2023 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 2023, Noah Rauschenberg (92%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Brady Denaburg (88%) and Tyler Loop (87%). 134 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 53%.

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 2023 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	TB%	Kickoffs	Avg dist	Returns	Points
1	Noah Rauschenberg	North Texas	92%	77	64.5	6	−4.4
2	Brady Denaburg	Syracuse	88%	52	63.4	6	+3.5
3	Tyler Loop	Arizona	87%	76	63.8	10	+5.7
4	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	86%	64	64.4	8	+5.0
5	Cam Little	Arkansas	85%	62	64.2	9	+4.2
6	Caden Davis	Ole Miss	84%	70	64.4	11	+9.6
7	Dragan Kesich	Minnesota	84%	56	64.7	9	+0.1
8	Nick Barr-Mira	Mississippi State	83%	30	64.7	5	+2.7
9	Buck Buchanan	Louisiana Tech	82%	61	63.8	11	+6.5
10	Trey Smack	Florida	81%	69	63.2	13	+7.8
11	Joshua Karty	Stanford	80%	50	64.8	10	+7.9
12	Drew Stevens	Iowa	75%	53	63.8	13	+7.6
13	Tabor Allen	Kansas	75%	76	62.1	19	+5.6
14	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	75%	67	63.1	17	+2.6
15	Liam Boyd	North Carolina	75%	63	60.6	13	−5.6
16	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	74%	74	63.3	18	+2.4
17	Graham Nicholson	Miami (OH)	74%	70	63.8	18	+10.5
18	Michael Lantz	Georgia Southern	73%	59	63.9	16	+5.5
19	Cole Talley	Army	73%	51	63.9	14	−1.1
20	Tyler Black	Wake Forest	72%	43	63.2	12	+3.6
21	Camden Lewis	Oregon	72%	89	63.2	25	+4.6
22	Ben Sauls	Pittsburgh	71%	52	63.6	15	+6.4
23	Tommy Doman	Michigan	70%	88	63.6	26	+11.3
24	Alex McNulty	Buffalo	69%	42	62.5	13	−2.3
25	Ryan Fitzgerald	Florida State	69%	83	63.8	25	+11.0
26	Mitch Jeter	South Carolina	68%	60	63.1	18	−4.1
27	Colton Theaker	Washington State	68%	69	63.9	22	+6.3
28	Liam Gray	Coastal Carolina	67%	64	63.1	21	+4.0
29	Andres Borregales	Miami	67%	70	62.1	18	+4.7
30	Griffin Kell	TCU	67%	69	62.6	23	−4.7
31	Jude McAtamney	Rutgers	67%	54	60.8	17	+3.5
32	Jonathan Kim	Michigan State	67%	42	63.5	14	+3.2
33	Jared Zirkel	Georgia	66%	95	62.7	26	+12.8
34	Carter Davis	Florida Atlantic	65%	54	63.6	19	+4.8
35	Chance Poore	Kentucky	64%	56	62.0	17	+3.2
36	Enock Gota	Rice	64%	42	63.7	15	+0.2
37	Matthew Killam	Nevada	64%	42	63.1	15	+4.5
38	Atticus Sappington	Oregon State	64%	53	62.2	19	+0.3
39	Gavin Stewart	Georgia Tech	64%	53	62.5	19	−6.6
40	Derek McCormick	UL Monroe	64%	36	62.0	13	−4.5
41	Spencer Shrader	Notre Dame	64%	80	63.5	28	+5.9
42	Ethan Albertson	New Mexico State	64%	77	62.0	28	+7.6
43	Jack Howes	Maryland	64%	66	63.2	24	−7.1
44	Reese Burkhardt	Texas Tech	63%	63	63.5	23	+8.8
45	Ben Falck	Hawai'i	63%	52	63.2	19	+0.3
46	Brock Travelstead	Louisville	63%	59	61.8	19	+1.8
47	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	62%	66	63.4	25	+5.8
48	Zach Long	Troy	62%	76	63.6	29	+1.9
49	Will Ferrin	BYU	62%	55	62.5	21	+8.9
50	Bryan Hansen	Colorado State	61%	44	63.5	17	−0.9
51	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	61%	62	63.7	24	+8.8
52	Harrison Mevis	Missouri	58%	77	62.2	31	+6.3
53	Zach Schmit	Oklahoma	58%	89	62.2	37	+0.3
54	Collin Smith	NC State	58%	57	61.7	24	+0.6
55	Alen Karajic	Jacksonville State	58%	64	63.3	27	+2.4
56	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	57%	75	63.3	32	+9.4
57	Will Reichard	Alabama	57%	82	63.7	33	+13.7
58	Tate Sandell	UTSA	57%	70	62.8	30	+4.0
59	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	56%	78	62.4	31	+9.2
60	Rece Verhoff	Marshall	56%	57	58.5	24	−1.8
61	Colton Boomer	UCF	56%	68	62.0	30	−21.9
62	Jace Feely	Colorado	56%	43	62.7	19	+4.6
63	Grady Gross	Washington	54%	89	62.5	40	+14.1
64	Nathan Dibert	LSU	54%	93	60.6	35	+2.8
65	Collin Rogers	SMU	54%	99	62.6	46	−2.6
66	John Hoyland	Wyoming	53%	60	63.3	28	−2.3
67	Dario Longhetto	Arizona State	53%	45	62.5	21	+7.1
68	Eddie Czaplicki	USC	53%	30	62.7	14	+1.2
69	Alex McPherson	Auburn	52%	63	61.7	29	−0.3
70	Connor Madden	James Madison	52%	71	62.8	34	+5.5
71	Will Stone	Texas	52%	91	63.6	43	+6.9
72	Casey Glover	Tulane	51%	70	62.6	30	+11.2
73	Randy Bond	Texas A&M	51%	59	63.3	29	+6.8
74	Jonah Dalmas	Boise State	51%	81	61.5	40	−15.3
75	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	50%	66	62.8	33	+8.0
76	Blake Glessner	UCLA	50%	52	62.9	24	+7.8
77	Reagan Tubbs	Air Force	49%	57	61.9	29	+13.6
78	Cole Becker	Utah	48%	33	62.1	16	−2.2
79	Chris Freeman	Indiana	48%	50	61.1	26	−2.4
80	Tristan Mattson	Central Michigan	47%	53	60.9	28	+1.2
81	Braeden McAlister	Georgia State	47%	34	63.4	18	+1.4
82	Kyle Cunanan	Charlotte	47%	45	60.3	24	−7.0
83	Jack Van Dyke	Wisconsin	47%	30	62.8	16	+3.8
84	David Olano	Illinois	47%	43	63.5	23	+2.1
85	Elliott Nimrod	Utah State	46%	56	59.8	30	+1.5
86	Charlie Ham	Duke	45%	44	60.5	23	+3.8
87	Tristan Alvano	Nebraska	44%	32	61.6	17	−0.2
88	Rory Bell	Cincinnati	43%	30	61.2	17	−3.9
89	Jack Browning	San Diego State	43%	37	63.0	21	+2.3
90	Joe McFadden	UConn	43%	44	60.0	25	−0.3
91	Jacob Meeks	South Alabama	43%	72	58.8	41	+3.6
92	Keegan Shackford	Iowa State	43%	63	61.3	36	0.0
93	Will Faris	Vanderbilt	43%	54	62.6	30	+3.1
94	Jack Martin	Houston	42%	52	61.6	30	−4.6
95	Michael Hughes	App State	41%	82	60.4	47	+14.5
96	Chris Tennant	Kansas State	41%	87	60.9	50	−9.6
97	Buzz Flabiano	UTEP	41%	46	60.2	26	−4.7
98	Laith Marjan	East Carolina	41%	49	61.9	29	+3.7
99	Luke Drzewiecki	New Mexico	40%	47	57.4	27	−0.7
100	Lucas Matias	Florida International	39%	46	61.8	28	−9.3
101	Palmer Domschke	Western Michigan	38%	55	59.1	34	−7.2
102	Nathan Hawks	Cincinnati	37%	30	62.3	19	+3.9
103	Matt Ganyard	Virginia	36%	55	59.9	35	−0.4
104	Scott Payne	Middle Tennessee	36%	58	61.3	37	+6.2
105	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	36%	50	61.1	32	−1.1
106	Jack Stone	Baylor	35%	40	62.4	26	+3.4
107	Andre Meono	UNLV	34%	82	60.9	54	+6.2
108	Luca Lombardo	Boston College	32%	37	59.8	25	−4.2
109	Chris Van Eekeren	Temple	32%	34	60.9	23	−0.7
110	Christian Pavon	Sam Houston	32%	41	59.7	28	−3.8
111	Caleb Krockover	Purdue	31%	35	60.5	24	−7.1
112	Max Morgan	Liberty	31%	84	59.2	58	−0.9
113	Brendan Farrell	South Florida	30%	67	59.8	47	−4.1
114	Michael Hayes II	West Virginia	30%	61	61.2	43	+3.0
115	Jack Drake	Ball State	28%	46	57.2	33	−10.6
116	Denis Lynch	USC	28%	57	60.7	41	−1.3
117	Andrew Glass	Kent State	27%	41	60.0	29	−4.9
118	Tristian Vandenberg	Memphis	27%	56	60.1	41	+0.6
119	Michael Denning	Toledo	27%	45	56.9	33	+3.8
120	Dante Jackson	Akron	25%	40	59.3	30	−1.1
121	Connor Gibbs	Southern Miss	25%	57	60.7	42	+0.3
122	Michael Slaba	Tulsa	24%	42	60.7	32	+4.5
123	Taren Schive	San José State	23%	66	53.8	51	−1.0
124	Jonah Delange	UAB	22%	65	56.9	51	−16.3
125	Alex Kasee	Ohio	20%	56	55.2	45	−11.9
126	Ryan Kingston	Eastern Michigan	19%	31	59.2	25	+2.8
127	Michael Luckhurst	California	19%	57	59.8	45	+3.1
128	Ozlo Rigby	Old Dominion	19%	37	61.7	30	−10.8
129	Michael James	Texas State	18%	38	58.0	31	−2.4
130	Jake Seibert	Northern Illinois	17%	46	57.9	36	−3.1
131	Thomas Leo	Louisiana	16%	67	58.0	56	0.0
132	Clune Van Andel	Arkansas State	16%	43	59.3	36	+1.1
133	Jack Sauder	Bowling Green	16%	63	58.5	53	−4.5
134	Henry Helms	Northwestern	3%	30	54.6	29	−7.9

All 2023 College kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Touchback Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

More 2023 College kickoff specialist leaderboards

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