2024 College Kickoff Touchbacks Leaders

Kickoffs that reached the end zone and were kept there, giving the receiving team the ball at its own 25, 30 or 35, depending on the league and the rule that season. A touchback avoids a return but gives up field position.

More is better under this season's rules: a touchback ends the play with no return. Read with touchback percentage. In 2024, Caden Davis (76) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchbacks, ahead of Tristian Vandenberg (67) and Robert Gunn III (67). 249 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	TB	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Caden Davis	Ole Miss	76	87	64.4	87%	11	+8.6
2	Tristian Vandenberg	Memphis	67	77	63.9	87%	10	+1.6
3	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	67	83	64.6	81%	14	+7.3
4	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	66	79	63.3	84%	12	+7.0
5	Collin Smith	NC State	63	73	64.4	86%	10	+2.4
6	Andres Borregales	Miami	63	92	64.0	68%	27	+6.5
7	Aeron Burrell	LSU	62	66	65.0	94%	4	+4.4
8	Brady Denaburg	Syracuse	59	72	63.5	82%	13	+0.4
9	Ben Sauls	Pittsburgh	58	75	63.2	77%	15	+0.6
10	Will Stone	Texas	58	82	63.4	71%	23	+14.5
11	Tate Sandell	UTSA	57	74	63.1	77%	17	+1.7
12	Atticus Sappington	Oregon	57	77	64.0	74%	20	+3.2
13	Tabor Allen	Kansas	54	70	63.5	77%	16	+6.8
14	Caden Chittenden	UNLV	54	81	64.3	67%	27	+12.0
15	Tyler Loop	Arizona	53	58	62.7	91%	5	−0.2
16	Trey Smack	Florida	52	65	63.3	80%	13	+3.9
17	Michael Lantz	USC	52	71	64.4	73%	19	+1.7
18	Buck Buchanan	Louisiana Tech	51	55	64.9	93%	4	+7.1
19	Dragan Kesich	Minnesota	51	67	62.5	76%	16	+2.9
20	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	51	81	63.4	63%	30	+4.8
21	Brendan Franke	Texas State	50	62	63.3	81%	12	+6.7
22	Everett Hayes	Oregon State	49	57	62.7	86%	8	+5.7
23	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	49	66	62.1	74%	17	+1.4
24	Blake Craig	Missouri	49	67	62.9	73%	18	+5.0
25	Ethan Head	Tulane	49	76	63.3	64%	27	+6.0
26	Cristiano Rosa	James Madison	47	67	62.8	70%	20	+1.6
27	Jack Stone	Baylor	47	70	62.9	67%	23	+7.1
28	Reese Burkhardt	Texas Tech	47	74	61.5	64%	27	+3.9
29	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	46	64	63.9	72%	18	+8.5
30	Conor Talty	Alabama	46	72	63.2	64%	25	+7.1
31	Chris Freeman	UConn	45	77	62.8	58%	32	+7.5
32	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	45	78	63.7	58%	33	+12.8
33	Braeden McAlister	Georgia State	44	59	63.4	75%	15	−0.2
34	Towns McGough	Auburn	44	61	63.9	72%	17	+1.8
35	Carter Davis	Florida Atlantic	43	53	64.7	81%	9	−1.7
36	Devin Bale	Arkansas	43	68	63.1	63%	25	−0.1
37	Jared Zirkel	Texas A&M	43	68	64.1	63%	25	+3.2
38	Blake Ford	North Texas	43	74	57.9	58%	31	−1.9
39	Will Ferrin	BYU	41	75	62.9	55%	32	+6.2
40	Ryan Coe	California	40	57	63.6	70%	16	+4.7
41	Zach Schmit	Oklahoma	40	59	63.0	68%	15	−0.7
42	Drew Stevens	Iowa	40	67	63.5	60%	27	+7.4
43	Liam Gray	Coastal Carolina	40	71	61.8	56%	31	−2.0
44	Collin Rogers	SMU	40	77	63.2	52%	33	−1.4
45	Lucas Osada	North Carolina	39	56	63.5	70%	17	+1.8
46	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	39	69	62.7	57%	29	+5.6
47	Jace Gilbert	Iowa State	39	71	61.5	55%	31	−2.1
48	Gavin Lahm	Wisconsin	38	56	64.2	68%	18	+4.8
49	Enock Gota	Rice	37	45	64.4	82%	8	−1.1
50	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	37	52	63.1	71%	15	−3.3
51	Paddy McAteer	Troy	37	60	64.1	62%	23	+5.5
52	Tommy Doman	Michigan	37	60	64.1	62%	23	+10.8
53	Parker Lewis	Arizona State	37	63	60.9	59%	26	−1.7
54	Zach Long	Bowling Green	36	67	60.2	54%	31	−4.9
55	Stephen Rusnak	Charlotte	35	48	61.9	73%	12	−1.2
56	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	35	50	63.5	70%	15	+5.6
57	Jesus Gomez	Eastern Michigan	35	60	61.5	58%	25	−5.6
58	Gavin Stewart	Georgia Southern	35	66	61.0	53%	31	+4.0
59	Ryan Fitzgerald	Florida State	34	43	63.1	79%	8	−0.9
60	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	34	56	62.8	61%	22	+8.5
61	Nick Barr-Mira	Mississippi State	33	43	62.9	77%	10	+0.2
62	Noah Grant	UAB	33	65	60.8	51%	31	−2.6
63	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	32	48	63.8	67%	16	+7.5
64	Dante Jackson	Akron	32	50	63.3	64%	18	+2.3
65	John Hoyland	Wyoming	32	52	64.0	62%	20	+6.7
66	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	32	59	58.7	54%	27	−2.2
67	Jack Howes	Maryland	31	54	61.9	57%	23	−3.6
68	Elliott Nimrod	Utah State	31	64	58.9	48%	33	−3.7
69	Jonathan Kim	Michigan State	30	53	60.8	57%	23	−1.9
70	Brock Travelstead	Louisville	30	57	61.3	53%	27	+2.6
71	Ethan Moczulski	Illinois	30	58	62.7	52%	28	+2.9
72	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	30	59	61.6	51%	29	+5.2
73	Kyle Lemmermann	TCU	30	63	61.6	48%	33	+4.8
74	Gianni Spetic	Ohio	30	73	60.8	41%	42	−3.9
75	Alex Herrera	South Carolina	29	63	60.5	46%	31	+8.1
76	Upton Bellenfant	Buffalo	29	67	61.3	43%	37	+3.2
77	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	28	60	61.0	47%	23	−5.8
78	Kenneth Almendares	Louisiana	28	81	61.0	35%	53	+9.5
79	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	28	84	59.5	33%	56	−1.2
80	Nathan Totten	Marshall	27	38	63.9	71%	11	+6.0
81	Rece Verhoff	Marshall	27	40	63.5	68%	13	+3.1
82	Abraham Montano	New Mexico State	27	48	60.1	56%	19	−7.8
83	Dean Janikowski	Washington State	27	48	63.3	56%	21	+2.3
84	Maddux Trujillo	Temple	27	52	60.3	52%	25	+1.9
85	Max Morgan	Liberty	27	54	60.6	50%	27	−5.0
86	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	27	59	60.7	46%	32	+5.3
87	Bryan Hansen	Colorado State	26	58	62.3	45%	32	+4.2
88	Nathan Hawks	Cincinnati	26	65	61.3	40%	39	+1.4
89	Luke Akers	Northwestern	25	50	61.9	50%	25	+2.8
90	Tristan Mattson	Central Michigan	24	38	58.0	63%	14	−6.2
91	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	24	51	61.8	47%	27	−3.9
92	Brian Buschini	Nebraska	23	42	63.1	55%	19	+0.1
93	Reagan Tubbs	Air Force	23	44	61.1	52%	21	+0.6
94	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	23	51	61.1	45%	28	−15.9
95	Gabriel Plascencia	San Diego State	23	51	58.9	45%	28	−1.4
96	Reed Malphurs	Tulsa	23	58	60.3	40%	33	+1.8
97	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	23	59	59.4	39%	36	+7.7
98	Matthew Killam	Nevada	22	45	60.5	49%	23	−1.0
99	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	21	37	63.1	57%	16	+4.1
100	Taren Schive	Boise State	21	51	58.4	41%	30	−2.7
101	Eric Goins	Notre Dame	21	56	60.8	38%	30	+7.9
102	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	21	57	61.3	37%	36	−1.8
103	Evan Morris	UCF	20	38	62.8	53%	18	+2.0
104	Ethan Chang	Old Dominion	20	53	59.4	38%	33	−1.5
105	Ben Freehill	Purdue	19	35	60.9	54%	16	−4.4
106	Luke Drzewiecki	New Mexico	19	37	61.2	51%	18	−2.8
107	Austin Bullock	Northern Illinois	19	61	57.5	31%	40	−10.6
108	Nick Keller	Louisville	18	26	62.5	69%	8	+3.0
109	Michael Hughes	App State	18	28	62.5	64%	10	+2.6
110	Mitch Jeter	Notre Dame	18	28	63.3	64%	8	+5.0
111	Everett Scott	East Carolina	18	50	61.7	36%	32	−1.2
112	Laith Marjan	South Alabama	18	60	58.4	30%	42	−10.2
113	Michael Hayes II	West Virginia	18	66	58.6	27%	48	−4.7
114	Buzz Flabiano	UTEP	17	34	62.1	50%	17	−4.7
115	Trey Coleman	Utah	17	39	63.1	44%	22	+7.4
116	Grady Gross	Washington	17	60	58.1	28%	43	−10.4
117	Lance Gossett	Navy	17	64	58.6	27%	45	+1.4
118	Ryan Harris	Washington State	16	23	60.0	70%	7	+1.4
119	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	16	33	60.9	48%	17	+2.6
120	Michael Denning	Toledo	16	54	60.4	30%	38	−0.1
121	Trey Gronotte	Army	16	54	59.6	30%	38	+0.5
122	Austin Welch	Kennesaw State	15	31	60.0	48%	16	+0.6
123	Jack Martin	Houston	15	39	58.8	38%	22	+0.4
124	Liam Connor	Boston College	15	46	59.9	33%	31	+5.6
125	Ben Falck	Hawai'i	15	55	57.5	27%	40	+2.1
126	Riley Stephens	Western Kentucky	15	64	61.3	23%	49	+6.9
127	Colton Boomer	UCF	14	17	63.2	82%	3	+3.7
128	Jarrett Reeser	Boise State	14	26	62.1	54%	12	+1.6
129	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	14	31	60.1	45%	17	+0.1
130	Christian Pavon	Sam Houston	14	54	61.1	26%	40	−7.2
131	Luca Lombardo	Boston College	13	18	63.8	72%	5	+3.5
132	Cole Becker	Utah	13	22	63.5	59%	9	+1.8
133	Mathias Brown	San José State	13	49	58.2	27%	36	−1.0
134	Max Larson	UL Monroe	12	50	59.8	24%	38	+1.6
135	Chris Tennant	Kansas State	11	22	64.5	50%	11	+2.6
136	Luke Stewart	Southern Miss	11	29	60.8	38%	18	−1.8
137	Quinn Warren	Indiana	11	33	61.2	33%	22	−0.3
138	Ryan Degyansky	Duke	11	43	61.0	26%	30	+2.2
139	Carson Holmer	Ball State	11	54	54.5	20%	43	−9.5
140	Patrick Durkin	Tulane	10	12	63.5	83%	2	+1.1
141	Marlon Hauck	Mississippi State	10	17	63.6	59%	7	+3.0
142	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	10	31	56.8	32%	21	−11.7
143	Derek McCormick	Indiana	10	37	58.2	27%	27	+0.6
144	Tyler Black	Wake Forest	9	12	64.8	75%	3	−4.7
145	Will Faris	Vanderbilt	9	26	61.0	35%	17	−0.9
146	Stone Harrington	Texas Tech	8	12	58.8	67%	4	−2.3
147	Anderson Britton	Army	8	14	64.9	57%	6	+2.1
148	Cosme Salas	Duke	8	15	61.3	53%	7	+0.8
149	B.Franke	UTSA	7	8	64.6	88%	1	−2.7
150	Ian Hershey	Arizona State	7	9	59.0	78%	2	+1.5
151	Kyler Halvorsen	San José State	7	12	59.6	58%	5	−1.3
152	Davis Little	South Alabama	7	18	58.1	39%	11	−0.4
153	Will Hryszko	Kent State	7	26	50.0	27%	19	−15.5
154	C.Boomer	TCU	6	6	65.0	100%	0	+1.0
155	L.Boyd	Charlotte	6	6	65.0	100%	0	−4.7
156	E.Moczulski	Purdue	6	7	65.0	86%	1	−0.1
157	Liam Boyd	North Carolina	6	13	63.6	46%	7	+0.1
158	Gabriel Lozano	SMU	6	16	60.6	38%	8	+2.6
159	Daniel Gerlach	Colorado	6	29	59.1	21%	23	−4.5
160	Zach Benedict	Middle Tennessee	6	30	57.6	20%	16	+4.4
161	Alejandro Prado	Florida International	6	53	58.7	11%	47	−3.1
162	B.Freehill	Illinois	5	6	62.0	83%	1	+0.8
163	Carson Zilmer	New Mexico State	5	6	56.3	83%	1	−2.1
164	J.Fielding	Iowa	5	6	65.0	83%	1	−9.0
165	Nathan Dibert	LSU	5	6	62.2	83%	1	+0.3
166	Ethan Sanchez	Old Dominion	5	8	62.9	63%	3	+1.2
167	Brayden Beck	Liberty	5	9	62.6	56%	3	+0.2
168	Jace Feely	Colorado	5	17	61.0	29%	12	+4.5
169	Cash McVay	App State	5	18	62.2	28%	13	+1.1
170	JT Carver	Tennessee	4	4	65.0	100%	0	+0.4
171	Jacob Kauwe	Kentucky	4	7	63.3	57%	3	+1.5
172	Keegan Shackford	Iowa State	4	7	63.4	57%	3	−1.1
173	Tim Horn	Rice	4	9	53.4	44%	5	+1.9
174	Andrew Boyle	Oregon	4	12	58.3	33%	8	+0.4
175	Andrew Glass	Kent State	4	12	57.8	33%	8	−3.6
176	Andrew Conrad	East Carolina	4	22	59.2	18%	18	+3.6
177	D.Lynch	Washington State	3	3	65.0	100%	0	−0.5
178	Graham Nicholson	Alabama	3	4	62.5	75%	1	+0.5
179	P.Lewis	Texas State	3	4	64.3	75%	1	+0.9
180	R.Coe	San Diego State	3	4	66.8	75%	1	−0.2
181	A.Herrera	Oklahoma	3	6	63.0	50%	1	−1.9
182	Jackson Courville	Ball State	3	7	60.1	43%	4	+1.5
183	Nate McCashland	TCU	3	7	53.6	43%	4	−1.3
184	Noe Ruelas	James Madison	3	7	55.7	43%	4	−1.4
185	Britton Williams	Kennesaw State	3	14	58.0	21%	11	−3.1
186	John Hohl	Nebraska	3	14	60.5	21%	11	+0.2
187	Joe Bowman	UTEP	3	15	57.6	20%	12	−1.3
188	Alejandro Quintero	Indiana	3	18	60.5	17%	15	+1.4
189	Alex Stoyanovich	Colorado	3	18	62.1	17%	15	−1.4
190	A.Montano	Sam Houston	2	2	65.0	100%	0	+0.6
191	B.Franke	Arizona State	2	2	65.0	100%	0	−0.2
192	Connor Hawkins	Baylor	2	2	65.0	100%	0	+0.2
193	Isaiah Hankins	Baylor	2	2	65.0	100%	0	+0.2
194	J.Hohl	Rutgers	2	2	65.0	100%	0	+1.1
195	Jake Weinberg	Florida State	2	2	65.0	100%	0	+0.2
196	Nick Quadrini	Missouri	2	2	65.0	100%	0	+0.2
197	Scott Taylor Renfroe	Troy	2	2	65.0	100%	0	+0.2
198	W.Hryszko	Miami (OH)	2	2	65.0	100%	0	−2.9
199	A.Snyder	Marshall	2	3	65.0	67%	1	+0.1
200	B.Franke	Old Dominion	2	3	62.7	67%	1	−0.8
201	Braxton Guilbeau	Louisiana	2	3	63.7	67%	1	+0.6
202	Charlie Von Der Meden	Arkansas	2	3	64.0	67%	1	+0.3
203	E.Nimrod	New Mexico	2	3	65.0	67%	1	−1.3
204	Nick Lopez	San Diego State	2	3	65.3	67%	1	+1.2
205	R.Liszner	Florida Atlantic	2	3	65.0	67%	1	−1.0
206	Randy Bond	Texas A&M	2	3	63.7	67%	1	+0.7
207	S.Rusnak	North Carolina	2	3	64.3	67%	1	−0.8
208	T.Sandell	Texas State	2	3	59.7	67%	0	−2.6
209	Z.Schmit	South Carolina	2	3	64.0	67%	1	+1.5
210	Abram Murray	Miami	2	4	63.0	50%	2	+0.3
211	Charlie Ham	Georgia	2	4	63.8	50%	2	+0.4
212	D.Dzioban	Kent State	2	4	62.8	50%	2	+0.6
213	K.Lemmerman	UCF	2	7	65.0	29%	1	−0.9
214	Ty Ippolito	South Florida	2	8	61.8	25%	5	−1.0
215	Cade Graham	Central Michigan	2	9	60.9	22%	6	+2.8
216	Beckham Sunderland	Texas State	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
217	Charlie Birtwistle	NC State	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
218	Garrison Smith	Akron	1	1	65.0	100%	0	−0.3
219	Grant Meadors	Oregon	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
220	Lucas Carneiro	Western Kentucky	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
221	Max Lipinski	James Madison	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
222	N.Lopez	California	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
223	N.Totten	Ohio State	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.4
224	R.Verhoff	Ohio State	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.9
225	Alex Bacchetta	Rice	1	2	66.5	50%	1	+0.2
226	Dawson Jones	Army	1	2	61.5	50%	1	+0.2
227	Jordan Noyes	Colorado State	1	2	52.5	50%	1	−1.3
228	Logan Lupo	Florida Atlantic	1	2	64.0	50%	1	+0.5
229	Mason Shipley	Texas State	1	2	39.0	50%	1	−2.2
230	Mike Baker	Ole Miss	1	2	61.5	50%	1	+0.9
231	Nolan Hauser	Clemson	1	2	65.0	50%	1	+0.6
232	Tarik Ahmetbasic	Michigan State	1	2	62.5	50%	0	−0.2
233	Blake Glessner	UCLA	1	3	53.3	33%	2	−0.1
234	Ian Vachon	Auburn	1	3	63.3	33%	2	+0.6
235	C.Allaire	Eastern Michigan	1	4	58.0	25%	3	0.0
236	Carter Holden	Miami (OH)	1	4	63.3	25%	3	+0.9
237	E.Chang	Texas State	1	4	61.8	25%	3	+1.9
238	J.Fielding	Marshall	1	4	55.5	25%	0	+1.3
239	Gavin Marshall	Maryland	1	5	62.6	20%	4	−2.5
240	Andre Meono	UNLV	1	6	63.3	17%	5	−0.9
241	Cristiano Palazzo	Colorado	1	6	60.5	17%	5	−0.4
242	D.Janikowski	Fresno State	1	6	58.8	17%	4	−1.5
243	Daton Montiel	Florida International	1	6	62.3	17%	5	−1.1
244	Emilio Duran	Toledo	1	6	63.2	17%	5	+3.1
245	Kyle Cunanan	Charlotte	1	6	60.8	17%	5	−2.6
246	Connor Gibbs	Southern Miss	1	7	59.7	14%	6	+0.6
247	Jacob Carlson	Navy	1	7	54.1	14%	6	−5.3
248	Jonah Dalmas	Boise State	1	14	51.4	7%	13	−4.6
249	Zeke Rankin	Middle Tennessee	1	16	54.6	6%	15	−8.6

All 2024 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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