	33%	−0.3
160	Evan O'Hara	Louisville	6	7	60.9	14%	−0.8
161	Ryan Tice	Central Michigan	6	7	62.1	14%	−2.1
162	Avery Atkins	LSU	5	69	64.0	93%	+5.1
163	Quinn Skillin	Boise State	5	17	63.9	71%	+2.4
164	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	5	8	51.5	38%	−3.4
165	Dylan Kelly-Romero	New Mexico	5	8	60.6	38%	+0.8
166	Charlie Kuhbander	Northwestern	5	6	60.5	17%	−0.2
167	Nick Rice	Old Dominion	5	5	54.0	0%	−0.5
168	Peyton Paddock	Iowa State	5	5	54.8	0%	+0.9
169	Matthew Philichi	Air Force	4	10	62.5	60%	+0.7
170	Ian Shannon	Auburn	4	9	63.4	56%	+0.8
171	Jay Sedwick	Baylor	4	7	62.9	43%	−1.7
172	Jorge Powell	Florida	4	7	59.0	29%	+2.1
173	J.R. Osborn	Navy	4	6	61.5	33%	+0.9
174	Patrick LeCorre	Ball State	4	5	64.2	20%	+0.7
175	Wesley Wells	Georgia Tech	4	5	61.8	20%	+0.3
176	Aaron Boumerhi	Temple	4	4	59.3	0%	+0.4
177	Adam Stack	Oregon	4	4	57.0	0%	−1.5
178	Evan Legassey	Troy	4	4	46.3	0%	+0.4
179	John Richardson	Northern Illinois	3	6	63.7	50%	+1.0
180	Haden Hoggarth	Boise State	3	5	59.8	40%	+0.1
181	Parker Davidson	New Mexico State	3	5	65.0	40%	+0.7
182	Hayes Hicken	UNLV	3	4	63.0	25%	−2.0
183	Joshua Earl	Northern Illinois	3	4	62.0	25%	−0.4
184	Kenneth Almendares	Louisiana	3	4	56.3	25%	+0.8
185	Adam Williams	Memphis	3	3	56.7	0%	−3.2
186	Andrew David	TCU	3	3	62.3	0%	+0.4
187	Calum Sutherland	Oklahoma	3	3	50.3	0%	−0.8
188	Gavin Haggerty	Rutgers	3	3	56.3	0%	+1.1
189	Jake Pinegar	Penn State	3	3	61.3	0%	−0.2
190	Jordan Woods	Florida International	3	3	63.0	0%	−0.4
191	Myles Homan	Purdue	3	3	57.3	0%	−1.7
192	Skyler Southam	BYU	3	3	26.7	0%	−5.5
193	Matt Hockett	Oklahoma State	2	5	60.2	20%	+0.7
194	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	2	4	61.3	50%	+0.8
195	Michael Salerno	SMU	2	4	58.5	50%	−0.9
196	Gabriel Rui	Kansas	2	3	62.7	33%	+0.3
197	Rhett Almond	BYU	2	3	62.3	33%	+1.9
198	Trenton Gill	NC State	2	3	64.3	33%	−1.3
199	Devin Anctil	Kansas State	2	2	47.0	0%	−0.2
200	Matthew Trickett	Kent State	2	2	48.5	0%	+0.2
201	Merek Glover	Tulane	2	2	25.0	0%	−2.1
202	Stephen Ruiz	New Mexico	2	2	64.5	0%	+0.9
203	Stuart Ashley	Liberty	2	2	62.5	0%	−0.5
204	Gabe Brkic	Oklahoma	1	4	59.5	75%	−0.6
205	Taylor Hintze	Utah State	1	4	65.0	75%	+0.4
206	Jace Christmann	Mississippi State	1	3	46.3	67%	+0.9
207	Alejandro Cardenas	Miami	1	2	63.5	50%	+0.5
208	Dane Roy	Houston	1	2	51.0	0%	−3.2
209	Gabe Siemieniec	California	1	2	64.0	50%	+0.7
210	Justin Tobin	Penn State	1	2	56.0	50%	+0.4
211	Ricky Aguayo	Florida State	1	2	55.0	50%	0.0
212	Alex Trifonovitch	Hawai'i	1	1	51.0	0%	−0.4
213	Austin Jones	Alabama	1	1	54.0	0%	−1.1
214	Blake Hayes	Illinois	1	1	53.0	0%	0.0
215	Caleb Shudak	Iowa	1	1	55.0	0%	+0.1
216	Cameron Syblis	Florida Atlantic	1	1	50.0	0%	0.0
217	Casey Legg	West Virginia	1	1	53.0	0%	−1.6
218	Chris Kessler	Texas State	1	1	52.0	0%	+0.1
219	Collin Wareham	Duke	1	1	65.0	0%	+1.0
220	Connor Coles	Utah State	1	1	64.0	0%	−0.6
221	Connor Martin	Baylor	1	1	63.0	0%	+0.1
222	Corey Hare	Ohio	1	1	61.0	0%	+0.3
223	Dalton Witherspoon	Houston	1	1	30.0	0%	−1.2
224	Dario Longhetto	California	1	1	15.0	0%	−2.5
225	Gavin Peddie	Western Michigan	1	1	61.0	0%	0.0
226	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	1	1	63.0	0%	+0.3
227	Greg Thomas	California	1	1	11.0	0%	−3.0
228	Isaac Armstrong	Nebraska	1	1	52.0	0%	−0.4
229	James McCourt	Illinois	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.2
230	Jamie Sackville	SMU	1	1	69.0	0%	−0.2
231	John Mack	Minnesota	1	1	60.0	0%	+0.9
232	Kyle Corbett	Charlotte	1	1	19.0	0%	−3.0
233	Lester Coleman	Virginia	1	1	57.0	0%	+0.4
234	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	1	1	30.0	0%	−3.5
235	Matt Wylie	UL Monroe	1	1	59.0	0%	−0.1
236	Michael Brown	USC	1	1	13.0	0%	−2.3
237	Oscar Draguicevich III	Washington State	1	1	70.0	0%	−2.5
238	P.J. Rosowski	Wisconsin	1	1	60.0	0%	+0.2
239	Paul Inzerillo	Maryland	1	1	39.0	0%	−1.0
240	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	1	1	60.0	0%	−0.4
241	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	1	1	49.0	0%	−1.9
242	Sebastian Valerio	Washington	1	1	46.0	0%	+0.1
243	Spencer Cole	Ole Miss	1	1	57.0	0%	+0.1
244	Thomas Bennett	Tulsa	1	1	55.0	0%	+0.1
245	Trevor Denbow	SMU	1	1	11.0	0%	−2.7
246	Trey Klock	Northwestern	1	1	57.0	0%	+0.3
247	Wade Lees	Maryland	1	1	56.0	0%	−1.2

All 2018 College kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Returns 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

Loading the interactive stats…