2018 College Kickoff Touchbacks Leaders

Kickoffs that reached the end zone and were kept there, giving the receiving team the ball at its own 25, 30 or 35, depending on the league and the rule that season. A touchback avoids a return but gives up field position.

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

All 2018 College kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Touchbacks 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…