2019 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 2019, Avery Atkins (96) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchbacks, ahead of B.T. Potter (70) and Zach Hintze (66). 214 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 2019 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	TB	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Avery Atkins	LSU	96	112	63.9	86%	14	+8.7
2	B.T. Potter	Clemson	70	87	64.6	80%	14	+13.4
3	Zach Hintze	Wisconsin	66	83	64.4	80%	17	+16.7
4	Rodrigo Blankenship	Georgia	62	79	63.7	78%	13	+9.8
5	Gabe Brkic	Oklahoma	62	100	62.3	62%	38	+5.1
6	Blake Haubeil	Ohio State	61	105	60.2	58%	44	+5.7
7	Jordan Stout	Penn State	59	73	63.6	81%	13	+9.3
8	Riley Patterson	Memphis	59	94	63.8	63%	35	+18.2
9	Tucker McCann	Missouri	58	64	64.6	91%	6	+4.2
10	Jack Crane	Washington State	56	85	61.3	66%	29	+1.9
11	Brian Delaney	Virginia	54	80	62.3	68%	26	+1.7
12	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	53	84	62.3	63%	30	+6.1
13	JJ Molson	UCLA	52	60	65.0	87%	8	+5.7
14	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	52	67	62.1	78%	15	+0.5
15	Jake Moody	Michigan	52	71	62.1	73%	19	+6.5
16	Joseph Bulovas	Alabama	51	71	58.9	72%	18	+9.1
17	Sam Sloman	Miami (OH)	50	71	63.4	70%	21	+5.0
18	Evan McPherson	Florida	49	71	63.1	69%	22	+8.1
19	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	48	61	62.0	79%	13	−4.3
20	Daniel Obarski	UCF	48	87	61.9	55%	35	+3.8
21	Cameron Dicker	Texas	47	69	62.5	68%	22	+9.2
22	Alex Probert	Liberty	47	74	62.9	64%	27	+3.8
23	Nick Vogel	UAB	46	65	63.8	71%	19	+4.8
24	Jake Verity	East Carolina	44	67	63.2	66%	23	−6.8
25	Tim Horn	Washington	44	73	63.9	60%	29	−19.6
26	Ryan Meskell	Hawai'i	44	84	63.6	52%	40	+0.6
27	Kenneth Almendares	Louisiana	44	89	61.8	49%	45	+8.8
28	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	43	59	63.5	73%	15	+10.9
29	James McCourt	Illinois	43	62	63.8	69%	19	+10.6
30	Anders Carlson	Auburn	43	73	62.7	59%	27	+1.8
31	Andrew Strauch	Utah	43	82	62.3	52%	39	+10.2
32	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	42	56	60.0	75%	14	+5.9
33	Grant McKinniss	Kentucky	42	60	62.6	70%	18	+10.2
34	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	42	63	64.0	67%	21	−0.5
35	Parker Grothaus	Florida State	40	57	63.4	70%	17	+2.4
36	J.D. Dellinger	Purdue	40	59	62.8	68%	19	+0.4
37	Cooper Rothe	Wyoming	40	60	63.8	67%	20	+7.4
38	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	40	79	61.8	51%	37	+10.5
39	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	38	62	64.2	61%	24	+3.5
40	Jacob Meeks	UL Monroe	38	69	63.6	55%	31	+6.1
41	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	37	66	63.3	56%	29	−3.4
42	Jake McClure	Oklahoma State	37	72	62.7	51%	34	+11.3
43	Braxton Davis	Colorado State	36	58	60.4	62%	22	+0.7
44	Dominik Eberle	Utah State	36	67	61.3	54%	31	+4.1
45	Trey Wolff	Texas Tech	36	70	62.0	51%	34	0.0
46	Bubba Baxa	Miami	35	64	63.6	55%	29	+2.3
47	Will Tommie	South Carolina	33	52	64.2	63%	19	+3.9
48	Julian Diaz	Nevada	32	49	63.9	65%	17	0.0
49	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	32	56	63.0	57%	24	+8.4
50	Noah Rauschenberg	Baylor	31	52	63.1	60%	21	+11.7
51	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	31	59	62.3	53%	28	+11.0
52	Merek Glover	Tulane	31	62	61.0	50%	31	−1.1
53	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	31	62	62.8	50%	31	+3.3
54	Danny Longman	Boston College	31	69	62.2	45%	38	−7.0
55	Grant Ryerse	Minnesota	31	71	62.3	44%	40	+5.1
56	Connor Limpert	Arkansas	30	54	60.0	56%	24	+5.5
57	Jacob LaFree	Temple	30	61	62.7	49%	31	−0.5
58	Camden Lewis	Oregon	30	83	62.9	36%	51	+4.4
59	Chandler Staton	App State	30	91	60.2	33%	61	+6.6
60	Jose Borregales	Florida International	29	49	61.4	59%	20	+0.3
61	Dylan Brown	New Mexico State	29	50	61.1	58%	21	−0.1
62	Donovan Murphree	New Mexico	29	54	60.9	54%	25	−0.9
63	Justin Rohrwasser	Marshall	29	57	62.6	51%	28	−13.6
64	Trenton Gill	NC State	29	58	62.7	50%	28	+1.1
65	Chad Ryland	Eastern Michigan	29	63	60.9	46%	34	−3.1
66	Caleb Shudak	Iowa	28	65	62.2	43%	37	+10.6
67	Matthew Trickett	Kent State	28	66	58.0	42%	36	−6.5
68	John Parker Romo	Virginia Tech	27	39	64.4	69%	12	+8.5
69	Alex Stadthaus	USC	26	59	63.4	44%	33	−3.3
70	Kyle Ramsey	Houston	24	55	58.8	44%	31	−5.1
71	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	24	59	55.3	41%	34	−5.6
72	Michael Farkas	Ohio	24	76	58.6	32%	52	+6.7
73	Will Reichard	Alabama	23	30	63.2	77%	7	+1.4
74	Nathanael Snyder	Indiana	23	52	62.2	44%	29	+3.1
75	Jack Martin	Troy	23	68	56.3	34%	45	−5.6
76	James Stefanou	Colorado	22	37	62.8	59%	15	+2.7
77	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	22	43	59.7	51%	21	−10.3
78	Andrew Stein	Southern Miss	22	64	60.3	34%	42	+3.4
79	Asa Fuller	Fresno State	22	67	59.3	33%	45	−5.1
80	Jordan Choukair	Oregon State	21	55	61.8	38%	34	−4.6
81	Ryan Jones	Cincinnati	21	72	60.6	29%	50	+6.1
82	Pierson Cooke	Vanderbilt	20	29	64.2	69%	9	+5.7
83	Matthew Cluck	UTSA	20	44	62.7	45%	24	+1.4
84	Gabe Siemieniec	California	20	51	60.5	39%	31	+0.2
85	Skyler Southam	BYU	20	62	61.4	32%	42	+8.9
86	John Richardson	Northern Illinois	19	51	59.5	37%	32	−10.0
87	Ryan Tice	Central Michigan	19	65	58.9	29%	46	−13.2
88	Jonathan Kim	North Carolina	18	29	63.7	62%	11	+6.1
89	Jake Koehnke	Air Force	18	46	61.5	39%	28	−2.6
90	Aaron Shahriari	Florida Atlantic	18	53	61.5	34%	35	+6.9
91	Parker Romo	Virginia Tech	17	22	64.0	77%	5	+2.2
92	Evan Staley	West Virginia	17	32	60.5	53%	14	+0.4
93	Michael Rubino	North Carolina	17	36	61.3	47%	19	−3.3
94	Chris Wood	San José State	17	69	54.4	25%	52	−0.9
95	Nick Sciba	Wake Forest	17	71	59.5	24%	54	−6.0
96	Jared Smolar	Indiana	16	21	63.9	76%	5	+2.6
97	Alex McNulty	Buffalo	16	60	58.2	27%	44	−15.2
98	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	15	18	64.2	83%	3	+2.1
99	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	15	27	63.4	56%	12	−0.3
100	Jet Toner	Stanford	15	29	60.9	52%	14	−0.8
101	Blanton Creque	Louisville	15	48	61.6	31%	33	−3.0
102	Scott Goodman	Mississippi State	15	48	59.6	31%	32	−3.0
103	Spencer Shrader	South Florida	15	51	56.3	29%	36	−12.4
104	Liam Jones	Kansas	15	52	60.4	29%	37	+2.8
105	Massimo Biscardi	Coastal Carolina	15	55	59.6	27%	39	−6.9
106	AJ Reed	Duke	15	57	59.5	26%	41	+3.5
107	Davis Price	Colorado	14	22	61.7	64%	8	+1.8
108	Zach Hoban	Rice	14	33	59.5	42%	19	+3.9
109	Peyton Paddock	Iowa State	14	70	58.8	20%	56	+5.8
110	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	13	30	57.8	43%	17	−1.2
111	Griffin Kell	TCU	13	33	63.6	39%	20	−1.3
112	Diego Guajardo	South Alabama	13	44	59.8	30%	30	−14.1
113	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	13	57	60.1	23%	44	+4.1
114	Spencer Cole	Ole Miss	12	27	58.4	44%	13	−5.9
115	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	12	58	54.3	21%	46	−10.8
116	Russell Roberts	SMU	12	70	54.3	17%	58	−11.2
117	Nick McLellan	Kansas State	11	37	57.5	30%	26	−4.4
118	Cole Hahn	Michigan State	11	46	59.3	24%	34	−1.0
119	Trey Finison	Northwestern	10	33	59.9	30%	23	+0.6
120	William Przystup	Nebraska	10	33	60.6	30%	23	−2.1
121	Joshua Rowland	Texas State	10	37	60.9	27%	27	−2.1
122	Cooper Garcia	Massachusetts	10	41	57.8	24%	31	−7.4
123	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	10	41	55.7	24%	31	−1.5
124	Cole Bunce	TCU	9	14	62.5	64%	5	+2.7
125	Bijan Nichols	Navy	9	24	56.1	38%	15	−7.4
126	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	9	25	53.7	36%	15	+2.9
127	Kevin Macias	Arizona State	9	28	61.6	32%	19	+1.9
128	Vladimir Rivas	Florida Atlantic	9	32	58.1	28%	23	+0.4
129	J.R. Osborn	Navy	9	33	59.9	27%	24	−1.1
130	Crews Holt	Middle Tennessee	9	61	57.5	15%	52	−5.5
131	Bailey Hale	Louisiana Tech	9	74	57.9	12%	65	−1.2
132	Estin Thiele	Florida International	8	15	61.3	53%	7	−8.0
133	Michael Brown	USC	8	16	58.1	50%	8	−6.9
134	Jay Sedwick	Baylor	8	24	59.5	33%	16	+2.6
135	Mason Donaldson	UConn	8	25	62.0	32%	17	+1.5
136	Justin Davidovicz	Rutgers	8	31	58.6	26%	23	+0.7
137	Nick Rice	Old Dominion	8	33	59.3	24%	25	+0.7
138	Patrick LeCorre	Ball State	8	40	60.8	20%	32	+2.6
139	Joseph Petrino	Maryland	8	50	59.7	16%	42	−1.3
140	Ryley Guay	Vanderbilt	7	14	62.6	50%	7	+2.8
141	Brice Honaker	Air Force	7	25	58.4	28%	18	0.0
142	LeMaro Smith Jr.	Buffalo	6	7	61.6	86%	1	−3.3
143	Alvin Kenworthy	North Texas	6	23	57.9	26%	17	−8.5
144	Ben Fee	Navy	6	24	59.5	25%	18	−1.3
145	Josh Plaster	Arizona State	6	30	61.3	20%	23	−1.5
146	Landon Salyers	Army	6	44	56.0	14%	38	−6.4
147	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	6	52	52.7	12%	46	−8.3
148	Alexander Woznick	South Carolina	5	6	59.2	83%	1	−0.1
149	Evan Morris	Michigan State	5	11	59.9	45%	6	−2.2
150	Andrew Bagley	Army	5	15	61.4	33%	10	−1.6
151	Casey Legg	West Virginia	5	21	57.8	24%	16	−1.0
152	Jonathan Song	TCU	5	25	56.8	20%	18	−5.5
153	Mason Lawler	Bowling Green	5	35	56.1	14%	30	−13.7
154	Zack Long	Tulsa	5	56	57.8	9%	50	+0.1
155	Jaxon Player	Tulsa	4	5	63.2	80%	1	−2.3
156	Logan Tyler	Florida State	4	5	65.0	80%	1	+1.0
157	Drew Riethman	Texas A&M	4	7	64.3	57%	3	+1.6
158	Steven Sawicki	Clemson	4	7	61.6	57%	3	+0.7
159	Jackson Van Sickle	Charlotte	4	10	49.4	40%	6	−3.7
160	Tucker Day	Mississippi State	4	13	60.4	31%	9	+2.7
161	Brenton King	Georgia Tech	4	23	57.8	17%	19	−4.3
162	Brooks Buce	Georgia	3	4	59.3	75%	1	+0.8
163	Clayton Harris	UConn	3	4	47.3	75%	1	−2.5
164	Sterling Stockwell	Tulane	3	7	56.0	43%	4	+1.7
165	Brady Viles	UTEP	3	8	57.9	38%	5	−5.8
166	Dylan Jorgensen	Nebraska	3	8	60.0	38%	5	+2.7
167	Brian Johnson	Virginia Tech	3	9	61.2	33%	6	−0.1
168	Devin Anctil	Kansas State	3	10	59.5	30%	7	+2.7
169	Brad Davis	Old Dominion	3	12	59.6	25%	9	−4.8
170	Noah Iden	UConn	3	14	61.3	21%	11	−2.8
171	Justin Ford	Louisville	3	16	57.4	19%	13	−8.0
172	Sage Ledbetter	Auburn	2	2	64.5	100%	0	+0.3
173	Chris Howard	Florida	2	3	62.7	67%	1	−0.3
174	Chris Naggar	Texas	2	3	64.0	67%	1	+0.7
175	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	2	3	65.0	67%	1	+0.8
176	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	2	4	63.5	50%	2	+1.0
177	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	2	5	52.8	40%	3	−0.9
178	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	2	5	54.4	40%	3	−0.4
179	Everett Hayes	Oregon State	2	6	64.0	33%	4	−0.3
180	Cooper Graham	North Carolina	2	7	61.7	29%	5	+0.2
181	Nate Needham	Bowling Green	2	7	58.3	29%	5	−1.2
182	Tony Adams	Arkansas State	2	9	49.2	22%	7	−3.1
183	Kaden Keon	Central Michigan	2	10	58.6	20%	7	−0.8
184	Guy Fava	Rutgers	2	11	58.2	18%	8	−2.8
185	Wesley Wells	Georgia Tech	2	14	54.0	14%	12	−3.7
186	Dalton Witherspoon	Houston	2	16	56.4	13%	14	+1.7
187	Thiago Kapps	Western Michigan	2	17	61.2	12%	15	+2.0
188	Bryce Brand	Maryland	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
189	Javan Rice	Vanderbilt	1	1	60.0	100%	0	+0.1
190	Justin Duenkel	Virginia	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
191	Quinn Nordin	Michigan	1	1	64.0	100%	0	+0.1
192	Sean Koetting	Missouri	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
193	Steven Coutts	California	1	1	68.0	100%	0	−0.3
194	Tommy Townsend	Florida	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.4
195	Trent Schneider	South Florida	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
196	Xavier Lyas	NC State	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
197	Dominic DiMaccio	Ohio State	1	2	58.5	50%	1	+0.9
198	Dylan Kelly-Romero	New Mexico	1	2	47.5	50%	1	−0.6
199	Jacob Borcila	Kansas	1	2	28.5	50%	1	−2.1
200	Matt Coghlin	Michigan State	1	2	54.0	50%	1	+0.5
201	Connor Coles	Utah State	1	3	63.7	33%	2	+0.4
202	Jackson Baltar	Buffalo	1	3	47.0	33%	2	−1.0
203	Nolan Cooney	Syracuse	1	4	56.8	25%	3	−2.1
204	Alex Hale	Oklahoma State	1	5	61.8	20%	4	+1.7
205	Charlie Ham	Duke	1	5	61.2	20%	4	0.0
206	Jonathan Weitz	Clemson	1	5	62.2	20%	4	+3.5
207	Will Mobley	Temple	1	5	57.6	20%	4	+0.7
208	Zach Murphy	Wake Forest	1	5	59.6	20%	4	−0.2
209	Cristian Zendejas	Arizona State	1	6	39.7	17%	5	−4.1
210	Sean Young	UConn	1	6	59.2	17%	5	−4.9
211	Blake Lynch	Kansas State	1	7	56.6	14%	6	−0.9
212	Myles Prosser	Coastal Carolina	1	13	56.8	8%	12	−9.7
213	Will Harrison	Rice	1	14	54.7	7%	13	−4.3
214	Tristan Mattson	Arkansas State	1	18	49.9	6%	17	−5.8

All 2019 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

More 2019 College kickoff specialist leaderboards

Other 2019 College rankings

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