2022 College Kickoff Return Yards Allowed Leaders

Total return yards gained against a specialist's kickoffs. It reflects his kick and his coverage team.

Lower is better, but volume matters. In 2022, Thomas Cluckey (996) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff return yards allowed, ahead of Luke Laminack (988) and Scott Payne (979). 218 kickoff specialists qualify.

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.

Rk	Player	Team	Ret yds	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	996	67	60.0	22%	52	−11.9
2	Luke Laminack	TCU	988	95	61.2	45%	49	−3.6
3	Scott Payne	Middle Tennessee	979	70	59.9	19%	57	−12.8
4	Alex Stadthaus	USC	922	92	62.4	49%	46	+11.9
5	Grady Gross	Washington	805	82	60.6	29%	56	+8.0
6	Parker Grothaus	West Virginia	791	65	60.2	38%	40	−4.9
7	Brendan Hall	SMU	789	81	60.7	56%	35	−9.1
8	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	732	65	57.6	22%	47	+0.7
9	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	706	97	61.3	55%	40	+7.8
10	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	679	78	61.3	40%	47	+8.6
11	Rory Bell	Temple	655	51	56.5	14%	43	−12.1
12	Mason Lawler	Bowling Green	639	50	58.1	28%	36	−8.6
13	Reese Burkhardt	UAB	636	66	60.5	50%	33	+0.4
14	Tristian Vandenberg	Ohio	624	72	60.1	38%	43	+11.6
15	Jack Stone	Michigan State	618	52	59.5	25%	37	+0.1
16	Tim Horn	Rice	613	59	62.8	51%	29	−1.7
17	Jacob Meeks	South Alabama	606	72	60.3	39%	44	+4.3
18	Mason Shipley	Texas State	600	49	57.6	33%	33	−4.6
19	Owen Daffer	East Carolina	575	45	60.4	24%	34	−2.2
20	Michael Lantz	Georgia Southern	564	65	61.9	34%	43	+4.2
21	Jude McAtamney	Rutgers	562	47	59.4	36%	29	−12.1
22	Will Stone	Texas	561	75	61.3	37%	43	+17.4
23	Calum Sutherland	UL Monroe	548	47	61.5	47%	25	−12.9
24	Jared Sackett	UTSA	546	62	60.8	48%	32	−9.2
25	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	542	88	58.7	50%	38	+14.4
26	Jadon Redding	Utah	535	33	60.7	27%	23	−2.4
27	John Richardson	Northern Illinois	533	62	54.0	27%	45	−2.9
28	Noe Ruelas	UConn	529	47	60.8	36%	30	−6.1
29	Andrew Glass	Kent State	526	58	54.6	29%	41	−30.4
30	Tabor Allen	Kansas	524	77	61.3	57%	33	−22.2
31	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	518	35	57.6	31%	24	−23.5
32	Dominik Soos	Old Dominion	516	50	61.0	46%	27	+2.3
33	Ben VonGunten	Ball State	510	59	59.2	19%	46	+5.3
34	Michael Hughes	App State	509	71	60.7	51%	35	−2.0
35	John Hoyland	Wyoming	508	56	62.9	48%	29	−0.9
36	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	499	59	63.2	59%	24	+2.9
37	RJ Lopez	UCLA	495	85	64.2	67%	28	+10.1
38	Jake Oldroyd	BYU	483	57	61.5	54%	25	−5.1
39	Will Reichard	Alabama	479	86	61.7	60%	28	+18.2
40	Bubba Baxa	Houston	471	64	62.4	58%	27	−8.3
41	Jordan Noyes	Utah	471	40	61.1	33%	26	+5.1
42	Brady Pohl	Eastern Michigan	467	50	59.5	50%	25	−7.6
43	Joseph Bulovas	Vanderbilt	466	55	62.6	49%	28	+5.5
44	Ben Raybon	Mississippi State	454	63	61.6	54%	29	+4.5
45	Noah Grant	Memphis	452	40	61.8	38%	25	+4.0
46	Jack Browning	San Diego State	451	50	63.7	56%	22	+8.0
47	Thomas Leo	Louisiana	448	64	61.6	33%	43	−2.8
48	Tyler Loop	Arizona	441	71	62.0	63%	26	−18.2
49	Jonathan Cruz	Ole Miss	436	73	60.4	55%	29	−6.0
50	Ryker Casey	UCF	436	72	60.8	63%	27	−5.8
51	Keegan Shackford	Iowa State	430	30	61.2	23%	23	+4.7
52	Tristan Mattson	Arkansas State	427	62	60.9	44%	35	+14.2
53	Zach Schmit	Oklahoma	420	74	63.8	74%	19	−37.9
54	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	419	40	59.8	38%	25	−2.0
55	Buck Buchanan	Louisiana Tech	415	63	62.5	54%	29	+1.0
56	Noah Burnette	North Carolina	411	52	63.7	52%	25	+5.2
57	Jason Stricker	Liberty	407	63	62.9	65%	22	+3.2
58	Tyler Tipton	Tulsa	403	68	59.4	44%	37	+0.1
59	Chris Van Eekeren	Purdue	397	55	62.0	58%	23	+2.0
60	Ryan Fitzgerald	Florida State	397	69	64.3	67%	23	+11.6
61	Danny Longman	Boston College	387	17	60.4	12%	15	−3.6
62	Elliott Nimrod	Utah State	383	53	60.3	38%	32	−0.1
63	Michael Luckhurst	California	381	43	61.9	49%	19	+5.1
64	Nathan Dibert	LSU	375	50	63.6	64%	18	+0.9
65	Gavin Stewart	Georgia Tech	374	40	64.1	55%	18	−0.9
66	Carter Davis	Florida Atlantic	371	49	61.1	47%	26	−7.7
67	Chris Freeman	Indiana	371	44	63.3	55%	20	+2.4
68	Niko Paxos	Akron	368	23	61.0	17%	19	−22.1
69	Jake Moody	Michigan	367	94	63.0	76%	21	+19.4
70	Brock Travelstead	Louisville	366	65	61.4	63%	24	+7.4
71	Casey Glover	Tulane	363	74	62.1	65%	26	+13.3
72	Atticus Sappington	Oregon State	363	42	62.7	55%	19	+6.5
73	Cole Talley	Army	362	57	61.7	51%	28	+13.4
74	Noah Rauschenberg	Baylor	361	74	64.2	78%	16	+4.3
75	Alex McNulty	Buffalo	360	57	59.6	56%	25	−8.5
76	Colton Theaker	Washington State	359	57	63.5	61%	22	+4.4
77	Jace Gilbert	Iowa State	358	25	61.6	24%	19	+0.6
78	Trey Wolff	Texas Tech	354	75	61.5	56%	33	−6.8
79	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	354	80	63.0	60%	31	+7.0
80	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	354	44	63.0	55%	20	+10.2
81	Lucas Matias	Florida International	352	42	61.9	57%	18	−4.3
82	Jonah Dalmas	Boise State	351	35	60.9	49%	18	−0.8
83	Andrew Boyle	Oregon	348	71	63.0	70%	18	+7.5
84	Chad Ryland	Maryland	347	61	63.0	67%	20	+1.0
85	Connor Madden	James Madison	340	63	62.8	60%	25	+2.9
86	Collin Smith	NC State	337	65	63.0	60%	24	+17.2
87	Matthew Dapore	Air Force	336	48	60.8	38%	30	+1.6
88	Taren Schive	San José State	334	57	51.1	18%	47	−15.0
89	Chance Poore	Kentucky	334	60	64.3	73%	16	−1.7
90	Gavin Baechle	UTEP	324	67	63.6	66%	23	−29.6
91	Daniel Gutierrez	UNLV	311	39	52.6	28%	28	−18.7
92	Ryan Coe	Cincinnati	310	70	63.6	60%	28	+5.6
93	Josh Rolston	Central Michigan	310	48	59.9	44%	27	−1.3
94	Jack Podlesny	Georgia	310	91	63.2	76%	19	+13.5
95	George Steinkamp	New Mexico	308	48	62.1	50%	24	−1.8
96	Zac Yoakam	Notre Dame	306	65	61.3	63%	20	+9.8
97	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	304	35	62.4	37%	22	+7.8
98	Brendan Farrell	Virginia	304	37	64.5	68%	12	+2.6
99	Ethan Albertson	New Mexico State	304	25	64.5	52%	12	−8.1
100	Adam Stage	Northwestern	293	39	58.4	26%	27	+13.3
101	Anders Carlson	Auburn	293	43	59.4	33%	27	−7.3
102	Drew Stevens	Iowa	289	52	62.3	56%	23	+8.4
103	Brady Denaburg	Syracuse	289	53	64.0	66%	18	+4.6
104	Adam Mihalek	Florida	281	41	63.1	63%	14	+2.4
105	Ethan Mooney	North Texas	276	61	63.4	72%	17	+2.9
106	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	275	49	61.7	47%	26	−5.7
107	Liam Gray	Coastal Carolina	274	40	59.1	40%	24	+1.8
108	Brendan Franke	Nebraska	274	56	62.0	68%	18	+8.5
109	Ben Sauls	Pittsburgh	272	72	62.9	76%	17	+11.7
110	Matthew Killam	Nevada	268	43	63.0	53%	20	+10.8
111	Damian Ramos	LSU	268	26	62.6	46%	14	+0.1
112	Everett Hayes	Oregon State	258	28	62.4	46%	14	+4.4
113	B.T. Potter	Clemson	255	77	63.6	79%	13	+11.9
114	Cole Becker	Colorado	255	43	63.3	72%	12	−9.3
115	Kade Hensley	Coastal Carolina	254	22	61.2	27%	16	+1.2
116	Aidan Laros	Charlotte	252	47	63.4	57%	20	−0.1
117	Evan McGuire	Auburn	247	15	59.2	13%	13	+0.2
118	Graham Nicholson	Miami (OH)	244	35	62.5	51%	17	−13.9
119	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	241	59	64.1	71%	17	−1.7
120	Abraham Montano	Fresno State	239	28	62.5	43%	16	+10.1
121	Mitch Jeter	South Carolina	237	69	62.9	68%	21	+12.5
122	Andres Borregales	Miami	237	58	60.5	66%	19	+4.9
123	Gavin Lahm	Wisconsin	235	42	61.0	43%	24	+11.1
124	Tanner Gillis	Memphis	229	35	61.8	46%	19	+0.4
125	Tate Sandell	UTSA	222	20	49.8	5%	17	−2.8
126	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	219	46	62.9	72%	12	−4.2
127	Todd Pelino	Duke	214	17	59.1	24%	12	+2.9
128	Will Ferrin	Boise State	208	28	61.3	46%	14	+6.1
129	Charlie Ham	Duke	204	42	63.3	64%	15	−1.3
130	Liam Connor	Boston College	204	24	60.3	54%	10	−1.2
131	Will McManus	Illinois	202	14	55.9	0%	14	+0.3
132	Caden Davis	Texas A&M	200	56	63.9	84%	8	+6.3
133	Zach Long	Troy	199	35	61.7	60%	14	+1.8
134	Evan Warren	Navy	198	36	57.4	33%	21	+0.6
135	Jake Bates	Arkansas	189	68	64.6	85%	10	+10.1
136	Joshua Karty	Stanford	188	55	63.3	73%	14	+11.0
137	Jake Pinegar	Penn State	184	40	62.9	68%	13	+4.1
138	Brett Money	New Mexico State	178	18	57.0	22%	14	+1.8
139	Spencer Shrader	South Florida	166	57	63.9	82%	10	+0.7
140	Kyler Halvorsen	Hawai'i	165	52	63.3	71%	15	+6.5
141	Brooks Buce	Troy	159	26	63.4	65%	9	+4.4
142	Sander Sahaydak	Penn State	155	12	61.6	17%	10	−0.1
143	Camden Lewis	Oregon	151	12	62.5	58%	5	−7.7
144	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	148	18	62.4	50%	9	+3.8
145	Rece Verhoff	Marshall	143	39	59.1	46%	21	+5.7
146	Palmer Domschke	Western Michigan	142	17	58.8	35%	11	+3.2
147	Trey Smack	Florida	142	30	62.4	63%	9	+6.6
148	Caleb Griffin	Illinois	141	48	61.9	73%	13	+6.6
149	Ben Norton	Utah	140	7	62.4	14%	6	+0.8
150	Peyton Henry	Washington	139	8	61.1	25%	6	−0.8
151	Laith Marjan	East Carolina	137	8	64.1	38%	5	−1.8
152	Dragan Kesich	Minnesota	136	66	64.8	88%	8	+4.0
153	James Williams	Syracuse	135	8	63.0	13%	7	+2.9
154	Alex Hale	Oklahoma State	130	19	63.4	42%	11	+3.9
155	Zach Murphy	Wake Forest	128	11	53.7	18%	7	−0.8
156	Ben Freehill	Purdue	121	11	61.3	18%	8	+1.1
157	Matthew Dennis	Wake Forest	117	6	60.0	0%	6	−0.6
158	Noah Gettman	Akron	114	16	59.1	38%	10	−0.8
159	Tanner Brown	Oklahoma State	112	21	63.8	48%	11	+1.6
160	Jonathan Kim	North Carolina	106	32	64.1	84%	4	−2.9
161	Sean Koetting	Missouri	103	55	61.8	80%	10	+6.2
162	Daniel Davies	Navy	98	4	59.8	0%	4	+0.7
163	Cash Peterman	BYU	94	7	58.3	14%	6	−0.2
164	Toby Wilson	Tennessee	87	8	63.8	63%	3	−1.1
165	Logan Lupo	Florida Atlantic	81	5	51.0	0%	5	−0.7
166	Massimo Biscardi	Mississippi State	81	9	63.6	56%	4	+1.7
167	Henry Katleman	Colorado State	80	38	63.6	79%	8	+2.6
168	Dario Longhetto	California	75	13	62.4	62%	5	0.0
169	Fabrizio Pinton	Illinois	71	3	53.0	0%	3	−1.9
170	Jackson Hubbard	Duke	71	3	61.3	0%	3	+1.8
171	Devyn McCormick	UL Monroe	70	4	54.0	0%	4	+0.4
172	Ryan O'Hara	UNLV	69	7	60.1	43%	4	−1.2
173	Andre Szmyt	Syracuse	69	3	64.0	0%	3	+0.3
174	Charles Campbell	Indiana	67	12	61.3	67%	4	+2.1
175	Henry Beckett	Miami (OH)	62	6	63.5	17%	5	−16.5
176	Luke Pawlak	Toledo	60	6	62.2	33%	4	−3.9
177	Jarrett Reeser	San Diego State	57	4	60.3	25%	3	+0.6
178	Luke Wieland	Air Force	49	10	60.9	40%	6	+1.0
179	Jude Kelley	Georgia Tech	48	4	64.3	50%	2	+0.6
180	Jack Martin	Alabama	47	5	56.8	40%	3	+0.4
181	Trey Gronotte	Army	44	3	65.0	33%	2	−1.2
182	Alex McPherson	Auburn	43	3	40.3	0%	3	−4.3
183	Michael James	Texas State	41	3	51.0	0%	3	−0.2
184	Danny King	West Virginia	39	4	52.5	25%	3	−0.6
185	Andrew Conrad	East Carolina	39	2	62.5	0%	2	−0.9
186	Morgan Suarez	Florida Atlantic	36	4	63.3	50%	2	−5.2
187	Zack Long	Tulsa	35	3	46.7	0%	3	−2.5
188	Brayden Narveson	Western Kentucky	32	4	65.0	50%	2	+0.5
189	Kyle Ramsey	Houston	30	8	51.3	13%	6	−7.0
190	Josh McCormick	Oregon State	28	3	56.0	0%	3	−1.4
191	Alex Bales	Oregon	25	2	48.5	0%	2	−0.3
192	Justin Ritter	James Madison	24	7	60.0	14%	6	+1.2
193	Jacob Barnes	Louisiana Tech	24	1	64.0	0%	1	+0.5
194	Blake Grupe	Notre Dame	23	5	64.8	80%	1	0.0
195	Michael Boyle	Colorado State	23	1	64.0	0%	1	−0.7
196	Scott Taylor Renfroe	Troy	21	2	53.5	0%	2	+0.6
197	George Eberle	New Mexico State	20	3	40.0	0%	3	−1.2
198	Alex Herrera	South Carolina	20	2	45.5	0%	2	+0.5
199	Cory Smigel	Akron	20	1	64.0	0%	1	−1.6
200	John Olson	Air Force	20	2	57.0	50%	1	−0.6
201	Mac Chiumento	Florida State	20	6	63.0	83%	1	+1.1
202	Trey Finison	LSU	20	1	64.0	0%	1	−3.4
203	Zeke Rankin	Middle Tennessee	20	1	63.0	0%	1	+0.6
204	Andrew Stein	Southern Miss	19	1	48.0	0%	1	−0.8
205	Carson Zilmer	New Mexico State	18	5	62.0	60%	2	+0.8
206	Dominic Zvada	Arkansas State	18	1	62.0	0%	1	+0.4
207	Daton Montiel	Florida International	17	1	46.0	0%	1	−0.3
208	Jesus Gomez	Eastern Michigan	16	2	42.5	0%	2	−0.5
209	Chris Cayton	North Texas	15	5	63.4	60%	2	+1.6
210	Christian Schanefelt	Ole Miss	14	3	61.0	33%	2	−3.7
211	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	14	1	51.0	0%	1	−1.4
212	Luke Elzinga	Central Michigan	10	1	55.0	0%	1	−0.7
213	Jack Van Dyke	Wisconsin	8	18	62.1	78%	3	+4.1
214	Camden Wise	James Madison	7	5	50.0	20%	4	+0.4
215	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	7	1	30.0	0%	1	−1.3
216	James Turner	Louisville	5	1	56.0	0%	1	−0.1
217	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	4	1	60.0	0%	1	+0.2
218	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	4	1	48.0	0%	1	+0.4

All 2022 College kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Return Yards Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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