2020 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 2020, Brandon Ruiz (64.9) led college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff distance, ahead of Joel Velazquez (64.7) and Cameron Dicker (64.7). 88 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 61.6.

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 2020 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg dist	Kickoffs	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Brandon Ruiz	Mississippi State	64.9	43	86%	6	+5.0
2	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	64.7	31	77%	7	+5.4
3	Cameron Dicker	Texas	64.7	61	85%	9	+8.2
4	B.T. Potter	Clemson	64.5	80	86%	9	+9.2
5	Bubba Baxa	Houston	64.5	41	73%	11	+3.9
6	Jonathan Kim	North Carolina	64.5	83	84%	13	+6.9
7	Daniel Obarski	UCF	64.3	73	66%	25	+6.9
8	Austin Kent	Georgia Tech	64.3	41	27%	30	+2.7
9	Vito Calvaruso	Arkansas	64.3	48	69%	15	−1.4
10	Caden Davis	Texas A&M	64.2	53	85%	8	+4.8
11	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	64.1	40	70%	12	+4.2
12	Jose Borregales	Miami	64.1	63	71%	18	+8.2
13	Riley Patterson	Memphis	64.0	57	63%	21	+11.8
14	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	64.0	41	66%	14	+1.1
15	John Parker Romo	Virginia Tech	63.9	55	60%	22	+9.8
16	Evan McPherson	Florida	63.8	76	68%	23	+14.1
17	Jordan Stout	Penn State	63.8	49	84%	8	+3.1
18	Jake Camarda	Georgia	63.8	35	91%	3	+5.0
19	Parker Lewis	USC	63.8	37	73%	10	+5.7
20	Sean Koetting	Missouri	63.6	52	88%	6	+7.6
21	Caleb Shudak	Iowa	63.6	47	68%	15	+10.1
22	Chris Naggar	SMU	63.6	69	67%	23	+8.9
23	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	63.5	46	61%	18	−3.5
24	Trenton Gill	NC State	63.4	64	52%	31	+10.3
25	Anders Carlson	Auburn	63.3	56	61%	21	+0.7
26	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	63.3	67	67%	22	+11.8
27	Avery Atkins	LSU	63.3	59	76%	13	+2.5
28	Jake Bates	Texas State	63.1	60	55%	27	+10.4
29	Jack Crane	Washington State	63.1	56	61%	22	+7.1
30	Justin Duenkel	Virginia	63.0	43	60%	17	+5.4
31	RJ Lopez	UCLA	62.9	44	59%	18	−0.3
32	Jake McClure	Oklahoma State	62.9	45	49%	23	+7.0
33	Gabe Brkic	Oklahoma	62.9	62	45%	34	+4.4
34	Noah Rauschenberg	Baylor	62.8	33	58%	14	−1.4
35	Chance Poore	Kentucky	62.7	44	59%	18	+3.7
36	Jake Verity	East Carolina	62.7	43	60%	17	+7.1
37	Julian Diaz	Nevada	62.6	30	50%	15	+0.3
38	Nolan Cooney	Syracuse	62.5	42	48%	22	−0.4
39	Jake Oldroyd	BYU	62.5	76	67%	24	+17.3
40	Nickolas Null	Wyoming	62.2	35	40%	21	+3.0
41	Landon Salyers	Army	62.1	52	35%	33	+7.3
42	Jared Smolar	Indiana	62.0	39	49%	20	+4.7
43	Alex McNulty	Buffalo	61.9	45	51%	22	−5.8
44	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	61.8	65	38%	30	+9.8
45	Parker Grothaus	Florida State	61.4	42	52%	20	0.0
46	Griffin Kell	TCU	61.3	55	51%	27	+3.0
47	Diego Guajardo	South Alabama	61.2	49	49%	25	−4.5
48	Danny Longman	Boston College	60.9	51	25%	37	−7.8
49	Luke Logan	Ole Miss	60.7	49	47%	26	+8.7
50	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	60.6	40	33%	27	−3.8
51	Cole Smith	Cincinnati	60.5	49	51%	22	−6.4
52	Alex Barbir	Liberty	60.4	69	38%	42	+4.2
53	Hunter Duplessis	UTSA	60.3	44	32%	30	−0.9
54	Merek Glover	Tulane	60.2	71	52%	34	+0.7
55	Nathanael Snyder	Louisiana	60.2	61	23%	47	−2.7
56	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	60.2	38	47%	20	−2.1
57	Cameron Shirkey	Marshall	59.8	38	16%	32	+6.2
58	Daniel Sparks	UL Monroe	59.8	32	19%	26	+4.5
59	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	59.7	31	68%	10	−8.5
60	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	59.6	34	21%	27	0.0
61	Jack Martin	Troy	59.5	48	38%	30	+3.1
62	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	59.4	44	41%	26	+4.0
63	Ryker Casey	App State	59.4	40	30%	28	−5.8
64	Noel Ruiz	Georgia State	59.4	45	27%	31	+3.9
65	Will Reichard	Alabama	59.4	54	50%	27	+4.8
66	Mitch Jeter	South Carolina	59.4	41	56%	18	−0.4
67	Gabe Siemieniec	Louisiana Tech	59.3	45	38%	28	−10.0
68	Jacob Lewis	Ball State	59.2	38	26%	28	+2.3
69	Camden Lewis	Oregon	59.1	36	28%	25	+2.2
70	Caleb Lightbourn	Oregon State	59.0	36	33%	24	+1.7
71	Donovan Murphree	New Mexico	59.0	34	26%	25	−14.7
72	Brock Travelstead	Louisville	58.9	58	26%	43	−0.3
73	Chase Allen	Alabama	58.7	41	71%	10	+3.7
74	Charlie Kuhbander	Northwestern	58.7	38	32%	24	+0.1
75	Chris Wood	San José State	58.4	31	6%	29	−46.4
76	Asa Fuller	Fresno State	58.2	31	6%	29	−1.2
77	Drake Nettles	Iowa State	58.2	34	9%	31	−6.0
78	Ben Fee	Navy	57.9	32	31%	22	+4.5
79	Spencer Shrader	South Florida	57.9	31	48%	16	−1.0
80	Zach Williams	North Texas	57.8	36	17%	30	−3.9
81	Zack Long	Tulsa	57.7	40	10%	33	−9.7
82	Dominic DiMaccio	Ohio State	57.6	32	63%	12	−5.1
83	Massimo Biscardi	Coastal Carolina	57.3	72	24%	55	0.0
84	Dylan Lewis	Georgia Southern	57.2	59	17%	47	−0.8
85	Connor Culp	Nebraska	57.2	40	30%	27	−3.1
86	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	56.0	35	20%	27	−6.8
87	Chad Ryland	Eastern Michigan	55.1	39	26%	29	−7.0
88	Elliott Nimrod	Arkansas State	52.3	35	37%	19	−3.9

All 2020 College kickoff specialist rankings

Average Kickoff Distance in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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