2019 College Average Kickoff Distance Leaders

The average length of a specialist's kickoffs in yards, from the kicking spot to where the ball was caught or crossed the goal line. Onside kicks are left out.

A touchback counts the full distance to the goal line, so a deep kick and a kick into the end zone score the same. In 2019, JJ Molson (65.0) led college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff distance, ahead of B.T. Potter (64.6) and Tucker McCann (64.6). 128 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 61.5.

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.

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

All 2019 College kickoff specialist rankings

Average Kickoff Distance in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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