2025 College Average Kickoff Distance Leaders

The average length of a specialist's kickoffs in yards, from the kicking spot to where the ball was caught or crossed the goal line. Onside kicks are left out.

A touchback counts the full distance to the goal line, so a deep kick and a kick into the end zone score the same. In 2025, John Hoyet Chance (65.4) led college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff distance, ahead of Ian Wagner (65.0) and Lorcan Quinn (64.8). 135 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 62.7.

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 2025 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg dist	Kickoffs	TB%	Returns	Points
1	John Hoyet Chance	Louisiana Tech	65.4	59	90%	6	+7.3
2	Ian Wagner	Arizona	65.0	75	88%	6	+6.6
3	Lorcan Quinn	Marshall	64.8	73	90%	7	−2.2
4	Lucas Carneiro	Ole Miss	64.6	82	89%	7	+8.0
5	Carter Davis	Miami	64.6	76	88%	7	+7.3
6	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	64.6	72	86%	9	+6.6
7	Colton Boomer	Boise State	64.4	72	82%	10	+4.0
8	Stone Harrington	Texas Tech	64.4	102	75%	17	+14.7
9	Rece Verhoff	North Carolina	64.4	51	75%	12	+5.1
10	Ryon Sayeri	USC	64.3	83	67%	24	+5.5
11	Ethan Moczulski	Washington	64.3	67	72%	18	−2.6
12	Gage Hurych	Oregon	64.3	30	67%	7	+3.0
13	Connor Gibbs	Auburn	64.2	55	78%	10	+6.5
14	Brendan Franke	Indiana	64.2	51	90%	5	+5.0
15	Nick Keller	Louisville	64.2	74	77%	16	+4.6
16	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	64.2	66	83%	10	+8.2
17	Erik Schmidt	Notre Dame	64.1	70	79%	15	+0.8
18	Beckham Sunderland	Michigan	64.1	65	65%	16	+9.3
19	Kyle Ferrie	Mississippi State	64.0	44	80%	7	+3.0
20	Adam Zouagui	South Florida	63.9	75	77%	15	+4.5
21	Chris Freeman	UConn	63.9	83	69%	22	+8.6
22	Trey Smack	Florida	63.9	61	77%	13	+4.7
23	Brady Denaburg	Minnesota	63.9	55	82%	9	+4.9
24	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	63.9	60	83%	9	+5.2
25	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	63.8	78	86%	11	+5.8
26	Patrick Durkin	Tulane	63.8	78	87%	7	+5.4
27	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	63.8	76	78%	15	+8.6
28	Cash McVay	App State	63.8	56	70%	16	+0.2
29	Tate Sandell	Oklahoma	63.8	68	56%	26	+7.1
30	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	63.8	84	70%	21	+4.7
31	Laith Marjan	Kansas	63.8	64	63%	21	+1.1
32	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	63.7	65	69%	15	−3.4
33	Rhett Armstrong	Baylor	63.6	67	52%	30	+11.0
34	Noe Ruelas	UCF	63.5	59	69%	18	−0.2
35	Reed Harradine	Southern Miss	63.5	63	70%	16	+2.4
36	Zac Yoakam	Houston	63.5	67	48%	31	−4.2
37	Cristiano Rosa	James Madison	63.5	84	68%	23	+1.2
38	Braeden McAlister	Georgia State	63.4	42	86%	6	−2.4
39	Buck Buchanan	Colorado	63.4	55	80%	8	+1.5
40	Cosme Salas	Duke	63.4	36	69%	5	+6.0
41	Christian Pavon	Sam Houston	63.4	44	48%	23	−5.8
42	Atticus Sappington	Oregon	63.4	50	66%	14	0.0
43	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	63.4	50	64%	16	−1.1
44	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	63.4	67	55%	27	−1.2
45	Andy Quinn	Boston College	63.4	34	56%	13	−2.0
46	Enock Gota	Rice	63.3	43	81%	8	+2.0
47	Seth Turner	Purdue	63.3	53	57%	16	+3.6
48	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	63.3	64	81%	12	−1.7
49	Keaton Emmett	Nevada	63.3	48	81%	7	+2.8
50	Charlie Birtwistle	NC State	63.2	40	63%	15	+0.3
51	Stephen Rusnak	Cincinnati	63.2	72	61%	22	+4.2
52	Gabriel Plascencia	San Diego State	63.2	44	75%	8	+3.8
53	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	63.1	63	51%	20	−3.1
54	Luke Akers	Northwestern	63.1	39	56%	17	+0.6
55	Caden Costa	UNLV	63.1	85	44%	39	+4.7
56	Gianni Spetic	Memphis	63.1	76	70%	20	+8.8
57	Andrew Nelms	Florida Atlantic	62.9	63	70%	18	+3.1
58	Aeron Burrell	LSU	62.9	62	69%	14	+2.9
59	Sam Carpenter	Pittsburgh	62.9	66	55%	28	−3.6
60	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	62.9	50	58%	20	+2.3
61	Dillon Curtis	Utah	62.9	83	71%	21	+5.2
62	Philippe Laforge	Coastal Carolina	62.9	57	61%	19	+4.6
63	Devin Bale	Arkansas	62.8	66	71%	14	−3.3
64	Jared Zirkel	Texas A&M	62.8	30	60%	11	−1.6
65	Jack Cassidy	Western Kentucky	62.8	66	70%	14	+4.4
66	Jake Weinberg	Florida State	62.8	60	93%	3	+2.7
67	Robert Hammond III	Toledo	62.8	66	58%	25	−2.3
68	Carl Hardin	Temple	62.7	62	63%	18	−3.3
69	Ryan Harris	Washington State	62.7	58	64%	18	+2.1
70	Elijah Slibeck	Virginia	62.6	66	64%	20	+9.0
71	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	62.6	70	60%	23	+2.1
72	Nathanial Vakos	Wisconsin	62.5	37	81%	6	−0.4
73	Conor Talty	Alabama	62.4	65	55%	20	+10.3
74	David Olano	Illinois	62.4	68	75%	11	+2.9
75	Randy Bond	Texas A&M	62.3	49	76%	9	−1.2
76	Will Ferrin	BYU	62.3	78	58%	18	+7.6
77	Nate Reed	Delaware	62.3	65	65%	18	−5.0
78	Sam Keltner	SMU	62.3	69	57%	28	+2.8
79	Will Hryszko	Kent State	62.3	51	53%	21	+2.2
80	Oliver Robbins	Missouri	62.3	57	42%	25	+8.9
81	Drew Stevens	Iowa	62.2	71	51%	27	+11.1
82	Michael James	Texas State	62.0	83	57%	29	−1.6
83	Liam Boyd	Charlotte	62.0	39	74%	8	+0.2
84	Martin Connington	Michigan State	62.0	37	51%	12	−2.2
85	Evan Scruggs	Georgia Southern	62.0	62	40%	36	−2.8
86	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	61.9	32	44%	17	−5.7
87	Jaffer Murphy	UTSA	61.9	79	61%	29	−2.3
88	Mason Shipley	Texas	61.8	42	19%	22	+3.6
89	John Hohl	Nebraska	61.8	50	48%	22	+0.4
90	Max Morgan	Liberty	61.7	55	47%	25	−0.9
91	Mathias Brown	San José State	61.6	57	42%	29	−7.1
92	Hunter Smith	Western Michigan	61.6	62	42%	29	+2.3
93	Isaiah Hankins	Colorado State	61.6	42	60%	17	−4.5
94	Nate McCashland	TCU	61.5	53	53%	19	+1.1
95	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	61.5	64	48%	26	+9.2
96	Baylen Woodman	Middle Tennessee	61.5	51	63%	13	+1.6
97	Jesus Gomez	Arizona State	61.5	54	54%	21	−6.8
98	Zachary Robbins	Utah State	61.5	52	46%	26	−3.5
99	Hamilton DiBoyan	South Alabama	61.4	59	34%	27	−1.5
100	Grant Glasgow	New Mexico	61.3	38	61%	11	+0.2
101	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	61.3	48	75%	10	−1.1
102	Quinn Warren	Indiana	61.3	36	44%	17	−0.7
103	Everett Scott	East Carolina	61.2	52	44%	28	−2.4
104	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	61.2	60	50%	22	+5.6
105	Britton Williams	Kennesaw State	61.2	65	31%	35	+1.4
106	Ryan Hawk	New Mexico State	61.0	46	67%	11	+2.6
107	Max Kelley	South Carolina	60.8	41	39%	19	+1.8
108	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	60.5	68	50%	27	−0.7
109	Seth Morgan	Tulsa	60.5	59	56%	24	+5.9
110	Cade Graham	Central Michigan	60.5	58	24%	38	+1.9
111	Jadyn Oh	Syracuse	60.4	46	70%	13	−1.3
112	Lance Gossett	Navy	60.3	56	30%	26	−1.7
113	Anderson Britton	Army	60.3	53	42%	26	−4.1
114	Noah Grant	Florida International	60.3	70	24%	47	−2.3
115	Nathan Dibert	Eastern Michigan	60.3	61	51%	26	−9.6
116	Kali Nguma	North Texas	60.3	64	45%	29	−1.9
117	Paddy McAteer	Troy	60.2	60	55%	24	−3.1
118	Abram Murray	California	60.1	34	41%	17	+3.8
119	Caleb Ojeda	Oregon State	60.0	37	27%	26	+0.2
120	Yousef Obeid	Missouri State	59.9	52	44%	27	+0.3
121	Jack Howes	Buffalo	59.8	59	51%	25	−10.2
122	Reagan Tubbs	Air Force	59.7	67	55%	27	−4.7
123	Kansei Matsuzawa	Hawai'i	59.6	47	32%	30	−2.7
124	Logan Klotz	Louisiana	59.6	52	13%	39	+3.4
125	Todd Pelino	Duke	59.5	45	49%	22	−3.5
126	David Dellenbach	Ohio	58.9	68	21%	40	−22.5
127	Owen Simpson	UAB	58.7	57	46%	27	−26.3
128	Zach Long	Bowling Green	58.6	57	35%	30	−3.3
129	Philip Noyes	Maryland	58.5	38	21%	30	−6.3
130	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	57.7	62	35%	30	−3.8
131	Nathanial Eichner	Old Dominion	57.3	34	15%	23	−3.8
132	Marcus Lye	Massachusetts	56.7	33	18%	23	−6.6
133	Andrew Glass	Northern Illinois	56.6	47	32%	23	−8.0
134	Miguel Arenas	North Texas	56.6	37	38%	19	−5.6
135	Owen Wiley	Akron	51.5	50	20%	29	−11.9

All 2025 College kickoff specialist rankings

Average Kickoff Distance in other seasons: 2026 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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