2022 College Kickoff Specialist Rankings

Every college football kickoff specialist with enough work in the 2022 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 2022 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

2022 College Leaders

Kickoff Touchback Percentage

Dragan Kesich (Minnesota): 88% 58 of 66
Jake Bates (Arkansas): 85% 58 of 68
Jonathan Kim (North Carolina): 84% 27 of 32
Caden Davis (Texas A&M): 84% 47 of 56
Spencer Shrader (South Florida): 82% 47 of 57

Full Kickoff Touchback Percentage leaderboard

Average Kickoff Return Allowed

Rece Verhoff (Marshall): 6.8 21 returns
Taren Schive (San José State): 7.1 47 returns
Evan Warren (Navy): 9.4 21 returns
Gavin Lahm (Wisconsin): 9.8 24 returns
Tanner Brown (Oklahoma State): 10.2 11 returns

Full Average Kickoff Return Allowed leaderboard

Kickoff Points Added

Jake Moody (Michigan): +19.4 94 kickoffs
Will Reichard (Alabama): +18.2 86 kickoffs
Will Stone (Texas): +17.4 75 kickoffs
Collin Smith (NC State): +17.2 65 kickoffs
Paxton Brooks (Tennessee): +14.4 88 kickoffs

Full Kickoff Points Added leaderboard

Average Kickoff Distance

Dragan Kesich (Minnesota): 64.8 66 kickoffs
Jake Bates (Arkansas): 64.6 68 kickoffs
Brendan Farrell (Virginia): 64.5 37 kickoffs
Ryan Fitzgerald (Florida State): 64.3 69 kickoffs
Chance Poore (Kentucky): 64.3 60 kickoffs

Full Average Kickoff Distance leaderboard

Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage

Jayden Fielding (Ohio State): 0.0% 0 of 97
Luke Laminack (TCU): 0.0% 0 of 95
Jake Moody (Michigan): 0.0% 0 of 94
Alex Stadthaus (USC): 0.0% 0 of 92
Jack Podlesny (Georgia): 0.0% 0 of 91

Full Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage leaderboard

30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed

Taren Schive (San José State): 0.0% 0 of 47
Cole Talley (Army): 0.0% 0 of 28
Adam Stage (Northwestern): 0.0% 0 of 27
Collin Smith (NC State): 0.0% 0 of 24
Gavin Lahm (Wisconsin): 0.0% 0 of 24

Full 30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed leaderboard

All 2022 College Kickoff Specialist Leaderboards

Kickoffs by Points Added

132 kickoff specialists qualify.

Rk	Player	Team	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Jake Moody	Michigan	94	63.0	76%	21	+19.4
2	Will Reichard	Alabama	86	61.7	60%	28	+18.2
3	Will Stone	Texas	75	61.3	37%	43	+17.4
4	Collin Smith	NC State	65	63.0	60%	24	+17.2
5	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	88	58.7	50%	38	+14.4
6	Tristan Mattson	Arkansas State	62	60.9	44%	35	+14.2
7	Jack Podlesny	Georgia	91	63.2	76%	19	+13.5
8	Cole Talley	Army	57	61.7	51%	28	+13.4
9	Casey Glover	Tulane	74	62.1	65%	26	+13.3
10	Adam Stage	Northwestern	39	58.4	26%	27	+13.3
11	Mitch Jeter	South Carolina	69	62.9	68%	21	+12.5
12	B.T. Potter	Clemson	77	63.6	79%	13	+11.9
13	Alex Stadthaus	USC	92	62.4	49%	46	+11.9
14	Ben Sauls	Pittsburgh	72	62.9	76%	17	+11.7
15	Tristian Vandenberg	Ohio	72	60.1	38%	43	+11.6
16	Ryan Fitzgerald	Florida State	69	64.3	67%	23	+11.6
17	Gavin Lahm	Wisconsin	42	61.0	43%	24	+11.1
18	Joshua Karty	Stanford	55	63.3	73%	14	+11.0
19	Matthew Killam	Nevada	43	63.0	53%	20	+10.8
20	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	44	63.0	55%	20	+10.2
21	Jake Bates	Arkansas	68	64.6	85%	10	+10.1
22	RJ Lopez	UCLA	85	64.2	67%	28	+10.1
23	Zac Yoakam	Notre Dame	65	61.3	63%	20	+9.8
24	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	78	61.3	40%	47	+8.6
25	Brendan Franke	Nebraska	56	62.0	68%	18	+8.5
26	Drew Stevens	Iowa	52	62.3	56%	23	+8.4
27	Jack Browning	San Diego State	50	63.7	56%	22	+8.0
28	Grady Gross	Washington	82	60.6	29%	56	+8.0
29	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	97	61.3	55%	40	+7.8
30	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	35	62.4	37%	22	+7.8
31	Andrew Boyle	Oregon	71	63.0	70%	18	+7.5
32	Brock Travelstead	Louisville	65	61.4	63%	24	+7.4
33	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	80	63.0	60%	31	+7.0
34	Caleb Griffin	Illinois	48	61.9	73%	13	+6.6
35	Trey Smack	Florida	30	62.4	63%	9	+6.6
36	Atticus Sappington	Oregon State	42	62.7	55%	19	+6.5
37	Kyler Halvorsen	Hawai'i	52	63.3	71%	15	+6.5
38	Caden Davis	Texas A&M	56	63.9	84%	8	+6.3
39	Sean Koetting	Missouri	55	61.8	80%	10	+6.2
40	Rece Verhoff	Marshall	39	59.1	46%	21	+5.7
41	Ryan Coe	Cincinnati	70	63.6	60%	28	+5.6
42	Joseph Bulovas	Vanderbilt	55	62.6	49%	28	+5.5
43	Ben VonGunten	Ball State	59	59.2	19%	46	+5.3
44	Noah Burnette	North Carolina	52	63.7	52%	25	+5.2
45	Michael Luckhurst	California	43	61.9	49%	19	+5.1
46	Jordan Noyes	Utah	40	61.1	33%	26	+5.1
47	Andres Borregales	Miami	58	60.5	66%	19	+4.9
48	Keegan Shackford	Iowa State	30	61.2	23%	23	+4.7
49	Brady Denaburg	Syracuse	53	64.0	66%	18	+4.6
50	Ben Raybon	Mississippi State	63	61.6	54%	29	+4.5
51	Colton Theaker	Washington State	57	63.5	61%	22	+4.4
52	Jacob Meeks	South Alabama	72	60.3	39%	44	+4.3
53	Noah Rauschenberg	Baylor	74	64.2	78%	16	+4.3
54	Michael Lantz	Georgia Southern	65	61.9	34%	43	+4.2
55	Jake Pinegar	Penn State	40	62.9	68%	13	+4.1
56	Noah Grant	Memphis	40	61.8	38%	25	+4.0
57	Dragan Kesich	Minnesota	66	64.8	88%	8	+4.0
58	Jason Stricker	Liberty	63	62.9	65%	22	+3.2
59	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	59	63.2	59%	24	+2.9
60	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	61	63.4	72%	17	+2.9
61	Connor Madden	James Madison	63	62.8	60%	25	+2.9
62	Henry Katleman	Colorado State	38	63.6	79%	8	+2.6
63	Brendan Farrell	Virginia	37	64.5	68%	12	+2.6
64	Adam Mihalek	Florida	41	63.1	63%	14	+2.4
65	Chris Freeman	Indiana	44	63.3	55%	20	+2.4
66	Dominik Soos	Old Dominion	50	61.0	46%	27	+2.3
67	Chris Van Eekeren	Purdue	55	62.0	58%	23	+2.0
68	Zach Long	Troy	35	61.7	60%	14	+1.8
69	Liam Gray	Coastal Carolina	40	59.1	40%	24	+1.8
70	Matthew Dapore	Air Force	48	60.8	38%	30	+1.6
71	Buck Buchanan	Louisiana Tech	63	62.5	54%	29	+1.0
72	Chad Ryland	Maryland	61	63.0	67%	20	+1.0
73	Nathan Dibert	LSU	50	63.6	64%	18	+0.9
74	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	65	57.6	22%	47	+0.7
75	Spencer Shrader	South Florida	57	63.9	82%	10	+0.7
76	Evan Warren	Navy	36	57.4	33%	21	+0.6
77	Reese Burkhardt	UAB	66	60.5	50%	33	+0.4
78	Tanner Gillis	Memphis	35	61.8	46%	19	+0.4
79	Jack Stone	Michigan State	52	59.5	25%	37	+0.1
80	Tyler Tipton	Tulsa	68	59.4	44%	37	+0.1
81	Aidan Laros	Charlotte	47	63.4	57%	20	−0.1
82	Elliott Nimrod	Utah State	53	60.3	38%	32	−0.1
83	Jonah Dalmas	Boise State	35	60.9	49%	18	−0.8
84	Gavin Stewart	Georgia Tech	40	64.1	55%	18	−0.9
85	John Hoyland	Wyoming	56	62.9	48%	29	−0.9
86	Charlie Ham	Duke	42	63.3	64%	15	−1.3
87	Josh Rolston	Central Michigan	48	59.9	44%	27	−1.3
88	Chance Poore	Kentucky	60	64.3	73%	16	−1.7
89	Tim Horn	Rice	59	62.8	51%	29	−1.7
90	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	59	64.1	71%	17	−1.7
91	George Steinkamp	New Mexico	48	62.1	50%	24	−1.8
92	Michael Hughes	App State	71	60.7	51%	35	−2.0
93	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	40	59.8	38%	25	−2.0
94	Owen Daffer	East Carolina	45	60.4	24%	34	−2.2
95	Jadon Redding	Utah	33	60.7	27%	23	−2.4
96	Thomas Leo	Louisiana	64	61.6	33%	43	−2.8
97	Jonathan Kim	North Carolina	32	64.1	84%	4	−2.9
98	John Richardson	Northern Illinois	62	54.0	27%	45	−2.9
99	Luke Laminack	TCU	95	61.2	45%	49	−3.6
100	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	46	62.9	72%	12	−4.2
101	Lucas Matias	Florida International	42	61.9	57%	18	−4.3
102	Mason Shipley	Texas State	49	57.6	33%	33	−4.6
103	Parker Grothaus	West Virginia	65	60.2	38%	40	−4.9
104	Jake Oldroyd	BYU	57	61.5	54%	25	−5.1
105	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	49	61.7	47%	26	−5.7
106	Ryker Casey	UCF	72	60.8	63%	27	−5.8
107	Jonathan Cruz	Ole Miss	73	60.4	55%	29	−6.0
108	Noe Ruelas	UConn	47	60.8	36%	30	−6.1
109	Trey Wolff	Texas Tech	75	61.5	56%	33	−6.8
110	Anders Carlson	Auburn	43	59.4	33%	27	−7.3
111	Brady Pohl	Eastern Michigan	50	59.5	50%	25	−7.6
112	Carter Davis	Florida Atlantic	49	61.1	47%	26	−7.7
113	Bubba Baxa	Houston	64	62.4	58%	27	−8.3
114	Alex McNulty	Buffalo	57	59.6	56%	25	−8.5
115	Mason Lawler	Bowling Green	50	58.1	28%	36	−8.6
116	Brendan Hall	SMU	81	60.7	56%	35	−9.1
117	Jared Sackett	UTSA	62	60.8	48%	32	−9.2
118	Cole Becker	Colorado	43	63.3	72%	12	−9.3
119	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	67	60.0	22%	52	−11.9
120	Jude McAtamney	Rutgers	47	59.4	36%	29	−12.1
121	Rory Bell	Temple	51	56.5	14%	43	−12.1
122	Scott Payne	Middle Tennessee	70	59.9	19%	57	−12.8
123	Calum Sutherland	UL Monroe	47	61.5	47%	25	−12.9
124	Graham Nicholson	Miami (OH)	35	62.5	51%	17	−13.9
125	Taren Schive	San José State	57	51.1	18%	47	−15.0
126	Tyler Loop	Arizona	71	62.0	63%	26	−18.2
127	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	39	52.6	28%	28	−18.7
128	Tabor Allen	Kansas	77	61.3	57%	33	−22.2
129	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	35	57.6	31%	24	−23.5
130	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	67	63.6	66%	23	−29.6
131	Andrew Glass	Kent State	58	54.6	29%	41	−30.4
132	Zach Schmit	Oklahoma	74	63.8	74%	19	−37.9

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 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018 · 2017 · 2016 · 2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011

Other 2022 College Rankings

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