2018 College Kickoff Touchback Percentage Leaders

The share of a kickoff specialist's kickoffs that were touchbacks. High means power; whether it is good depends on the rules and the coach's plan.

More is better under this season's rules: a touchback ends the play with no return. Only specialists with enough kickoffs are ranked. In 2018, Avery Atkins (93%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Jordan Stout (90%) and Nick Vogel (88%). 128 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 50%.

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

All 2018 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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