2019 College Kickoff Specialist Rankings

Every college football kickoff specialist with enough work in the 2019 regular season (at least 30), ranked by kickoff points added. Each kickoff's expected-points result compared with the league-average kickoff, added up over the season. Onside kicks are left out. It credits the kicker and the coverage team together.

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 2019 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

2019 College Leaders

Kickoff Touchback Percentage

Tucker McCann (Missouri): 91% 58 of 64
JJ Molson (UCLA): 87% 52 of 60
Avery Atkins (LSU): 86% 96 of 112
Jordan Stout (Penn State): 81% 59 of 73
B.T. Potter (Clemson): 80% 70 of 87

Full Kickoff Touchback Percentage leaderboard

Average Kickoff Return Allowed

Dalton Witherspoon (Houston): 4.2 14 returns
Thiago Kapps (Western Michigan): 6.5 15 returns
Charles Cannon (SMU): 8.2 17 returns
Aaron Shahriari (Florida Atlantic): 8.9 35 returns
Isaac Armstrong (Nebraska): 9.1 15 returns

Full Average Kickoff Return Allowed leaderboard

Kickoff Points Added

Riley Patterson (Memphis): +18.2 94 kickoffs
Zach Hintze (Wisconsin): +16.7 83 kickoffs
B.T. Potter (Clemson): +13.4 87 kickoffs
Noah Rauschenberg (Baylor): +11.7 52 kickoffs
Jake McClure (Oklahoma State): +11.3 72 kickoffs

Full Kickoff Points Added leaderboard

Average Kickoff Distance

JJ Molson (UCLA): 65.0 60 kickoffs
B.T. Potter (Clemson): 64.6 87 kickoffs
Tucker McCann (Missouri): 64.6 64 kickoffs
Zach Hintze (Wisconsin): 64.4 83 kickoffs
John Parker Romo (Virginia Tech): 64.4 39 kickoffs

Full Average Kickoff Distance leaderboard

Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage

Avery Atkins (LSU): 0.0% 0 of 112
Blake Haubeil (Ohio State): 0.0% 0 of 105
Gabe Brkic (Oklahoma): 0.0% 0 of 100
Riley Patterson (Memphis): 0.0% 0 of 94
Chandler Staton (App State): 0.0% 0 of 91

Full Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage leaderboard

30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed

Nick Mihalic (Western Michigan): 0.0% 0 of 44
Skyler Southam (BYU): 0.0% 0 of 42
Nick Rice (Old Dominion): 0.0% 0 of 25
Noah Rauschenberg (Baylor): 0.0% 0 of 21
James McCourt (Illinois): 0.0% 0 of 19

Full 30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed leaderboard

All 2019 College Kickoff Specialist Leaderboards

Kickoffs by Points Added

128 kickoff specialists qualify.

Rk	Player	Team	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Riley Patterson	Memphis	94	63.8	63%	35	+18.2
2	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	83	64.4	80%	17	+16.7
3	B.T. Potter	Clemson	87	64.6	80%	14	+13.4
4	Noah Rauschenberg	Baylor	52	63.1	60%	21	+11.7
5	Jake McClure	Oklahoma State	72	62.7	51%	34	+11.3
6	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	59	62.3	53%	28	+11.0
7	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	59	63.5	73%	15	+10.9
8	Caleb Shudak	Iowa	65	62.2	43%	37	+10.6
9	James McCourt	Illinois	62	63.8	69%	19	+10.6
10	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	79	61.8	51%	37	+10.5
11	Andrew Strauch	Utah	82	62.3	52%	39	+10.2
12	Grant McKinniss	Kentucky	60	62.6	70%	18	+10.2
13	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	79	63.7	78%	13	+9.8
14	Jordan Stout	Penn State	73	63.6	81%	13	+9.3
15	Cameron Dicker	Texas	69	62.5	68%	22	+9.2
16	Joseph Bulovas	Alabama	71	58.9	72%	18	+9.1
17	Skyler Southam	BYU	62	61.4	32%	42	+8.9
18	Kenneth Almendares	Louisiana	89	61.8	49%	45	+8.8
19	Avery Atkins	LSU	112	63.9	86%	14	+8.7
20	John Parker Romo	Virginia Tech	39	64.4	69%	12	+8.5
21	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	56	63.0	57%	24	+8.4
22	Evan McPherson	Florida	71	63.1	69%	22	+8.1
23	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	60	63.8	67%	20	+7.4
24	Aaron Shahriari	Florida Atlantic	53	61.5	34%	35	+6.9
25	Michael Farkas	Ohio	76	58.6	32%	52	+6.7
26	Chandler Staton	App State	91	60.2	33%	61	+6.6
27	Jake Moody	Michigan	71	62.1	73%	19	+6.5
28	Jacob Meeks	UL Monroe	69	63.6	55%	31	+6.1
29	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	84	62.3	63%	30	+6.1
30	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	72	60.6	29%	50	+6.1
31	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	56	60.0	75%	14	+5.9
32	Peyton Paddock	Iowa State	70	58.8	20%	56	+5.8
33	JJ Molson	UCLA	60	65.0	87%	8	+5.7
34	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	105	60.2	58%	44	+5.7
35	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	54	60.0	56%	24	+5.5
36	Grant Ryerse	Minnesota	71	62.3	44%	40	+5.1
37	Gabe Brkic	Oklahoma	100	62.3	62%	38	+5.1
38	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	71	63.4	70%	21	+5.0
39	Nick Vogel	UAB	65	63.8	71%	19	+4.8
40	Camden Lewis	Oregon	83	62.9	36%	51	+4.4
41	Tucker McCann	Missouri	64	64.6	91%	6	+4.2
42	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	57	60.1	23%	44	+4.1
43	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	67	61.3	54%	31	+4.1
44	Will Tommie	South Carolina	52	64.2	63%	19	+3.9
45	Zach Hoban	Rice	33	59.5	42%	19	+3.9
46	Alex Probert	Liberty	74	62.9	64%	27	+3.8
47	Daniel Obarski	UCF	87	61.9	55%	35	+3.8
48	AJ Reed	Duke	57	59.5	26%	41	+3.5
49	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	62	64.2	61%	24	+3.5
50	Andrew Stein	Southern Miss	64	60.3	34%	42	+3.4
51	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	62	62.8	50%	31	+3.3
52	Nathanael Snyder	Indiana	52	62.2	44%	29	+3.1
53	Liam Jones	Kansas	52	60.4	29%	37	+2.8
54	James Stefanou	Colorado	37	62.8	59%	15	+2.7
55	Patrick LeCorre	Ball State	40	60.8	20%	32	+2.6
56	Parker Grothaus	Florida State	57	63.4	70%	17	+2.4
57	Bubba Baxa	Miami	64	63.6	55%	29	+2.3
58	Jack Crane	Washington State	85	61.3	66%	29	+1.9
59	Anders Carlson	Auburn	73	62.7	59%	27	+1.8
60	Brian Delaney	Virginia	80	62.3	68%	26	+1.7
61	Matthew Cluck	UTSA	44	62.7	45%	24	+1.4
62	Will Reichard	Alabama	30	63.2	77%	7	+1.4
63	Trenton Gill	NC State	58	62.7	50%	28	+1.1
64	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	31	58.6	26%	23	+0.7
65	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	58	60.4	62%	22	+0.7
66	Nick Rice	Old Dominion	33	59.3	24%	25	+0.7
67	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	84	63.6	52%	40	+0.6
68	Trey Finison	Northwestern	33	59.9	30%	23	+0.6
69	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	67	62.1	78%	15	+0.5
70	Evan Staley	West Virginia	32	60.5	53%	14	+0.4
71	Vladimir Rivas	Florida Atlantic	32	58.1	28%	23	+0.4
72	J.D. Dellinger	Purdue	59	62.8	68%	19	+0.4
73	Jose Borregales	Florida International	49	61.4	59%	20	+0.3
74	Gabe Siemieniec	California	51	60.5	39%	31	+0.2
75	Zack Long	Tulsa	56	57.8	9%	50	+0.1
76	Julian Diaz	Nevada	49	63.9	65%	17	0.0
77	Trey Wolff	Texas Tech	70	62.0	51%	34	0.0
78	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	50	61.1	58%	21	−0.1
79	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	63	64.0	67%	21	−0.5
80	Jacob LaFree	Temple	61	62.7	49%	31	−0.5
81	Chris Wood	San José State	69	54.4	25%	52	−0.9
82	Donovan Murphree	New Mexico	54	60.9	54%	25	−0.9
83	Cole Hahn	Michigan State	46	59.3	24%	34	−1.0
84	Merek Glover	Tulane	62	61.0	50%	31	−1.1
85	J.R. Osborn	Navy	33	59.9	27%	24	−1.1
86	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	30	57.8	43%	17	−1.2
87	Bailey Hale	Louisiana Tech	74	57.9	12%	65	−1.2
88	Griffin Kell	TCU	33	63.6	39%	20	−1.3
89	Joseph Petrino	Maryland	50	59.7	16%	42	−1.3
90	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	41	55.7	24%	31	−1.5
91	Josh Plaster	Arizona State	30	61.3	20%	23	−1.5
92	William Przystup	Nebraska	33	60.6	30%	23	−2.1
93	Joshua Rowland	Texas State	37	60.9	27%	27	−2.1
94	Jake Koehnke	Air Force	46	61.5	39%	28	−2.6
95	Blanton Creque	Louisville	48	61.6	31%	33	−3.0
96	Scott Goodman	Mississippi State	48	59.6	31%	32	−3.0
97	Chad Ryland	Eastern Michigan	63	60.9	46%	34	−3.1
98	Alex Stadthaus	USC	59	63.4	44%	33	−3.3
99	Michael Rubino	North Carolina	36	61.3	47%	19	−3.3
100	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	66	63.3	56%	29	−3.4
101	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	36	57.3	0%	36	−3.8
102	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	61	62.0	79%	13	−4.3
103	Nick McLellan	Kansas State	37	57.5	30%	26	−4.4
104	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	55	61.8	38%	34	−4.6
105	Asa Fuller	Fresno State	67	59.3	33%	45	−5.1
106	Kyle Ramsey	Houston	55	58.8	44%	31	−5.1
107	Crews Holt	Middle Tennessee	61	57.5	15%	52	−5.5
108	Jack Martin	Troy	68	56.3	34%	45	−5.6
109	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	59	55.3	41%	34	−5.6
110	Nick Sciba	Wake Forest	71	59.5	24%	54	−6.0
111	Landon Salyers	Army	44	56.0	14%	38	−6.4
112	Matthew Trickett	Kent State	66	58.0	42%	36	−6.5
113	Jake Verity	East Carolina	67	63.2	66%	23	−6.8
114	Massimo Biscardi	Coastal Carolina	55	59.6	27%	39	−6.9
115	Danny Longman	Boston College	69	62.2	45%	38	−7.0
116	Cooper Garcia	Massachusetts	41	57.8	24%	31	−7.4
117	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	52	52.7	12%	46	−8.3
118	John Richardson	Northern Illinois	51	59.5	37%	32	−10.0
119	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	43	59.7	51%	21	−10.3
120	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	58	54.3	21%	46	−10.8
121	Russell Roberts	SMU	70	54.3	17%	58	−11.2
122	Spencer Shrader	South Florida	51	56.3	29%	36	−12.4
123	Ryan Tice	Central Michigan	65	58.9	29%	46	−13.2
124	Justin Rohrwasser	Marshall	57	62.6	51%	28	−13.6
125	Mason Lawler	Bowling Green	35	56.1	14%	30	−13.7
126	Diego Guajardo	South Alabama	44	59.8	30%	30	−14.1
127	Alex McNulty	Buffalo	60	58.2	27%	44	−15.2
128	Tim Horn	Washington	73	63.9	60%	29	−19.6

Points compare each kickoff's expected-points result with the league-average kickoff (for college, expected points come from where the receiving team started its first play). Onside kicks are listed separately and left out of points. Average distance is measured from the kicking spot to where the ball was caught or reached the goal line; a touchback counts the full distance. Returns exclude touchbacks, out-of-bounds kicks and fair catches. Minimum 30 kickoffs.

Kickoff Specialist Rankings in Other Seasons

2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2018 · 2017 · 2016 · 2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011

Other 2019 College Rankings

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