2022 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 2022, Dragan Kesich (88%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Jake Bates (85%) and Jonathan Kim (84%). 132 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 2022 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

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

All 2022 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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