2021 College Kickoff Specialist Rankings

Every college football kickoff specialist with enough work in the 2021 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 2021 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

2021 College Leaders

Kickoff Touchback Percentage

Jordan Stout (Penn State): 95% 56 of 59
Sean Koetting (Missouri): 92% 55 of 60
Noah Rauschenberg (Baylor): 89% 70 of 79
Lucas Havrisik (Arizona): 87% 45 of 52
Vito Calvaruso (Arkansas): 86% 64 of 74

Full Kickoff Touchback Percentage leaderboard

Average Kickoff Return Allowed

Casey Legg (West Virginia): 4.7 13 returns
Jonathan Hagee (Ball State): 5.2 17 returns
Guy Fava (Rutgers): 6.4 14 returns
Tabor Allen (Kansas): 6.6 14 returns
Collin Larsh (Wisconsin): 7.0 20 returns

Full Average Kickoff Return Allowed leaderboard

Kickoff Points Added

Jake Moody (Michigan): +20.3 97 kickoffs
Noah Ruggles (Ohio State): +19.3 92 kickoffs
Jake Camarda (Georgia): +18.4 88 kickoffs
Ben Sauls (Pittsburgh): +16.2 97 kickoffs
Michael Hughes (App State): +15.0 85 kickoffs

Full Kickoff Points Added leaderboard

Average Kickoff Distance

Lucas Havrisik (Arizona): 65.5 52 kickoffs
Matt Araiza (San Diego State): 65.1 67 kickoffs
Sean Koetting (Missouri): 64.8 60 kickoffs
Peyton Henry (Washington): 64.8 30 kickoffs
Vito Calvaruso (Arkansas): 64.8 74 kickoffs

Full Average Kickoff Distance leaderboard

Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage

Cory Munson (Western Kentucky): 0.0% 0 of 102
Ben Sauls (Pittsburgh): 0.0% 0 of 97
Jake Moody (Michigan): 0.0% 0 of 97
Will Reichard (Alabama): 0.0% 0 of 93
Noah Ruggles (Ohio State): 0.0% 0 of 92

Full Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage leaderboard

30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed

Charlie Ham (Duke): 0.0% 0 of 33
Graham Nicholson (Miami (OH)): 0.0% 0 of 32
Noah Ruggles (Ohio State): 0.0% 0 of 28
Will Reichard (Alabama): 0.0% 0 of 24
Collin Larsh (Wisconsin): 0.0% 0 of 20

Full 30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed leaderboard

All 2021 College Kickoff Specialist Leaderboards

Kickoffs by Points Added

128 kickoff specialists qualify.

Rk	Player	Team	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Jake Moody	Michigan	97	62.6	81%	15	+20.3
2	Noah Ruggles	Ohio State	92	60.0	67%	28	+19.3
3	Jake Camarda	Georgia	88	63.6	82%	15	+18.4
4	Ben Sauls	Pittsburgh	97	63.2	52%	47	+16.2
5	Michael Hughes	App State	85	61.7	35%	55	+15.0
6	B.T. Potter	Clemson	64	64.3	77%	15	+14.3
7	Toby Wilson	Tennessee	71	60.8	49%	34	+13.4
8	Julian Diaz	Nevada	80	64.3	68%	26	+13.1
9	Will Reichard	Alabama	93	62.0	73%	24	+12.9
10	Dragan Kesich	Minnesota	65	63.8	69%	20	+12.4
11	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	67	65.1	84%	11	+11.6
12	Vito Calvaruso	Arkansas	74	64.8	86%	10	+11.5
13	Caleb Shudak	Iowa	69	63.1	64%	25	+11.3
14	Brendan Hall	SMU	82	63.1	62%	30	+11.3
15	Matt Coghlin	Michigan State	54	64.4	81%	10	+11.1
16	Alex Bales	Cincinnati	81	62.5	63%	29	+10.9
17	Tabor Allen	Kansas	51	62.3	73%	14	+10.7
18	James McCourt	Illinois	47	64.6	85%	7	+10.2
19	Jordan Stout	Penn State	59	64.6	95%	3	+10.2
20	Noah Rauschenberg	Baylor	79	64.5	89%	9	+10.0
21	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	42	63.1	67%	13	+9.4
22	Avery Atkins	LSU	61	64.7	85%	9	+9.1
23	Trey Wolff	Texas Tech	62	63.0	65%	22	+9.0
24	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	80	62.0	39%	48	+8.8
25	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	68	62.1	53%	32	+8.1
26	Tanner Brown	Oklahoma State	71	63.5	52%	32	+7.9
27	Owen Daffer	East Carolina	69	61.0	30%	48	+7.8
28	Trenton Gill	NC State	70	64.0	71%	20	+7.7
29	Caden Davis	Texas A&M	66	64.1	83%	11	+7.4
30	Gavin Stewart	Georgia Tech	47	63.6	70%	14	+7.2
31	Scott Goodman	Mississippi State	44	63.1	59%	16	+6.9
32	Jace Christmann	Florida	45	59.9	47%	23	+6.7
33	Justin Duenkel	Virginia	35	63.0	69%	11	+6.7
34	Jordan Noyes	Utah	59	62.7	54%	27	+6.6
35	Kyler Halvorsen	Hawai'i	59	63.9	63%	22	+6.6
36	Kieran Colahan	Coastal Carolina	65	59.9	28%	47	+6.5
37	Jack Van Dyke	Wisconsin	40	62.1	50%	20	+6.4
38	Andre Szmyt	Syracuse	45	60.6	27%	33	+6.4
39	Anders Carlson	Auburn	69	62.9	65%	22	+6.1
40	Caden Costa	Ole Miss	72	61.3	35%	44	+6.1
41	RJ Lopez	UCLA	81	62.9	63%	30	+6.0
42	Andres Borregales	Miami	71	62.2	63%	26	+5.9
43	Alex Stadthaus	USC	31	63.9	65%	11	+5.4
44	Aaron Shahriari	Florida Atlantic	58	61.5	47%	31	+5.3
45	Alex Barbir	Liberty	48	62.8	56%	21	+5.1
46	Ethan Albertson	New Mexico State	58	61.0	50%	27	+4.9
47	Joshua Karty	Stanford	43	62.7	77%	9	+4.9
48	Peyton Henry	Washington	30	64.8	77%	7	+4.9
49	Ben Freehill	Purdue	33	61.2	48%	17	+4.7
50	Charlie Kuhbander	Northwestern	36	59.4	22%	28	+4.7
51	Lucas Havrisik	Arizona	52	65.5	87%	7	+4.4
52	Andrew Mevis	Iowa State	65	63.4	74%	17	+4.4
53	Jonathan Kim	North Carolina	79	63.5	80%	16	+4.4
54	Jake Bates	Texas State	54	62.9	59%	22	+4.3
55	Calum Sutherland	UL Monroe	51	61.8	45%	28	+4.1
56	Dario Longhetto	California	53	60.8	36%	34	+3.8
57	Brendan Franke	Nebraska	63	63.6	63%	23	+3.7
58	Taren Schive	San José State	44	61.8	52%	21	+3.5
59	Jake Oldroyd	BYU	56	61.8	64%	20	+3.4
60	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	102	62.4	58%	43	+3.2
61	Cameron Dicker	Texas	69	63.1	71%	20	+3.0
62	Brendan Farrell	Virginia	44	63.8	84%	7	+3.0
63	Bubba Baxa	Houston	77	62.5	60%	31	+2.8
64	Gabe Brkic	Oklahoma	82	63.0	57%	35	+2.7
65	Pierson Cooke	Vanderbilt	31	63.1	42%	18	+2.6
66	Brice Honaker	Air Force	45	62.1	44%	25	+2.4
67	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	85	61.6	53%	39	+2.4
68	Chance Poore	Kentucky	69	62.1	75%	15	+2.4
69	Spencer Shrader	South Florida	57	62.3	61%	22	+2.3
70	Graham Nicholson	Miami (OH)	54	62.1	41%	32	+2.0
71	Charlie Ham	Duke	55	59.7	40%	33	+2.0
72	John Parker Romo	Virginia Tech	54	63.6	54%	25	+1.6
73	George Steinkamp	New Mexico	31	63.1	65%	11	+1.5
74	Everett Hayes	Oregon State	66	63.6	71%	17	+1.5
75	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	61	63.3	57%	25	+1.5
76	Brock Travelstead	Louisville	69	62.3	48%	35	+1.2
77	Jonathan Terry	Colorado State	60	61.8	35%	39	+0.9
78	Sean Koetting	Missouri	60	64.8	92%	4	+0.7
79	Tristan Mattson	Arkansas State	50	61.8	40%	30	+0.5
80	Noah Grant	Memphis	68	60.3	51%	32	+0.3
81	Nathanael Snyder	Louisiana	69	57.2	17%	57	+0.3
82	Chris Van Eekeren	Purdue	32	61.4	59%	13	+0.1
83	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	77	62.1	47%	41	−0.2
84	Camden Lewis	Oregon	77	62.9	51%	37	−0.2
85	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	41	59.6	46%	22	−0.4
86	Diego Guajardo	South Alabama	49	61.4	45%	26	−0.4
87	Daniel Obarski	UCF	65	61.1	55%	29	−0.5
88	Hunter Duplessis	UTSA	87	62.4	45%	48	−0.7
89	Jared Smolar	Indiana	43	64.1	65%	15	−1.0
90	Casey Glover	Tulane	40	62.5	57%	17	−1.1
91	Cesar Silva	Fresno State	48	62.5	33%	32	−1.2
92	Logan Tyler	Arizona State	64	62.4	69%	19	−1.5
93	Mitch Jeter	South Carolina	46	61.6	50%	23	−1.6
94	Reese Burkhardt	UAB	67	61.7	61%	26	−1.6
95	Tyler Tipton	Tulsa	37	60.4	30%	26	−2.2
96	Brooks Buce	Troy	31	61.6	52%	15	−3.0
97	Cole Becker	Colorado	49	63.9	61%	19	−3.0
98	Parker Grothaus	Florida State	60	63.4	60%	24	−3.5
99	Lucas Dunker Jr.	Washington State	58	62.2	40%	35	−3.7
100	Danny Longman	Boston College	56	59.6	43%	32	−4.9
101	John Richardson	Northern Illinois	67	57.1	42%	38	−4.9
102	Jacob Lewis	Ball State	37	60.3	30%	26	−5.2
103	Mason Lawler	Bowling Green	58	58.1	29%	41	−6.4
104	Joe McFadden	UConn	41	59.3	22%	32	−6.9
105	Griffin Kell	TCU	57	62.9	58%	24	−7.9
106	Joseph Petrino	Maryland	58	60.5	24%	44	−8.2
107	Alex McNulty	Buffalo	59	61.0	58%	25	−8.7
108	Christian VanSickle	Rice	47	58.1	17%	39	−8.8
109	Elliott Nimrod	Utah State	84	58.1	42%	49	−8.9
110	Cesar Barajas	Louisiana Tech	48	61.3	23%	37	−9.5
111	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	35	52.9	11%	31	−9.5
112	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	60	62.1	73%	16	−10.1
113	Rory Bell	Temple	44	59.4	25%	33	−10.3
114	Evan Warren	Navy	49	56.3	29%	34	−10.4
115	Scott Payne	Middle Tennessee	42	58.0	7%	39	−12.8
116	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	60	63.3	72%	17	−12.9
117	Tristian Vandenberg	Ohio	45	62.7	49%	23	−13.4
118	Dominik Soos	Old Dominion	44	60.9	30%	31	−15.1
119	John Hoyland	Wyoming	57	59.6	47%	30	−15.8
120	Chad Ryland	Eastern Michigan	60	60.9	55%	27	−15.9
121	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	64	56.1	22%	50	−16.1
122	Cole Talley	Army	61	58.9	34%	40	−16.8
123	Evan Staley	West Virginia	47	58.5	21%	37	−19.1
124	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	42	58.9	40%	25	−21.4
125	Josh Rolston	Central Michigan	65	56.8	32%	44	−24.2
126	Andrew Sanders	Marshall	56	61.8	46%	30	−25.8
127	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	59	60.7	32%	40	−29.4
128	Andrew Glass	Kent State	68	46.4	13%	56	−36.4

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 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018 · 2017 · 2016 · 2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011

Other 2021 College Rankings

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