2021 College Kickoff Touchback Percentage Leaders

The share of a kickoff specialist's kickoffs that were touchbacks. High means power; whether it is good depends on the rules and the coach's plan.

More is better under this season's rules: a touchback ends the play with no return. Only specialists with enough kickoffs are ranked. In 2021, Jordan Stout (95%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Sean Koetting (92%) and Noah Rauschenberg (89%). 128 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 54%.

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

All 2021 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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Other 2021 College rankings

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