2021 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 2021, Casey Legg (4.7) topped college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff return allowed, ahead of Jonathan Hagee (5.2) and Guy Fava (6.4). 138 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 16.4.

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.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg ret	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Casey Legg	West Virginia	4.7	13	40.8	0%	13	−4.3
2	Jonathan Hagee	Ball State	5.2	22	59.3	23%	17	−5.8
3	Guy Fava	Rutgers	6.4	24	59.7	42%	14	+2.7
4	Tabor Allen	Kansas	6.6	51	62.3	73%	14	+10.7
5	Collin Larsh	Wisconsin	7.0	25	57.4	20%	20	−1.5
6	Jacob Barnes	Louisiana Tech	7.5	19	44.4	0%	19	−4.9
7	Caleb Shudak	Iowa	8.0	69	63.1	64%	25	+11.3
8	Valentino Ambrosio	Rutgers	8.3	29	60.4	38%	16	+3.1
9	Justin Duenkel	Virginia	8.3	35	63.0	69%	11	+6.7
10	Charlie Ham	Duke	8.9	55	59.7	40%	33	+2.0
11	Chris Van Eekeren	Purdue	9.3	32	61.4	59%	13	+0.1
12	Anders Carlson	Auburn	9.6	69	62.9	65%	22	+6.1
13	Jake Moody	Michigan	9.6	97	62.6	81%	15	+20.3
14	Toby Wilson	Tennessee	9.9	71	60.8	49%	34	+13.4
15	Jacob Lewis	Ball State	10.1	37	60.3	30%	26	−5.2
16	Tim Horn	Washington	10.3	19	63.1	42%	11	+3.4
17	Andrew Glass	Kent State	10.4	68	46.4	13%	56	−36.4
18	Cole Talley	Army	10.5	61	58.9	34%	40	−16.8
19	Alex Barbir	Liberty	11.0	48	62.8	56%	21	+5.1
20	Christian VanSickle	Rice	11.6	47	58.1	17%	39	−8.8
21	Charlie Kuhbander	Northwestern	11.6	36	59.4	22%	28	+4.7
22	Noah Grant	Memphis	11.8	68	60.3	51%	32	+0.3
23	Nathanael Snyder	Louisiana	11.9	69	57.2	17%	57	+0.3
24	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	12.0	59	60.7	32%	40	−29.4
25	Will Reichard	Alabama	12.0	93	62.0	73%	24	+12.9
26	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	12.3	35	52.9	11%	31	−9.5
27	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	12.4	102	62.4	58%	43	+3.2
28	John Richardson	Northern Illinois	12.6	67	57.1	42%	38	−4.9
29	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	12.6	26	61.9	35%	17	+3.2
30	Jake Camarda	Georgia	12.9	88	63.6	82%	15	+18.4
31	Ben Freehill	Purdue	12.9	33	61.2	48%	17	+4.7
32	Josh Rolston	Central Michigan	13.0	65	56.8	32%	44	−24.2
33	Elliott Nimrod	Utah State	13.1	84	58.1	42%	49	−8.9
34	Kyle Coale	Troy	13.3	22	51.0	9%	20	−1.8
35	John Hoyland	Wyoming	13.5	57	59.6	47%	30	−15.8
36	Rory Bell	Temple	13.7	44	59.4	25%	33	−10.3
37	Dario Longhetto	California	13.7	53	60.8	36%	34	+3.8
38	Calum Sutherland	UL Monroe	13.8	51	61.8	45%	28	+4.1
39	Nick Rice	Old Dominion	13.8	17	58.8	24%	13	+0.3
40	Dragan Kesich	Minnesota	13.9	65	63.8	69%	20	+12.4
41	Michael Hughes	App State	14.0	85	61.7	35%	55	+15.0
42	Noah Ruggles	Ohio State	14.0	92	60.0	67%	28	+19.3
43	Jake Bates	Texas State	14.0	54	62.9	59%	22	+4.3
44	Scott Payne	Middle Tennessee	14.1	42	58.0	7%	39	−12.8
45	Mitch Jeter	South Carolina	14.2	46	61.6	50%	23	−1.6
46	Danny Longman	Boston College	14.2	56	59.6	43%	32	−4.9
47	Mason Lawler	Bowling Green	14.4	58	58.1	29%	41	−6.4
48	Andre Szmyt	Syracuse	14.5	45	60.6	27%	33	+6.4
49	Jonathan Cruz	Charlotte	14.6	60	62.1	73%	16	−10.1
50	Jace Christmann	Florida	14.7	45	59.9	47%	23	+6.7
51	Chance Poore	Kentucky	14.7	69	62.1	75%	15	+2.4
52	Brendan Hall	SMU	14.8	82	63.1	62%	30	+11.3
53	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	14.9	64	56.1	22%	50	−16.1
54	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	15.0	42	58.9	40%	25	−21.4
55	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	15.2	60	63.3	72%	17	−12.9
56	Hunter Duplessis	UTSA	15.4	87	62.4	45%	48	−0.7
57	John Parker Romo	Virginia Tech	15.4	54	63.6	54%	25	+1.6
58	Britton Williams	Georgia Southern	15.5	25	61.2	16%	20	−0.2
59	Joe McFadden	UConn	15.6	41	59.3	22%	32	−6.9
60	Jack Van Dyke	Wisconsin	15.7	40	62.1	50%	20	+6.4
61	Gavin Stewart	Georgia Tech	15.7	47	63.6	70%	14	+7.2
62	Tristan Mattson	Arkansas State	15.8	50	61.8	40%	30	+0.5
63	Daniel Obarski	UCF	16.0	65	61.1	55%	29	−0.5
64	Aaron Shahriari	Florida Atlantic	16.0	58	61.5	47%	31	+5.3
65	Cesar Barajas	Louisiana Tech	16.1	48	61.3	23%	37	−9.5
66	Tristian Vandenberg	Ohio	16.2	45	62.7	49%	23	−13.4
67	Julian Diaz	Nevada	16.2	80	64.3	68%	26	+13.1
68	Reese Burkhardt	UAB	16.3	67	61.7	61%	26	−1.6
69	Taren Schive	San José State	16.4	44	61.8	52%	21	+3.5
70	Lucas Dunker Jr.	Washington State	16.4	58	62.2	40%	35	−3.7
71	Trey Wolff	Texas Tech	16.5	62	63.0	65%	22	+9.0
72	Brock Travelstead	Louisville	16.5	69	62.3	48%	35	+1.2
73	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	16.6	41	59.6	46%	22	−0.4
74	Kieran Colahan	Coastal Carolina	16.6	65	59.9	28%	47	+6.5
75	Andrew Sanders	Marshall	16.7	56	61.8	46%	30	−25.8
76	Trenton Gill	NC State	16.7	70	64.0	71%	20	+7.7
77	Caden Davis	Texas A&M	16.8	66	64.1	83%	11	+7.4
78	Jake Oldroyd	BYU	16.9	56	61.8	64%	20	+3.4
79	Jordan Noyes	Utah	17.0	59	62.7	54%	27	+6.6
80	Everett Hayes	Oregon State	17.0	66	63.6	71%	17	+1.5
81	Graham Nicholson	Miami (OH)	17.1	54	62.1	41%	32	+2.0
82	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	17.1	77	62.1	47%	41	−0.2
83	Evan Warren	Navy	17.2	49	56.3	29%	34	−10.4
84	Matthew Dapore	Air Force	17.3	16	62.3	31%	11	−1.7
85	Alex Bales	Cincinnati	17.3	81	62.5	63%	29	+10.9
86	Stephen Rusnak	Michigan State	17.3	15	57.3	27%	10	+0.6
87	George Steinkamp	New Mexico	17.5	31	63.1	65%	11	+1.5
88	Owen Daffer	East Carolina	17.5	69	61.0	30%	48	+7.8
89	Logan Tyler	Arizona State	17.5	64	62.4	69%	19	−1.5
90	Ethan Albertson	New Mexico State	17.6	58	61.0	50%	27	+4.9
91	Brice Honaker	Air Force	17.6	45	62.1	44%	25	+2.4
92	Griffin Kell	TCU	17.6	57	62.9	58%	24	−7.9
93	Scott Goodman	Mississippi State	17.7	44	63.1	59%	16	+6.9
94	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	17.9	61	63.3	57%	25	+1.5
95	Jonathan Terry	Colorado State	17.9	60	61.8	35%	39	+0.9
96	Brendan Franke	Nebraska	18.1	63	63.6	63%	23	+3.7
97	Chad Ryland	Eastern Michigan	18.3	60	60.9	55%	27	−15.9
98	Matt Coghlin	Michigan State	18.3	54	64.4	81%	10	+11.1
99	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	18.4	68	62.1	53%	32	+8.1
100	Brooks Buce	Troy	18.6	31	61.6	52%	15	−3.0
101	Tanner Brown	Oklahoma State	18.7	71	63.5	52%	32	+7.9
102	Chris Howard	Florida	18.7	24	63.4	29%	17	+2.8
103	RJ Lopez	UCLA	18.9	81	62.9	63%	30	+6.0
104	Diego Guajardo	South Alabama	18.9	49	61.4	45%	26	−0.4
105	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	18.9	85	61.6	53%	39	+2.4
106	Alex McNulty	Buffalo	19.0	59	61.0	58%	25	−8.7
107	Jonathan Doerer	Notre Dame	19.0	80	62.0	39%	48	+8.8
108	Ben Sauls	Pittsburgh	19.1	97	63.2	52%	47	+16.2
109	Spencer Shrader	South Florida	19.2	57	62.3	61%	22	+2.3
110	Jonathan Kim	North Carolina	19.3	79	63.5	80%	16	+4.4
111	Pierson Cooke	Vanderbilt	19.3	31	63.1	42%	18	+2.6
112	Andres Borregales	Miami	19.5	71	62.2	63%	26	+5.9
113	Abraham Montano	Fresno State	19.5	24	60.4	21%	19	−0.9
114	Caden Costa	Ole Miss	19.6	72	61.3	35%	44	+6.1
115	Joseph Petrino	Maryland	19.8	58	60.5	24%	44	−8.2
116	Gabe Brkic	Oklahoma	20.0	82	63.0	57%	35	+2.7
117	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	20.5	67	65.1	84%	11	+11.6
118	Vito Calvaruso	Arkansas	20.6	74	64.8	86%	10	+11.5
119	Dominik Soos	Old Dominion	20.6	44	60.9	30%	31	−15.1
120	Noel Ruiz	Georgia State	20.6	29	61.8	24%	22	−12.2
121	Evan Staley	West Virginia	20.8	47	58.5	21%	37	−19.1
122	Tyler Tipton	Tulsa	20.8	37	60.4	30%	26	−2.2
123	Avery Musick	Marshall	20.9	13	59.9	23%	10	−1.1
124	Parker Grothaus	Florida State	21.2	60	63.4	60%	24	−3.5
125	Cameron Dicker	Texas	21.5	69	63.1	71%	20	+3.0
126	Kyler Halvorsen	Hawai'i	21.5	59	63.9	63%	22	+6.6
127	Camden Lewis	Oregon	21.6	77	62.9	51%	37	−0.2
128	Casey Glover	Tulane	21.7	40	62.5	57%	17	−1.1
129	Cesar Silva	Fresno State	22.2	48	62.5	33%	32	−1.2
130	B.T. Potter	Clemson	22.5	64	64.3	77%	15	+14.3
131	Cole Becker	Colorado	22.7	49	63.9	61%	19	−3.0
132	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	24.1	42	63.1	67%	13	+9.4
133	Andrew Mevis	Iowa State	24.4	65	63.4	74%	17	+4.4
134	Bubba Baxa	Houston	24.4	77	62.5	60%	31	+2.8
135	Alex Stadthaus	USC	25.4	31	63.9	65%	11	+5.4
136	Lucas Matias	Florida International	25.5	27	61.8	52%	13	−11.4
137	Jared Smolar	Indiana	26.7	43	64.1	65%	15	−1.0
138	Justen Smith	BYU	27.2	18	62.4	39%	11	−4.3

All 2021 College kickoff specialist rankings

Average Kickoff Return Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

More 2021 College kickoff specialist leaderboards

Other 2021 College rankings

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