2025 College Kickoff Return Yards Allowed Leaders

Total return yards gained against a specialist's kickoffs. It reflects his kick and his coverage team.

Lower is better, but volume matters. In 2025, Noah Grant (883) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff return yards allowed, ahead of Evan Scruggs (786) and Kellan McLaughlin (681). 234 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 2025 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Ret yds	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Noah Grant	Florida International	883	70	60.3	24%	47	−2.3
2	Evan Scruggs	Georgia Southern	786	62	62.0	40%	36	−2.8
3	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	681	67	63.4	55%	27	−1.2
4	Logan Klotz	Louisiana	677	52	59.6	13%	39	+3.4
5	Caden Costa	UNLV	673	85	63.1	44%	39	+4.7
6	David Dellenbach	Ohio	670	68	58.9	21%	40	−22.5
7	Cade Graham	Central Michigan	657	58	60.5	24%	38	+1.9
8	Britton Williams	Kennesaw State	653	65	61.2	31%	35	+1.4
9	Owen Simpson	UAB	625	57	58.7	46%	27	−26.3
10	Jaffer Murphy	UTSA	581	79	61.9	61%	29	−2.3
11	Mathias Brown	San José State	572	57	61.6	42%	29	−7.1
12	Philip Noyes	Maryland	566	38	58.5	21%	30	−6.3
13	Zac Yoakam	Houston	564	67	63.5	48%	31	−4.2
14	Caleb Ojeda	Oregon State	525	37	60.0	27%	26	+0.2
15	Robert Hammond III	Toledo	524	66	62.8	58%	25	−2.3
16	Nathan Dibert	Eastern Michigan	523	61	60.3	51%	26	−9.6
17	Kali Nguma	North Texas	510	64	60.3	45%	29	−1.9
18	Ryon Sayeri	USC	507	83	64.3	67%	24	+5.5
19	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	502	70	62.6	60%	23	+2.1
20	Anderson Britton	Army	501	53	60.3	42%	26	−4.1
21	Christian Pavon	Sam Houston	500	44	63.4	48%	23	−5.8
22	Zach Long	Bowling Green	491	57	58.6	35%	30	−3.3
23	Andrew Glass	Northern Illinois	491	47	56.6	32%	23	−8.0
24	Kansei Matsuzawa	Hawai'i	481	47	59.6	32%	30	−2.7
25	Sam Keltner	SMU	481	69	62.3	57%	28	+2.8
26	Rhett Armstrong	Baylor	479	67	63.6	52%	30	+11.0
27	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	479	68	60.5	50%	27	−0.7
28	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	471	32	61.9	44%	17	−5.7
29	Michael James	Texas State	469	83	62.0	57%	29	−1.6
30	Cristiano Rosa	James Madison	469	84	63.5	68%	23	+1.2
31	Chase Smith	Iowa State	465	27	56.5	4%	25	−8.0
32	Everett Scott	East Carolina	463	52	61.2	44%	28	−2.4
33	Hamilton DiBoyan	South Alabama	459	59	61.4	34%	27	−1.5
34	Yousef Obeid	Missouri State	450	52	59.9	44%	27	+0.3
35	Marcus Lye	Massachusetts	448	33	56.7	18%	23	−6.6
36	Chris Freeman	UConn	422	83	63.9	69%	22	+8.6
37	Nathanial Eichner	Old Dominion	419	34	57.3	15%	23	−3.8
38	Jesus Gomez	Arizona State	414	54	61.5	54%	21	−6.8
39	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	413	62	57.7	35%	30	−3.8
40	Oliver Robbins	Missouri	412	57	62.3	42%	25	+8.9
41	Jace Gilbert	Iowa State	393	26	57.9	12%	21	−0.6
42	Max Morgan	Liberty	392	55	61.7	47%	25	−0.9
43	Sam Carpenter	Pittsburgh	391	66	62.9	55%	28	−3.6
44	Owen Wiley	Akron	387	50	51.5	20%	29	−11.9
45	Philippe Laforge	Coastal Carolina	387	57	62.9	61%	19	+4.6
46	Luke Akers	Northwestern	386	39	63.1	56%	17	+0.6
47	Jack Howes	Buffalo	384	59	59.8	51%	25	−10.2
48	Tate Sandell	Oklahoma	379	68	63.8	56%	26	+7.1
49	Andrew Nelms	Florida Atlantic	375	63	62.9	70%	18	+3.1
50	Paddy McAteer	Troy	372	60	60.2	55%	24	−3.1
51	Ethan Moczulski	Washington	368	67	64.3	72%	18	−2.6
52	Quinn Warren	Indiana	364	36	61.3	44%	17	−0.7
53	Conor Talty	Alabama	361	65	62.4	55%	20	+10.3
54	Ethan Head	West Virginia	352	26	59.2	15%	22	+2.7
55	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	347	64	61.5	48%	26	+9.2
56	Lance Gossett	Navy	339	56	60.3	30%	26	−1.7
57	John Hohl	Nebraska	338	50	61.8	48%	22	+0.4
58	Charlie Birtwistle	NC State	335	40	63.2	63%	15	+0.3
59	Zachary Robbins	Utah State	334	52	61.5	46%	26	−3.5
60	Will Hryszko	Kent State	333	51	62.3	53%	21	+2.2
61	Reagan Tubbs	Air Force	332	67	59.7	55%	27	−4.7
62	Seth Morgan	Tulsa	330	59	60.5	56%	24	+5.9
63	Hunter Smith	Western Michigan	327	62	61.6	42%	29	+2.3
64	Nate Reed	Delaware	326	65	62.3	65%	18	−5.0
65	Seth Turner	Purdue	324	53	63.3	57%	16	+3.6
66	Nate McCashland	TCU	320	53	61.5	53%	19	+1.1
67	Nick Keller	Louisville	320	74	64.2	77%	16	+4.6
68	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	314	50	62.9	58%	20	+2.3
69	Gianni Spetic	Memphis	307	76	63.1	70%	20	+8.8
70	Carl Hardin	Temple	307	62	62.7	63%	18	−3.3
71	Noe Ruelas	UCF	303	59	63.5	69%	18	−0.2
72	Reed Harradine	Southern Miss	298	63	63.5	70%	16	+2.4
73	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	297	63	63.1	51%	20	−3.1
74	Ryan Harris	Washington State	295	58	62.7	64%	18	+2.1
75	DC Pippin	Ball State	293	29	58.2	31%	18	+0.4
76	Miguel Arenas	North Texas	291	37	56.6	38%	19	−5.6
77	Jack Cassidy	Western Kentucky	289	66	62.8	70%	14	+4.4
78	Isaiah Hankins	Colorado State	286	42	61.6	60%	17	−4.5
79	Dillon Curtis	Utah	284	83	62.9	71%	21	+5.2
80	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	281	65	63.7	69%	15	−3.4
81	Elijah Slibeck	Virginia	278	66	62.6	64%	20	+9.0
82	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	276	60	61.2	50%	22	+5.6
83	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	271	19	59.2	11%	13	−3.7
84	Stephen Rusnak	Cincinnati	269	72	63.2	61%	22	+4.2
85	Aeron Burrell	LSU	267	62	62.9	69%	14	+2.9
86	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	266	84	63.8	70%	21	+4.7
87	Jackson Cleaver	UTEP	265	25	59.8	36%	15	0.0
88	Drew Stevens	Iowa	261	71	62.2	51%	27	+11.1
89	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	261	50	63.4	64%	16	−1.1
90	Laith Marjan	Kansas	258	64	63.8	63%	21	+1.1
91	Cash McVay	App State	251	56	63.8	70%	16	+0.2
92	Rece Verhoff	North Carolina	249	51	64.4	75%	12	+5.1
93	Nikola Dugandzic	Northwestern	244	15	59.5	20%	9	+0.6
94	Max Walker	Oregon State	244	8	62.5	0%	8	+1.2
95	Beckham Sunderland	Michigan	243	65	64.1	65%	16	+9.3
96	Adam Zouagui	South Florida	243	75	63.9	77%	15	+4.5
97	Devin Bale	Arkansas	242	66	62.8	71%	14	−3.3
98	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	242	26	62.3	62%	10	+5.3
99	Atticus Sappington	Oregon	241	50	63.4	66%	14	0.0
100	Conor Donaghy	Jacksonville State	241	13	58.6	0%	13	−6.6
101	Gabriel Plascencia	San Diego State	237	44	63.2	75%	8	+3.8
102	Ryan Hawk	New Mexico State	236	46	61.0	67%	11	+2.6
103	Abram Murray	California	235	34	60.1	41%	17	+3.8
104	Todd Pelino	Duke	229	45	59.5	49%	22	−3.5
105	Stone Harrington	Texas Tech	229	102	64.4	75%	17	+14.7
106	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	229	60	63.9	83%	9	+5.2
107	Jared Zirkel	Texas A&M	228	30	62.8	60%	11	−1.6
108	Erik Schmidt	Notre Dame	222	70	64.1	79%	15	+0.8
109	Mason Shipley	Texas	220	42	61.8	19%	22	+3.6
110	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	220	64	63.3	81%	12	−1.7
111	Nick Konieczynski	NC State	220	25	61.9	48%	12	+3.9
112	Josh Hamel	Old Dominion	219	17	63.3	41%	10	+2.7
113	Ryan Capriotti	Maryland	219	17	55.6	6%	7	−6.7
114	Sean Olvera-Harle	Hawai'i	217	24	61.5	33%	16	+1.7
115	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	206	23	60.2	9%	20	+3.5
116	David Olano	Illinois	205	68	62.4	75%	11	+2.9
117	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	202	76	63.8	78%	15	+8.6
118	Colton Boomer	Boise State	202	72	64.4	82%	10	+4.0
119	Jadyn Oh	Syracuse	200	46	60.4	70%	13	−1.3
120	Will Ferrin	BYU	199	78	62.3	58%	18	+7.6
121	Baylen Woodman	Middle Tennessee	192	51	61.5	63%	13	+1.6
122	Nathan Kirkwood	Navy	192	12	54.4	8%	11	−3.1
123	Chase Meyer	California	188	12	53.5	8%	11	−2.7
124	Grant Glasgow	New Mexico	184	38	61.3	61%	11	+0.2
125	Andy Quinn	Boston College	183	34	63.4	56%	13	−2.0
126	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	182	72	64.6	86%	9	+6.6
127	J.Green	UL Monroe	179	15	48.4	0%	9	−1.7
128	Carson Holmer	Ball State	177	12	58.4	25%	9	−3.9
129	Max Kelley	South Carolina	174	41	60.8	39%	19	+1.8
130	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	174	48	61.3	75%	10	−1.1
131	Luke Stagg	UL Monroe	173	20	47.5	0%	20	−4.8
132	Brady Denaburg	Minnesota	172	55	63.9	82%	9	+4.9
133	Trey Smack	Florida	170	61	63.9	77%	13	+4.7
134	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	169	66	64.2	83%	10	+8.2
135	Keaton Emmett	Nevada	168	48	63.3	81%	7	+2.8
136	Martin Connington	Michigan State	163	37	62.0	51%	12	−2.2
137	Riley Callaghan	Old Dominion	162	12	63.2	17%	8	−5.5
138	Sean O'Haire	Maryland	162	6	60.0	33%	4	−5.4
139	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	160	78	63.8	86%	11	+5.8
140	Michael Luckhurst	California	159	10	62.5	10%	9	+2.3
141	Nate Flower	West Virginia	157	24	61.0	46%	10	−0.7
142	Braeden McAlister	Georgia State	157	42	63.4	86%	6	−2.4
143	Luca Lombardo	Boston College	153	13	61.1	15%	11	−0.7
144	Lorcan Quinn	Marshall	150	73	64.8	90%	7	−2.2
145	Connor Gibbs	Auburn	148	55	64.2	78%	10	+6.5
146	Buck Buchanan	Colorado	146	55	63.4	80%	8	+1.5
147	Kyah Francone	New Mexico State	146	14	59.0	0%	8	+2.7
148	Carter Brown	Utah State	146	13	62.5	15%	7	+1.1
149	Tanner Cragun	UTEP	141	21	61.7	57%	8	−2.4
150	Liam Boyd	Charlotte	140	39	62.0	74%	8	+0.2
151	Randy Bond	Texas A&M	138	49	62.3	76%	9	−1.2
152	Enock Gota	Rice	137	43	63.3	81%	8	+2.0
153	Carter Davis	Miami	136	76	64.6	88%	7	+7.3
154	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	117	20	62.3	50%	10	−0.3
155	Towns McGough	Auburn	116	10	64.1	50%	5	+1.2
156	Noah Botsford	UTEP	112	10	56.2	10%	9	−3.1
157	Mikhail Iakovlev	Old Dominion	109	11	56.9	18%	9	+0.3
158	Mason Love	South Carolina	108	8	54.5	13%	7	−2.7
159	Andrew Conrad	East Carolina	108	20	63.1	65%	6	+1.3
160	Connor Weselman	Missouri	107	7	52.0	0%	6	−4.6
161	Kyle Lemmermann	TCU	103	6	64.8	17%	5	+0.7
162	Lucas Carneiro	Ole Miss	102	82	64.6	89%	7	+8.0
163	Marcello Diomede	Notre Dame	102	16	64.6	69%	5	+1.4
164	Josh Placzek	Indiana	99	5	57.8	0%	5	−0.9
165	Nico Radicic	Indiana	97	7	51.0	0%	6	−2.1
166	Kyle Ferrie	Mississippi State	95	44	64.0	80%	7	+3.0
167	Jacob Green	UL Monroe	93	5	53.2	0%	5	−1.0
168	Marlon Hauck	Mississippi State	92	27	63.5	74%	6	+3.3
169	Patrick Durkin	Tulane	91	78	63.8	87%	7	+5.4
170	Ian Wagner	Arizona	91	75	65.0	88%	6	+6.6
171	Collin Rogers	SMU	91	5	63.6	20%	4	+0.4
172	John Hoyet Chance	Louisiana Tech	90	59	65.4	90%	6	+7.3
173	Cosme Salas	Duke	89	36	63.4	69%	5	+6.0
174	Kyle Cunanan	Nebraska	88	18	59.5	50%	9	−1.8
175	Joe McFadden	Nevada	88	2	55.5	0%	2	−3.3
176	Hunter Green	San Diego State	87	20	64.0	75%	4	0.0
177	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	85	10	62.8	30%	7	+0.2
178	William Joyce	South Carolina	85	9	57.8	22%	7	−4.2
179	Brody Boehm	Ball State	78	3	61.3	0%	3	−1.0
180	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	74	15	59.8	40%	9	−4.6
181	Morgan Suarez	James Madison	71	3	64.7	0%	3	−0.7
182	Gage Hurych	Oregon	70	30	64.3	67%	7	+3.0
183	Liam Connor	Boston College	67	10	62.9	50%	3	+0.7
184	Henry Helms	Northwestern	63	8	59.9	25%	6	+1.9
185	Nathanial Vakos	Wisconsin	63	37	62.5	81%	6	−0.4
186	Carson Rhodes	Iowa State	62	2	59.5	0%	2	−1.4
187	Spencer Sullins	UConn	61	2	61.5	0%	2	−1.3
188	Brayden Johnson	Akron	59	7	56.7	29%	4	−2.5
189	Erik Sandvik	Wyoming	58	6	60.2	17%	3	+0.9
190	Kyle Konrardy	Iowa State	57	9	64.2	67%	3	+1.5
191	Brendan Franke	Indiana	56	51	64.2	90%	5	+5.0
192	Justin Dewers	Vanderbilt	55	17	64.4	71%	5	+0.2
193	Blake Craig	Missouri	55	7	61.0	57%	3	+0.9
194	Spencer Barnett	Texas	55	6	58.2	17%	3	+0.5
195	Nick Mazzie	East Carolina	53	2	54.5	0%	2	−5.0
196	Will Stone	Texas	52	20	60.7	55%	7	+1.7
197	Easton Black	TCU	48	5	62.8	40%	3	−0.9
198	TJ Hartley III	Georgia Southern	45	2	61.5	0%	2	−0.1
199	Drew Henderson	Louisiana Tech	42	3	54.0	33%	1	−1.6
200	Tanner Rinker	Utah State	40	7	62.1	14%	3	−1.4
201	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	40	15	64.1	87%	2	+1.6
202	Mike Baker	Ole Miss	39	5	62.6	20%	3	−0.5
203	Liam Padron	Texas A&M	39	4	59.5	25%	2	+1.0
204	Kanyon Floyd	Arizona State	38	4	64.5	50%	2	+1.0
205	Joey Cheek	Utah	38	1	65.0	0%	1	−1.0
206	London Bironas	Stanford	36	1	71.0	0%	1	−1.7
207	Tony Sterner	Louisiana	35	6	53.7	17%	5	−2.1
208	Daniel Kinney	Kennesaw State	35	5	61.4	60%	2	+0.3
209	Charlie Reed	Clemson	30	1	60.0	0%	1	−0.7
210	Brek Schultz	Louisiana	27	7	57.1	14%	2	+0.6
211	Sam Bisesi	TCU	25	6	64.0	17%	5	−0.8
212	Peter Notaro	Alabama	24	5	63.4	40%	3	+1.9
213	Tyler Black	Liberty	24	2	61.5	50%	1	−0.3
214	Dominic Zvada	Michigan	23	2	64.0	50%	1	+0.2
215	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	22	4	51.5	25%	3	+1.2
216	Matthew Parker	Penn State	22	1	64.0	0%	1	+0.2
217	Alex Bacchetta	Rice	21	1	58.0	0%	1	−1.5
218	Dominic De Freitas	App State	20	5	53.8	40%	3	0.0
219	Archie Wilson	Nebraska	20	1	51.0	0%	1	−0.6
220	Jarrett Reeser	Boise State	20	3	64.0	67%	1	+0.4
221	John Cannon	Western Kentucky	20	3	65.0	67%	1	+0.6
222	Lucas Osada	Illinois	20	1	65.0	0%	1	+0.4
223	RJ Lopez	Sam Houston	19	3	62.0	33%	2	−0.6
224	William Weisberg	USC	19	1	65.0	0%	1	+0.5
225	Ian Hershey	Texas Tech	18	3	58.7	67%	1	−0.3
226	Bronson Long	Charlotte	17	1	60.0	0%	1	+0.3
227	Carston Kieffer	Arizona State	16	4	43.0	0%	3	+0.3
228	Connor Ferguson	Georgia	16	1	65.0	0%	1	+0.6
229	Ethan Warner	Bowling Green	16	1	61.0	0%	1	+0.4
230	Kade Stewart	Texas A&M	13	1	62.0	0%	1	+0.6
231	Jake Weinberg	Florida State	12	60	62.8	93%	3	+2.7
232	Carson Hilbert	Louisville	8	2	64.0	50%	1	+1.2
233	Daniel Jackson	Minnesota	4	3	55.7	0%	3	+0.8
234	Kanoah Vinesett	NC State	3	1	37.0	0%	1	+0.6

All 2025 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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