2019 College Average Kickoff Return Allowed Leaders

Return yards divided by returns. It shows how well his kicks and coverage contain returners.

Lower is better. Only specialists with enough returns are ranked. In 2019, Dalton Witherspoon (4.2) topped college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff return allowed, ahead of Thiago Kapps (6.5) and Charles Cannon (8.2). 152 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 16.3.

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 ret	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Dalton Witherspoon	Houston	4.2	16	56.4	13%	14	+1.7
2	Thiago Kapps	Western Michigan	6.5	17	61.2	12%	15	+2.0
3	Charles Cannon	SMU	8.2	17	58.5	0%	17	+3.0
4	Aaron Shahriari	Florida Atlantic	8.9	53	61.5	34%	35	+6.9
5	Isaac Armstrong	Nebraska	9.1	15	46.1	0%	15	−3.7
6	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	9.3	59	63.5	73%	15	+10.9
7	Michael Farkas	Ohio	9.8	76	58.6	32%	52	+6.7
8	Jacob LaFree	Temple	10.0	61	62.7	49%	31	−0.5
9	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	10.1	54	60.0	56%	24	+5.5
10	Nick Rice	Old Dominion	10.3	33	59.3	24%	25	+0.7
11	Brice Honaker	Air Force	10.9	25	58.4	28%	18	0.0
12	Danny Longman	Boston College	11.1	69	62.2	45%	38	−7.0
13	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	11.5	52	52.7	12%	46	−8.3
14	Tristan Mattson	Arkansas State	11.5	18	49.9	6%	17	−5.8
15	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	11.6	25	53.7	36%	15	+2.9
16	Caleb Shudak	Iowa	11.8	65	62.2	43%	37	+10.6
17	Andrew Bagley	Army	11.8	15	61.4	33%	10	−1.6
18	Grant McKinniss	Kentucky	11.8	60	62.6	70%	18	+10.2
19	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	11.9	41	55.7	24%	31	−1.5
20	Jack Martin	Troy	11.9	68	56.3	34%	45	−5.6
21	Merek Glover	Tulane	12.3	62	61.0	50%	31	−1.1
22	John Parker Romo	Virginia Tech	12.6	39	64.4	69%	12	+8.5
23	Casey Legg	West Virginia	12.6	21	57.8	24%	16	−1.0
24	Casey Griffith	Ole Miss	12.7	10	59.6	0%	10	+0.7
25	Evan Staley	West Virginia	12.7	32	60.5	53%	14	+0.4
26	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	12.7	67	62.1	78%	15	+0.5
27	Wesley Wells	Georgia Tech	12.8	14	54.0	14%	12	−3.7
28	Chris Wood	San José State	12.8	69	54.4	25%	52	−0.9
29	James McCourt	Illinois	12.8	62	63.8	69%	19	+10.6
30	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	12.9	30	57.8	43%	17	−1.2
31	Jonathan Song	TCU	12.9	25	56.8	20%	18	−5.5
32	Vladimir Rivas	Florida Atlantic	13.3	32	58.1	28%	23	+0.4
33	Will Harrison	Rice	13.4	14	54.7	7%	13	−4.3
34	AJ Reed	Duke	13.5	57	59.5	26%	41	+3.5
35	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	13.6	57	60.1	23%	44	+4.1
36	Nick Sciba	Wake Forest	13.6	71	59.5	24%	54	−6.0
37	Kenneth Almendares	Louisiana	13.7	89	61.8	49%	45	+8.8
38	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	13.7	71	63.4	70%	21	+5.0
39	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	13.8	56	60.0	75%	14	+5.9
40	Nathanael Snyder	Indiana	13.9	52	62.2	44%	29	+3.1
41	Jack Crane	Washington State	14.0	85	61.3	66%	29	+1.9
42	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	14.1	59	55.3	41%	34	−5.6
43	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	14.1	83	64.4	80%	17	+16.7
44	Liam Jones	Kansas	14.4	52	60.4	29%	37	+2.8
45	Crews Holt	Middle Tennessee	14.4	61	57.5	15%	52	−5.5
46	James Stefanou	Colorado	14.5	37	62.8	59%	15	+2.7
47	Joseph Bulovas	Alabama	14.6	71	58.9	72%	18	+9.1
48	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	14.6	58	54.3	21%	46	−10.8
49	Ben Fee	Navy	14.7	24	59.5	25%	18	−1.3
50	Chandler Staton	App State	14.8	91	60.2	33%	61	+6.6
51	Noah Rauschenberg	Baylor	14.9	52	63.1	60%	21	+11.7
52	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	14.9	59	62.3	53%	28	+11.0
53	Zach Hoban	Rice	14.9	33	59.5	42%	19	+3.9
54	Riley Patterson	Memphis	15.0	94	63.8	63%	35	+18.2
55	Ryan Tice	Central Michigan	15.0	65	58.9	29%	46	−13.2
56	Skyler Southam	BYU	15.1	62	61.4	32%	42	+8.9
57	Andrew Strauch	Utah	15.1	82	62.3	52%	39	+10.2
58	Landon Salyers	Army	15.1	44	56.0	14%	38	−6.4
59	Jake Koehnke	Air Force	15.1	46	61.5	39%	28	−2.6
60	Bijan Nichols	Navy	15.3	24	56.1	38%	15	−7.4
61	Nick McLellan	Kansas State	15.3	37	57.5	30%	26	−4.4
62	Jacob Meeks	UL Monroe	15.3	69	63.6	55%	31	+6.1
63	Cooper Garcia	Massachusetts	15.4	41	57.8	24%	31	−7.4
64	Jet Toner	Stanford	15.4	29	60.9	52%	14	−0.8
65	J.R. Osborn	Navy	15.5	33	59.9	27%	24	−1.1
66	Anders Carlson	Auburn	15.6	73	62.7	59%	27	+1.8
67	Patrick LeCorre	Ball State	15.6	40	60.8	20%	32	+2.6
68	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	15.7	84	63.6	52%	40	+0.6
69	Kyle Ramsey	Houston	15.7	55	58.8	44%	31	−5.1
70	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	15.7	67	61.3	54%	31	+4.1
71	Tim Horn	Washington	15.8	73	63.9	60%	29	−19.6
72	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	15.8	79	61.8	51%	37	+10.5
73	Cameron Dicker	Texas	16.0	69	62.5	68%	22	+9.2
74	Daniel Obarski	UCF	16.1	87	61.9	55%	35	+3.8
75	Alex McNulty	Buffalo	16.1	60	58.2	27%	44	−15.2
76	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	16.3	62	62.8	50%	31	+3.3
77	Griffin Kell	TCU	16.4	33	63.6	39%	20	−1.3
78	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	16.5	43	59.7	51%	21	−10.3
79	Russell Roberts	SMU	16.6	70	54.3	17%	58	−11.2
80	Camden Lewis	Oregon	16.6	83	62.9	36%	51	+4.4
81	Mason Donaldson	UConn	16.6	25	62.0	32%	17	+1.5
82	Massimo Biscardi	Coastal Carolina	16.7	55	59.6	27%	39	−6.9
83	Jake Verity	East Carolina	16.9	67	63.2	66%	23	−6.8
84	Michael Rubino	North Carolina	16.9	36	61.3	47%	19	−3.3
85	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	16.9	61	62.0	79%	13	−4.3
86	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	17.0	58	60.4	62%	22	+0.7
87	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	17.0	60	63.8	67%	20	+7.4
88	Alvin Kenworthy	North Texas	17.0	23	57.9	26%	17	−8.5
89	Jose Borregales	Florida International	17.1	49	61.4	59%	20	+0.3
90	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	17.1	105	60.2	58%	44	+5.7
91	Parker Grothaus	Florida State	17.2	57	63.4	70%	17	+2.4
92	Brenton King	Georgia Tech	17.3	23	57.8	17%	19	−4.3
93	Matthew Trickett	Kent State	17.3	66	58.0	42%	36	−6.5
94	Alex Probert	Liberty	17.3	74	62.9	64%	27	+3.8
95	Jordan Stout	Penn State	17.5	73	63.6	81%	13	+9.3
96	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	17.5	79	63.7	78%	13	+9.8
97	Chad Ryland	Eastern Michigan	17.5	63	60.9	46%	34	−3.1
98	Ryan Rimmler	Ball State	17.5	36	57.3	0%	36	−3.8
99	Jake McClure	Oklahoma State	17.5	72	62.7	51%	34	+11.3
100	Brian Delaney	Virginia	17.5	80	62.3	68%	26	+1.7
101	Gabe Siemieniec	California	17.5	51	60.5	39%	31	+0.2
102	Donovan Murphree	New Mexico	17.6	54	60.9	54%	25	−0.9
103	J.D. Dellinger	Purdue	17.6	59	62.8	68%	19	+0.4
104	Peyton Paddock	Iowa State	17.6	70	58.8	20%	56	+5.8
105	Bailey Hale	Louisiana Tech	17.8	74	57.9	12%	65	−1.2
106	Josh Plaster	Arizona State	17.8	30	61.3	20%	23	−1.5
107	Matthew Cluck	UTSA	17.8	44	62.7	45%	24	+1.4
108	Asa Fuller	Fresno State	17.8	67	59.3	33%	45	−5.1
109	Andrew Stein	Southern Miss	17.9	64	60.3	34%	42	+3.4
110	Cole Hahn	Michigan State	17.9	46	59.3	24%	34	−1.0
111	Jonathan Kim	North Carolina	18.0	29	63.7	62%	11	+6.1
112	Spencer Shrader	South Florida	18.1	51	56.3	29%	36	−12.4
113	Zack Long	Tulsa	18.2	56	57.8	9%	50	+0.1
114	Mason Lawler	Bowling Green	18.2	35	56.1	14%	30	−13.7
115	Trenton Gill	NC State	18.2	58	62.7	50%	28	+1.1
116	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	18.2	84	62.3	63%	30	+6.1
117	Grant Ryerse	Minnesota	18.4	71	62.3	44%	40	+5.1
118	Gabe Brkic	Oklahoma	18.5	100	62.3	62%	38	+5.1
119	Kevin Macias	Arizona State	18.5	28	61.6	32%	19	+1.9
120	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	18.6	66	63.3	56%	29	−3.4
121	Trey Wolff	Texas Tech	18.7	70	62.0	51%	34	0.0
122	Spencer Cole	Ole Miss	18.8	27	58.4	44%	13	−5.9
123	Trey Finison	Northwestern	18.8	33	59.9	30%	23	+0.6
124	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	18.9	50	61.1	58%	21	−0.1
125	Scott Goodman	Mississippi State	19.1	48	59.6	31%	32	−3.0
126	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	19.2	72	60.6	29%	50	+6.1
127	B.T. Potter	Clemson	19.4	87	64.6	80%	14	+13.4
128	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	19.4	63	64.0	67%	21	−0.5
129	Joseph Petrino	Maryland	19.5	50	59.7	16%	42	−1.3
130	Diego Guajardo	South Alabama	19.5	44	59.8	30%	30	−14.1
131	Avery Atkins	LSU	19.6	112	63.9	86%	14	+8.7
132	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	19.7	56	63.0	57%	24	+8.4
133	Nick Vogel	UAB	19.8	65	63.8	71%	19	+4.8
134	John Richardson	Northern Illinois	19.9	51	59.5	37%	32	−10.0
135	Joshua Rowland	Texas State	20.0	37	60.9	27%	27	−2.1
136	Evan McPherson	Florida	20.0	71	63.1	69%	22	+8.1
137	Will Tommie	South Carolina	20.2	52	64.2	63%	19	+3.9
138	Julian Diaz	Nevada	20.3	49	63.9	65%	17	0.0
139	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	21.0	31	58.6	26%	23	+0.7
140	Blanton Creque	Louisville	21.5	48	61.6	31%	33	−3.0
141	William Przystup	Nebraska	21.5	33	60.6	30%	23	−2.1
142	Jay Sedwick	Baylor	21.8	24	59.5	33%	16	+2.6
143	Jake Moody	Michigan	21.9	71	62.1	73%	19	+6.5
144	Justin Ford	Louisville	22.2	16	57.4	19%	13	−8.0
145	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	22.2	62	64.2	61%	24	+3.5
146	Bubba Baxa	Miami	23.1	64	63.6	55%	29	+2.3
147	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	23.4	55	61.8	38%	34	−4.6
148	Justin Rohrwasser	Marshall	24.2	57	62.6	51%	28	−13.6
149	Alex Stadthaus	USC	24.7	59	63.4	44%	33	−3.3
150	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	24.8	27	63.4	56%	12	−0.3
151	Noah Iden	UConn	26.4	14	61.3	21%	11	−2.8
152	Myles Prosser	Coastal Carolina	29.2	13	56.8	8%	12	−9.7

All 2019 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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Other 2019 College rankings

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