2024 College Kickoff Returns Allowed Leaders

Kickoffs the receiving team brought out of the end zone. More returns mean more chances for a big return, but also more chances to be tackled short.

Compare with return yards allowed. In 2024, Garrison Rippa (56) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff returns allowed, ahead of Kenneth Almendares (53) and Riley Stephens (49). 277 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 2024 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Returns	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Points
1	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	56	84	59.5	33%	−1.2
2	Kenneth Almendares	Louisiana	53	81	61.0	35%	+9.5
3	Riley Stephens	Western Kentucky	49	64	61.3	23%	+6.9
4	Michael Hayes II	West Virginia	48	66	58.6	27%	−4.7
5	Alejandro Prado	Florida International	47	53	58.7	11%	−3.1
6	Lance Gossett	Navy	45	64	58.6	27%	+1.4
7	Grady Gross	Washington	43	60	58.1	28%	−10.4
8	Carson Holmer	Ball State	43	54	54.5	20%	−9.5
9	Gianni Spetic	Ohio	42	73	60.8	41%	−3.9
10	Laith Marjan	South Alabama	42	60	58.4	30%	−10.2
11	Austin Bullock	Northern Illinois	40	61	57.5	31%	−10.6
12	Ben Falck	Hawai'i	40	55	57.5	27%	+2.1
13	Christian Pavon	Sam Houston	40	54	61.1	26%	−7.2
14	Nathan Hawks	Cincinnati	39	65	61.3	40%	+1.4
15	Michael Denning	Toledo	38	54	60.4	30%	−0.1
16	Trey Gronotte	Army	38	54	59.6	30%	+0.5
17	Max Larson	UL Monroe	38	50	59.8	24%	+1.6
18	Upton Bellenfant	Buffalo	37	67	61.3	43%	+3.2
19	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	36	59	59.4	39%	+7.7
20	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	36	57	61.3	37%	−1.8
21	Mathias Brown	San José State	36	49	58.2	27%	−1.0
22	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	33	78	63.7	58%	+12.8
23	Collin Rogers	SMU	33	77	63.2	52%	−1.4
24	Elliott Nimrod	Utah State	33	64	58.9	48%	−3.7
25	Kyle Lemmermann	TCU	33	63	61.6	48%	+4.8
26	Reed Malphurs	Tulsa	33	58	60.3	40%	+1.8
27	Ethan Chang	Old Dominion	33	53	59.4	38%	−1.5
28	Chris Freeman	UConn	32	77	62.8	58%	+7.5
29	Will Ferrin	BYU	32	75	62.9	55%	+6.2
30	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	32	59	60.7	46%	+5.3
31	Bryan Hansen	Colorado State	32	58	62.3	45%	+4.2
32	Everett Scott	East Carolina	32	50	61.7	36%	−1.2
33	Blake Ford	North Texas	31	74	57.9	58%	−1.9
34	Jace Gilbert	Iowa State	31	71	61.5	55%	−2.1
35	Liam Gray	Coastal Carolina	31	71	61.8	56%	−2.0
36	Zach Long	Bowling Green	31	67	60.2	54%	−4.9
37	Gavin Stewart	Georgia Southern	31	66	61.0	53%	+4.0
38	Noah Grant	UAB	31	65	60.8	51%	−2.6
39	Alex Herrera	South Carolina	31	63	60.5	46%	+8.1
40	Liam Connor	Boston College	31	46	59.9	33%	+5.6
41	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	30	81	63.4	63%	+4.8
42	Eric Goins	Notre Dame	30	56	60.8	38%	+7.9
43	Taren Schive	Boise State	30	51	58.4	41%	−2.7
44	Ryan Degyansky	Duke	30	43	61.0	26%	+2.2
45	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	29	69	62.7	57%	+5.6
46	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	29	59	61.6	51%	+5.2
47	Luka Zurak	Western Michigan	29	29	57.1	0%	+2.4
48	Ethan Moczulski	Illinois	28	58	62.7	52%	+2.9
49	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	28	51	61.1	45%	−15.9
50	Gabriel Plascencia	San Diego State	28	51	58.9	45%	−1.4
51	Andres Borregales	Miami	27	92	64.0	68%	+6.5
52	Caden Chittenden	UNLV	27	81	64.3	67%	+12.0
53	Ethan Head	Tulane	27	76	63.3	64%	+6.0
54	Reese Burkhardt	Texas Tech	27	74	61.5	64%	+3.9
55	Drew Stevens	Iowa	27	67	63.5	60%	+7.4
56	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	27	59	58.7	54%	−2.2
57	Brock Travelstead	Louisville	27	57	61.3	53%	+2.6
58	Max Morgan	Liberty	27	54	60.6	50%	−5.0
59	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	27	51	61.8	47%	−3.9
60	Derek McCormick	Indiana	27	37	58.2	27%	+0.6
61	Parker Lewis	Arizona State	26	63	60.9	59%	−1.7
62	Conor Talty	Alabama	25	72	63.2	64%	+7.1
63	Devin Bale	Arkansas	25	68	63.1	63%	−0.1
64	Jared Zirkel	Texas A&M	25	68	64.1	63%	+3.2
65	Jesus Gomez	Eastern Michigan	25	60	61.5	58%	−5.6
66	Maddux Trujillo	Temple	25	52	60.3	52%	+1.9
67	Luke Akers	Northwestern	25	50	61.9	50%	+2.8
68	Cale Allaire	Western Michigan	25	25	51.8	0%	−4.3
69	Will Stone	Texas	23	82	63.4	71%	+14.5
70	Jack Stone	Baylor	23	70	62.9	67%	+7.1
71	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	23	60	61.0	47%	−5.8
72	Paddy McAteer	Troy	23	60	64.1	62%	+5.5
73	Tommy Doman	Michigan	23	60	64.1	62%	+10.8
74	Jack Howes	Maryland	23	54	61.9	57%	−3.6
75	Jonathan Kim	Michigan State	23	53	60.8	57%	−1.9
76	Matthew Killam	Nevada	23	45	60.5	49%	−1.0
77	Daniel Gerlach	Colorado	23	29	59.1	21%	−4.5
78	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	22	56	62.8	61%	+8.5
79	Jack Martin	Houston	22	39	58.8	38%	+0.4
80	Trey Coleman	Utah	22	39	63.1	44%	+7.4
81	Quinn Warren	Indiana	22	33	61.2	33%	−0.3
82	Dean Janikowski	Washington State	21	48	63.3	56%	+2.3
83	Reagan Tubbs	Air Force	21	44	61.1	52%	+0.6
84	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	21	31	56.8	32%	−11.7
85	Atticus Sappington	Oregon	20	77	64.0	74%	+3.2
86	Cristiano Rosa	James Madison	20	67	62.8	70%	+1.6
87	John Hoyland	Wyoming	20	52	64.0	62%	+6.7
88	Michael Lantz	USC	19	71	64.4	73%	+1.7
89	Abraham Montano	New Mexico State	19	48	60.1	56%	−7.8
90	Brian Buschini	Nebraska	19	42	63.1	55%	+0.1
91	Will Hryszko	Kent State	19	26	50.0	27%	−15.5
92	Blake Craig	Missouri	18	67	62.9	73%	+5.0
93	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	18	64	63.9	72%	+8.5
94	Gavin Lahm	Wisconsin	18	56	64.2	68%	+4.8
95	Dante Jackson	Akron	18	50	63.3	64%	+2.3
96	Evan Morris	UCF	18	38	62.8	53%	+2.0
97	Luke Drzewiecki	New Mexico	18	37	61.2	51%	−2.8
98	Luke Stewart	Southern Miss	18	29	60.8	38%	−1.8
99	Andrew Conrad	East Carolina	18	22	59.2	18%	+3.6
100	Tate Sandell	UTSA	17	74	63.1	77%	+1.7
101	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	17	66	62.1	74%	+1.4
102	Towns McGough	Auburn	17	61	63.9	72%	+1.8
103	Lucas Osada	North Carolina	17	56	63.5	70%	+1.8
104	Buzz Flabiano	UTEP	17	34	62.1	50%	−4.7
105	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	17	33	60.9	48%	+2.6
106	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	17	31	60.1	45%	+0.1
107	Will Faris	Vanderbilt	17	26	61.0	35%	−0.9
108	Tabor Allen	Kansas	16	70	63.5	77%	+6.8
109	Dragan Kesich	Minnesota	16	67	62.5	76%	+2.9
110	Ryan Coe	California	16	57	63.6	70%	+4.7
111	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	16	48	63.8	67%	+7.5
112	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	16	37	63.1	57%	+4.1
113	Ben Freehill	Purdue	16	35	60.9	54%	−4.4
114	Austin Welch	Kennesaw State	16	31	60.0	48%	+0.6
115	Zach Benedict	Middle Tennessee	16	30	57.6	20%	+4.4
116	Ben Sauls	Pittsburgh	15	75	63.2	77%	+0.6
117	Braeden McAlister	Georgia State	15	59	63.4	75%	−0.2
118	Zach Schmit	Oklahoma	15	59	63.0	68%	−0.7
119	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	15	52	63.1	71%	−3.3
120	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	15	50	63.5	70%	+5.6
121	Alejandro Quintero	Indiana	15	18	60.5	17%	+1.4
122	Alex Stoyanovich	Colorado	15	18	62.1	17%	−1.4
123	Zeke Rankin	Middle Tennessee	15	16	54.6	6%	−8.6
124	Kian Afrookhteh	Nevada	15	15	51.2	0%	−6.4
125	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	14	83	64.6	81%	+7.3
126	Tristan Mattson	Central Michigan	14	38	58.0	63%	−6.2
127	Brady Denaburg	Syracuse	13	72	63.5	82%	+0.4
128	Trey Smack	Florida	13	65	63.3	80%	+3.9
129	Rece Verhoff	Marshall	13	40	63.5	68%	+3.1
130	Cash McVay	App State	13	18	62.2	28%	+1.1
131	Jonah Dalmas	Boise State	13	14	51.4	7%	−4.6
132	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	12	79	63.3	84%	+7.0
133	Brendan Franke	Texas State	12	62	63.3	81%	+6.7
134	Stephen Rusnak	Charlotte	12	48	61.9	73%	−1.2
135	Jarrett Reeser	Boise State	12	26	62.1	54%	+1.6
136	Jace Feely	Colorado	12	17	61.0	29%	+4.5
137	Joe Bowman	UTEP	12	15	57.6	20%	−1.3
138	Caden Davis	Ole Miss	11	87	64.4	87%	+8.6
139	Nathan Totten	Marshall	11	38	63.9	71%	+6.0
140	Chris Tennant	Kansas State	11	22	64.5	50%	+2.6
141	Davis Little	South Alabama	11	18	58.1	39%	−0.4
142	Britton Williams	Kennesaw State	11	14	58.0	21%	−3.1
143	John Hohl	Nebraska	11	14	60.5	21%	+0.2
144	Tristian Vandenberg	Memphis	10	77	63.9	87%	+1.6
145	Collin Smith	NC State	10	73	64.4	86%	+2.4
146	Nick Barr-Mira	Mississippi State	10	43	62.9	77%	+0.2
147	Michael Hughes	App State	10	28	62.5	64%	+2.6
148	Jackson Moore	App State	10	10	40.2	0%	−8.8
149	Carter Davis	Florida Atlantic	9	53	64.7	81%	−1.7
150	Cole Becker	Utah	9	22	63.5	59%	+1.8
151	Everett Hayes	Oregon State	8	57	62.7	86%	+5.7
152	Enock Gota	Rice	8	45	64.4	82%	−1.1
153	Ryan Fitzgerald	Florida State	8	43	63.1	79%	−0.9
154	Mitch Jeter	Notre Dame	8	28	63.3	64%	+5.0
155	Nick Keller	Louisville	8	26	62.5	69%	+3.0
156	Gabriel Lozano	SMU	8	16	60.6	38%	+2.6
157	Andrew Boyle	Oregon	8	12	58.3	33%	+0.4
158	Andrew Glass	Kent State	8	12	57.8	33%	−3.6
159	Ryan Harris	Washington State	7	23	60.0	70%	+1.4
160	Marlon Hauck	Mississippi State	7	17	63.6	59%	+3.0
161	Cosme Salas	Duke	7	15	61.3	53%	+0.8
162	Liam Boyd	North Carolina	7	13	63.6	46%	+0.1
163	Grant Reddick	UCF	7	7	38.1	0%	−7.1
164	Ryan Heicher	Arkansas State	7	7	55.9	0%	+0.4
165	Anderson Britton	Army	6	14	64.9	57%	+2.1
166	Cade Graham	Central Michigan	6	9	60.9	22%	+2.8
167	Connor Gibbs	Southern Miss	6	7	59.7	14%	+0.6
168	Jacob Carlson	Navy	6	7	54.1	14%	−5.3
169	Andrew Stein	Southern Miss	6	6	22.5	0%	−10.8
170	Palmer Domschke	Western Michigan	6	6	58.0	0%	−1.3
171	Tyler Loop	Arizona	5	58	62.7	91%	−0.2
172	Luca Lombardo	Boston College	5	18	63.8	72%	+3.5
173	Kyler Halvorsen	San José State	5	12	59.6	58%	−1.3
174	Tim Horn	Rice	5	9	53.4	44%	+1.9
175	Ty Ippolito	South Florida	5	8	61.8	25%	−1.0
176	Andre Meono	UNLV	5	6	63.3	17%	−0.9
177	Cristiano Palazzo	Colorado	5	6	60.5	17%	−0.4
178	Daton Montiel	Florida International	5	6	62.3	17%	−1.1
179	Emilio Duran	Toledo	5	6	63.2	17%	+3.1
180	Kyle Cunanan	Charlotte	5	6	60.8	17%	−2.6
181	Matthew Dapore	Air Force	5	5	33.2	0%	−9.0
182	Aeron Burrell	LSU	4	66	65.0	94%	+4.4
183	Buck Buchanan	Louisiana Tech	4	55	64.9	93%	+7.1
184	Stone Harrington	Texas Tech	4	12	58.8	67%	−2.3
185	Jackson Courville	Ball State	4	7	60.1	43%	+1.5
186	Nate McCashland	TCU	4	7	53.6	43%	−1.3
187	Noe Ruelas	James Madison	4	7	55.7	43%	−1.4
188	D.Janikowski	Fresno State	4	6	58.8	17%	−1.5
189	Gavin Marshall	Maryland	4	5	62.6	20%	−2.5
190	J.Gomez	Western Michigan	4	5	56.8	0%	+1.0
191	Alejandro Mata	Colorado	4	4	49.0	0%	−0.9
192	Spencer Conrad	Toledo	4	4	59.3	0%	+1.9
193	Tony Sterner	Louisiana	4	4	59.5	0%	+0.3
194	Colton Boomer	UCF	3	17	63.2	82%	+3.7
195	Tyler Black	Wake Forest	3	12	64.8	75%	−4.7
196	Brayden Beck	Liberty	3	9	62.6	56%	+0.2
197	Ethan Sanchez	Old Dominion	3	8	62.9	63%	+1.2
198	Jacob Kauwe	Kentucky	3	7	63.3	57%	+1.5
199	Keegan Shackford	Iowa State	3	7	63.4	57%	−1.1
200	A.Britton	Rice	3	5	57.2	0%	+0.6
201	C.Allaire	Eastern Michigan	3	4	58.0	25%	0.0
202	C.Pavon	New Mexico State	3	4	60.3	0%	−1.9
203	Carter Holden	Miami (OH)	3	4	63.3	25%	+0.9
204	E.Chang	Texas State	3	4	61.8	25%	+1.9
205	Chase Gabriel	Florida International	3	3	52.3	0%	−1.4
206	Ramon Villela	UNLV	3	3	65.0	0%	+1.0
207	Patrick Durkin	Tulane	2	12	63.5	83%	+1.1
208	Ian Hershey	Arizona State	2	9	59.0	78%	+1.5
209	Abram Murray	Miami	2	4	63.0	50%	+0.3
210	Charlie Ham	Georgia	2	4	63.8	50%	+0.4
211	D.Dzioban	Kent State	2	4	62.8	50%	+0.6
212	Blake Glessner	UCLA	2	3	53.3	33%	−0.1
213	Ian Vachon	Auburn	2	3	63.3	33%	+0.6
214	Damian Ramos	LSU	2	2	49.5	0%	+1.0
215	J.Ballard	UL Monroe	2	2	60.5	0%	+0.8
216	J.Barnum	Central Michigan	2	2	58.5	0%	+0.2
217	Jai Patel	Rutgers	2	2	21.5	0%	−2.9
218	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	2	2	44.5	0%	−1.2
219	Liam Rickman	Georgia State	2	2	10.5	0%	−3.7
220	Matthias Dunn	BYU	2	2	64.5	0%	+0.5
221	Noah Perez	East Carolina	2	2	8.5	0%	−5.1
222	Todd Pelino	Duke	2	2	58.5	0%	−0.2
223	B.Franke	UTSA	1	8	64.6	88%	−2.7
224	E.Moczulski	Purdue	1	7	65.0	86%	−0.1
225	K.Lemmerman	UCF	1	7	65.0	29%	−0.9
226	A.Herrera	Oklahoma	1	6	63.0	50%	−1.9
227	B.Freehill	Illinois	1	6	62.0	83%	+0.8
228	Carson Zilmer	New Mexico State	1	6	56.3	83%	−2.1
229	J.Fielding	Iowa	1	6	65.0	83%	−9.0
230	Nathan Dibert	LSU	1	6	62.2	83%	+0.3
231	Graham Nicholson	Alabama	1	4	62.5	75%	+0.5
232	P.Lewis	Texas State	1	4	64.3	75%	+0.9
233	R.Coe	San Diego State	1	4	66.8	75%	−0.2
234	A.Snyder	Marshall	1	3	65.0	67%	+0.1
235	B.Franke	Old Dominion	1	3	62.7	67%	−0.8
236	Braxton Guilbeau	Louisiana	1	3	63.7	67%	+0.6
237	Charlie Von Der Meden	Arkansas	1	3	64.0	67%	+0.3
238	E.Nimrod	New Mexico	1	3	65.0	67%	−1.3
239	Nick Lopez	San Diego State	1	3	65.3	67%	+1.2
240	R.Liszner	Florida Atlantic	1	3	65.0	67%	−1.0
241	Randy Bond	Texas A&M	1	3	63.7	67%	+0.7
242	S.Rusnak	North Carolina	1	3	64.3	67%	−0.8
243	Z.Schmit	South Carolina	1	3	64.0	67%	+1.5
244	Alex Bacchetta	Rice	1	2	66.5	50%	+0.2
245	D.Stevens	Ohio State	1	2	65.0	0%	−0.3
246	Dawson Jones	Army	1	2	61.5	50%	+0.2
247	Jordan Noyes	Colorado State	1	2	52.5	50%	−1.3
248	Logan Lupo	Florida Atlantic	1	2	64.0	50%	+0.5
249	Mason Shipley	Texas State	1	2	39.0	50%	−2.2
250	Mike Baker	Ole Miss	1	2	61.5	50%	+0.9
251	Nolan Hauser	Clemson	1	2	65.0	50%	+0.6
252	Caden Costa	Memphis	1	1	15.0	0%	−2.1
253	Eli Krozel	Texas A&M	1	1	57.0	0%	+0.1
254	Gino Garcia	Texas Tech	1	1	10.0	0%	−2.1
255	Hamilton DiBoyan	South Alabama	1	1	54.0	0%	+0.1
256	I.Hershey	Texas State	1	1	40.0	0%	+0.4
257	J.Scullion	Nebraska	1	1	55.0	0%	+0.1
258	Jacob Barnes	Tulane	1	1	9.0	0%	−2.6
259	Jacob Lurie	Massachusetts	1	1	12.0	0%	−2.7
260	James Burnip	Alabama	1	1	48.0	0%	−1.5
261	Jesse Mirco	Vanderbilt	1	1	43.0	0%	−2.1
262	John Cannon	South Florida	1	1	12.0	0%	−1.0
263	John Love	Virginia Tech	1	1	12.0	0%	−2.4
264	Jonah Delange	UAB	1	1	60.0	0%	+0.2
265	Kali Nguma	North Texas	1	1	11.0	0%	−2.7
266	Kanoah Vinesett	NC State	1	1	9.0	0%	−2.6
267	Liam Dougherty	Houston	1	1	55.0	0%	+0.1
268	Liam Padron	Texas A&M	1	1	58.0	0%	+0.1
269	Matthew Dennis	Wake Forest	1	1	7.0	0%	−2.7
270	Max Walker	Oregon State	1	1	13.0	0%	−2.3
271	Nate Flower	West Virginia	1	1	63.0	0%	+0.5
272	Nick Troemel	Troy	1	1	58.0	0%	0.0
273	Nico Radicic	Indiana	1	1	47.0	0%	+0.1
274	Noah Burnette	North Carolina	1	1	16.0	0%	−2.4
275	Patrick Foley	UAB	1	1	10.0	0%	−2.6
276	Ryan Barker	Penn State	1	1	61.0	0%	+0.1
277	Ryan Hanson	James Madison	1	1	25.0	0%	−2.0

All 2024 College kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Returns Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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