2024 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 2024, Aeron Burrell (94%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Buck Buchanan (93%) and Tyler Loop (91%). 133 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 56%.

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	TB%	Kickoffs	Avg dist	Returns	Points
1	Aeron Burrell	LSU	94%	66	65.0	4	+4.4
2	Buck Buchanan	Louisiana Tech	93%	55	64.9	4	+7.1
3	Tyler Loop	Arizona	91%	58	62.7	5	−0.2
4	Caden Davis	Ole Miss	87%	87	64.4	11	+8.6
5	Tristian Vandenberg	Memphis	87%	77	63.9	10	+1.6
6	Collin Smith	NC State	86%	73	64.4	10	+2.4
7	Everett Hayes	Oregon State	86%	57	62.7	8	+5.7
8	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	84%	79	63.3	12	+7.0
9	Enock Gota	Rice	82%	45	64.4	8	−1.1
10	Brady Denaburg	Syracuse	82%	72	63.5	13	+0.4
11	Carter Davis	Florida Atlantic	81%	53	64.7	9	−1.7
12	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	81%	83	64.6	14	+7.3
13	Brendan Franke	Texas State	81%	62	63.3	12	+6.7
14	Trey Smack	Florida	80%	65	63.3	13	+3.9
15	Ryan Fitzgerald	Florida State	79%	43	63.1	8	−0.9
16	Ben Sauls	Pittsburgh	77%	75	63.2	15	+0.6
17	Tabor Allen	Kansas	77%	70	63.5	16	+6.8
18	Tate Sandell	UTSA	77%	74	63.1	17	+1.7
19	Nick Barr-Mira	Mississippi State	77%	43	62.9	10	+0.2
20	Dragan Kesich	Minnesota	76%	67	62.5	16	+2.9
21	Braeden McAlister	Georgia State	75%	59	63.4	15	−0.2
22	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	74%	66	62.1	17	+1.4
23	Atticus Sappington	Oregon	74%	77	64.0	20	+3.2
24	Michael Lantz	USC	73%	71	64.4	19	+1.7
25	Blake Craig	Missouri	73%	67	62.9	18	+5.0
26	Stephen Rusnak	Charlotte	73%	48	61.9	12	−1.2
27	Towns McGough	Auburn	72%	61	63.9	17	+1.8
28	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	72%	64	63.9	18	+8.5
29	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	71%	52	63.1	15	−3.3
30	Nathan Totten	Marshall	71%	38	63.9	11	+6.0
31	Will Stone	Texas	71%	82	63.4	23	+14.5
32	Ryan Coe	California	70%	57	63.6	16	+4.7
33	Cristiano Rosa	James Madison	70%	67	62.8	20	+1.6
34	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	70%	50	63.5	15	+5.6
35	Lucas Osada	North Carolina	70%	56	63.5	17	+1.8
36	Andres Borregales	Miami	68%	92	64.0	27	+6.5
37	Gavin Lahm	Wisconsin	68%	56	64.2	18	+4.8
38	Zach Schmit	Oklahoma	68%	59	63.0	15	−0.7
39	Rece Verhoff	Marshall	68%	40	63.5	13	+3.1
40	Jack Stone	Baylor	67%	70	62.9	23	+7.1
41	Caden Chittenden	UNLV	67%	81	64.3	27	+12.0
42	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	67%	48	63.8	16	+7.5
43	Ethan Head	Tulane	64%	76	63.3	27	+6.0
44	Dante Jackson	Akron	64%	50	63.3	18	+2.3
45	Conor Talty	Alabama	64%	72	63.2	25	+7.1
46	Reese Burkhardt	Texas Tech	64%	74	61.5	27	+3.9
47	Devin Bale	Arkansas	63%	68	63.1	25	−0.1
48	Jared Zirkel	Texas A&M	63%	68	64.1	25	+3.2
49	Tristan Mattson	Central Michigan	63%	38	58.0	14	−6.2
50	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	63%	81	63.4	30	+4.8
51	Paddy McAteer	Troy	62%	60	64.1	23	+5.5
52	Tommy Doman	Michigan	62%	60	64.1	23	+10.8
53	John Hoyland	Wyoming	62%	52	64.0	20	+6.7
54	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	61%	56	62.8	22	+8.5
55	Drew Stevens	Iowa	60%	67	63.5	27	+7.4
56	Parker Lewis	Arizona State	59%	63	60.9	26	−1.7
57	Chris Freeman	UConn	58%	77	62.8	32	+7.5
58	Jesus Gomez	Eastern Michigan	58%	60	61.5	25	−5.6
59	Blake Ford	North Texas	58%	74	57.9	31	−1.9
60	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	58%	78	63.7	33	+12.8
61	Jack Howes	Maryland	57%	54	61.9	23	−3.6
62	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	57%	37	63.1	16	+4.1
63	Jonathan Kim	Michigan State	57%	53	60.8	23	−1.9
64	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	57%	69	62.7	29	+5.6
65	Liam Gray	Coastal Carolina	56%	71	61.8	31	−2.0
66	Abraham Montano	New Mexico State	56%	48	60.1	19	−7.8
67	Dean Janikowski	Washington State	56%	48	63.3	21	+2.3
68	Jace Gilbert	Iowa State	55%	71	61.5	31	−2.1
69	Brian Buschini	Nebraska	55%	42	63.1	19	+0.1
70	Will Ferrin	BYU	55%	75	62.9	32	+6.2
71	Ben Freehill	Purdue	54%	35	60.9	16	−4.4
72	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	54%	59	58.7	27	−2.2
73	Zach Long	Bowling Green	54%	67	60.2	31	−4.9
74	Gavin Stewart	Georgia Southern	53%	66	61.0	31	+4.0
75	Brock Travelstead	Louisville	53%	57	61.3	27	+2.6
76	Evan Morris	UCF	53%	38	62.8	18	+2.0
77	Reagan Tubbs	Air Force	52%	44	61.1	21	+0.6
78	Collin Rogers	SMU	52%	77	63.2	33	−1.4
79	Maddux Trujillo	Temple	52%	52	60.3	25	+1.9
80	Ethan Moczulski	Illinois	52%	58	62.7	28	+2.9
81	Luke Drzewiecki	New Mexico	51%	37	61.2	18	−2.8
82	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	51%	59	61.6	29	+5.2
83	Noah Grant	UAB	51%	65	60.8	31	−2.6
84	Max Morgan	Liberty	50%	54	60.6	27	−5.0
85	Luke Akers	Northwestern	50%	50	61.9	25	+2.8
86	Buzz Flabiano	UTEP	50%	34	62.1	17	−4.7
87	Matthew Killam	Nevada	49%	45	60.5	23	−1.0
88	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	48%	33	60.9	17	+2.6
89	Elliott Nimrod	Utah State	48%	64	58.9	33	−3.7
90	Austin Welch	Kennesaw State	48%	31	60.0	16	+0.6
91	Kyle Lemmermann	TCU	48%	63	61.6	33	+4.8
92	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	47%	51	61.8	27	−3.9
93	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	47%	60	61.0	23	−5.8
94	Alex Herrera	South Carolina	46%	63	60.5	31	+8.1
95	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	46%	59	60.7	32	+5.3
96	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	45%	31	60.1	17	+0.1
97	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	45%	51	61.1	28	−15.9
98	Gabriel Plascencia	San Diego State	45%	51	58.9	28	−1.4
99	Bryan Hansen	Colorado State	45%	58	62.3	32	+4.2
100	Trey Coleman	Utah	44%	39	63.1	22	+7.4
101	Upton Bellenfant	Buffalo	43%	67	61.3	37	+3.2
102	Taren Schive	Boise State	41%	51	58.4	30	−2.7
103	Gianni Spetic	Ohio	41%	73	60.8	42	−3.9
104	Nathan Hawks	Cincinnati	40%	65	61.3	39	+1.4
105	Reed Malphurs	Tulsa	40%	58	60.3	33	+1.8
106	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	39%	59	59.4	36	+7.7
107	Jack Martin	Houston	38%	39	58.8	22	+0.4
108	Ethan Chang	Old Dominion	38%	53	59.4	33	−1.5
109	Eric Goins	Notre Dame	38%	56	60.8	30	+7.9
110	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	37%	57	61.3	36	−1.8
111	Everett Scott	East Carolina	36%	50	61.7	32	−1.2
112	Kenneth Almendares	Louisiana	35%	81	61.0	53	+9.5
113	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	33%	84	59.5	56	−1.2
114	Quinn Warren	Indiana	33%	33	61.2	22	−0.3
115	Liam Connor	Boston College	33%	46	59.9	31	+5.6
116	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	32%	31	56.8	21	−11.7
117	Austin Bullock	Northern Illinois	31%	61	57.5	40	−10.6
118	Laith Marjan	South Alabama	30%	60	58.4	42	−10.2
119	Michael Denning	Toledo	30%	54	60.4	38	−0.1
120	Trey Gronotte	Army	30%	54	59.6	38	+0.5
121	Grady Gross	Washington	28%	60	58.1	43	−10.4
122	Michael Hayes II	West Virginia	27%	66	58.6	48	−4.7
123	Ben Falck	Hawai'i	27%	55	57.5	40	+2.1
124	Derek McCormick	Indiana	27%	37	58.2	27	+0.6
125	Lance Gossett	Navy	27%	64	58.6	45	+1.4
126	Mathias Brown	San José State	27%	49	58.2	36	−1.0
127	Christian Pavon	Sam Houston	26%	54	61.1	40	−7.2
128	Ryan Degyansky	Duke	26%	43	61.0	30	+2.2
129	Max Larson	UL Monroe	24%	50	59.8	38	+1.6
130	Riley Stephens	Western Kentucky	23%	64	61.3	49	+6.9
131	Carson Holmer	Ball State	20%	54	54.5	43	−9.5
132	Zach Benedict	Middle Tennessee	20%	30	57.6	16	+4.4
133	Alejandro Prado	Florida International	11%	53	58.7	47	−3.1

All 2024 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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