2025 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 2025, Noah Grant (47) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff returns allowed, ahead of David Dellenbach (40) and Caden Costa (39). 264 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	Returns	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Points
1	Noah Grant	Florida International	47	70	60.3	24%	−2.3
2	David Dellenbach	Ohio	40	68	58.9	21%	−22.5
3	Caden Costa	UNLV	39	85	63.1	44%	+4.7
4	Logan Klotz	Louisiana	39	52	59.6	13%	+3.4
5	Cade Graham	Central Michigan	38	58	60.5	24%	+1.9
6	Evan Scruggs	Georgia Southern	36	62	62.0	40%	−2.8
7	Britton Williams	Kennesaw State	35	65	61.2	31%	+1.4
8	Zac Yoakam	Houston	31	67	63.5	48%	−4.2
9	Rhett Armstrong	Baylor	30	67	63.6	52%	+11.0
10	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	30	62	57.7	35%	−3.8
11	Zach Long	Bowling Green	30	57	58.6	35%	−3.3
12	Kansei Matsuzawa	Hawai'i	30	47	59.6	32%	−2.7
13	Philip Noyes	Maryland	30	38	58.5	21%	−6.3
14	Michael James	Texas State	29	83	62.0	57%	−1.6
15	Jaffer Murphy	UTSA	29	79	61.9	61%	−2.3
16	Kali Nguma	North Texas	29	64	60.3	45%	−1.9
17	Hunter Smith	Western Michigan	29	62	61.6	42%	+2.3
18	Mathias Brown	San José State	29	57	61.6	42%	−7.1
19	Owen Wiley	Akron	29	50	51.5	20%	−11.9
20	Sam Keltner	SMU	28	69	62.3	57%	+2.8
21	Sam Carpenter	Pittsburgh	28	66	62.9	55%	−3.6
22	Everett Scott	East Carolina	28	52	61.2	44%	−2.4
23	Drew Stevens	Iowa	27	71	62.2	51%	+11.1
24	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	27	68	60.5	50%	−0.7
25	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	27	67	63.4	55%	−1.2
26	Reagan Tubbs	Air Force	27	67	59.7	55%	−4.7
27	Hamilton DiBoyan	South Alabama	27	59	61.4	34%	−1.5
28	Owen Simpson	UAB	27	57	58.7	46%	−26.3
29	Yousef Obeid	Missouri State	27	52	59.9	44%	+0.3
30	Tate Sandell	Oklahoma	26	68	63.8	56%	+7.1
31	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	26	64	61.5	48%	+9.2
32	Nathan Dibert	Eastern Michigan	26	61	60.3	51%	−9.6
33	Lance Gossett	Navy	26	56	60.3	30%	−1.7
34	Anderson Britton	Army	26	53	60.3	42%	−4.1
35	Zachary Robbins	Utah State	26	52	61.5	46%	−3.5
36	Caleb Ojeda	Oregon State	26	37	60.0	27%	+0.2
37	Robert Hammond III	Toledo	25	66	62.8	58%	−2.3
38	Jack Howes	Buffalo	25	59	59.8	51%	−10.2
39	Oliver Robbins	Missouri	25	57	62.3	42%	+8.9
40	Max Morgan	Liberty	25	55	61.7	47%	−0.9
41	Chase Smith	Iowa State	25	27	56.5	4%	−8.0
42	Ryon Sayeri	USC	24	83	64.3	67%	+5.5
43	Paddy McAteer	Troy	24	60	60.2	55%	−3.1
44	Seth Morgan	Tulsa	24	59	60.5	56%	+5.9
45	Cristiano Rosa	James Madison	23	84	63.5	68%	+1.2
46	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	23	70	62.6	60%	+2.1
47	Andrew Glass	Northern Illinois	23	47	56.6	32%	−8.0
48	Christian Pavon	Sam Houston	23	44	63.4	48%	−5.8
49	Nathanial Eichner	Old Dominion	23	34	57.3	15%	−3.8
50	Marcus Lye	Massachusetts	23	33	56.7	18%	−6.6
51	Chris Freeman	UConn	22	83	63.9	69%	+8.6
52	Stephen Rusnak	Cincinnati	22	72	63.2	61%	+4.2
53	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	22	60	61.2	50%	+5.6
54	John Hohl	Nebraska	22	50	61.8	48%	+0.4
55	Todd Pelino	Duke	22	45	59.5	49%	−3.5
56	Mason Shipley	Texas	22	42	61.8	19%	+3.6
57	Ethan Head	West Virginia	22	26	59.2	15%	+2.7
58	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	21	84	63.8	70%	+4.7
59	Dillon Curtis	Utah	21	83	62.9	71%	+5.2
60	Laith Marjan	Kansas	21	64	63.8	63%	+1.1
61	Jesus Gomez	Arizona State	21	54	61.5	54%	−6.8
62	Will Hryszko	Kent State	21	51	62.3	53%	+2.2
63	Jace Gilbert	Iowa State	21	26	57.9	12%	−0.6
64	Gianni Spetic	Memphis	20	76	63.1	70%	+8.8
65	Elijah Slibeck	Virginia	20	66	62.6	64%	+9.0
66	Conor Talty	Alabama	20	65	62.4	55%	+10.3
67	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	20	63	63.1	51%	−3.1
68	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	20	50	62.9	58%	+2.3
69	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	20	23	60.2	9%	+3.5
70	Luke Stagg	UL Monroe	20	20	47.5	0%	−4.8
71	Philippe Laforge	Coastal Carolina	19	57	62.9	61%	+4.6
72	Nate McCashland	TCU	19	53	61.5	53%	+1.1
73	Max Kelley	South Carolina	19	41	60.8	39%	+1.8
74	Miguel Arenas	North Texas	19	37	56.6	38%	−5.6
75	Will Ferrin	BYU	18	78	62.3	58%	+7.6
76	Ethan Moczulski	Washington	18	67	64.3	72%	−2.6
77	Nate Reed	Delaware	18	65	62.3	65%	−5.0
78	Andrew Nelms	Florida Atlantic	18	63	62.9	70%	+3.1
79	Carl Hardin	Temple	18	62	62.7	63%	−3.3
80	Noe Ruelas	UCF	18	59	63.5	69%	−0.2
81	Ryan Harris	Washington State	18	58	62.7	64%	+2.1
82	DC Pippin	Ball State	18	29	58.2	31%	+0.4
83	Stone Harrington	Texas Tech	17	102	64.4	75%	+14.7
84	Isaiah Hankins	Colorado State	17	42	61.6	60%	−4.5
85	Luke Akers	Northwestern	17	39	63.1	56%	+0.6
86	Quinn Warren	Indiana	17	36	61.3	44%	−0.7
87	Abram Murray	California	17	34	60.1	41%	+3.8
88	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	17	32	61.9	44%	−5.7
89	Nick Keller	Louisville	16	74	64.2	77%	+4.6
90	Beckham Sunderland	Michigan	16	65	64.1	65%	+9.3
91	Reed Harradine	Southern Miss	16	63	63.5	70%	+2.4
92	Cash McVay	App State	16	56	63.8	70%	+0.2
93	Seth Turner	Purdue	16	53	63.3	57%	+3.6
94	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	16	50	63.4	64%	−1.1
95	Sean Olvera-Harle	Hawai'i	16	24	61.5	33%	+1.7
96	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	15	76	63.8	78%	+8.6
97	Adam Zouagui	South Florida	15	75	63.9	77%	+4.5
98	Erik Schmidt	Notre Dame	15	70	64.1	79%	+0.8
99	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	15	65	63.7	69%	−3.4
100	Charlie Birtwistle	NC State	15	40	63.2	63%	+0.3
101	Jackson Cleaver	UTEP	15	25	59.8	36%	0.0
102	Devin Bale	Arkansas	14	66	62.8	71%	−3.3
103	Jack Cassidy	Western Kentucky	14	66	62.8	70%	+4.4
104	Aeron Burrell	LSU	14	62	62.9	69%	+2.9
105	Atticus Sappington	Oregon	14	50	63.4	66%	0.0
106	Trey Smack	Florida	13	61	63.9	77%	+4.7
107	Baylen Woodman	Middle Tennessee	13	51	61.5	63%	+1.6
108	Jadyn Oh	Syracuse	13	46	60.4	70%	−1.3
109	Andy Quinn	Boston College	13	34	63.4	56%	−2.0
110	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	13	19	59.2	11%	−3.7
111	Conor Donaghy	Jacksonville State	13	13	58.6	0%	−6.6
112	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	12	64	63.3	81%	−1.7
113	Rece Verhoff	North Carolina	12	51	64.4	75%	+5.1
114	Martin Connington	Michigan State	12	37	62.0	51%	−2.2
115	Nick Konieczynski	NC State	12	25	61.9	48%	+3.9
116	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	11	78	63.8	86%	+5.8
117	David Olano	Illinois	11	68	62.4	75%	+2.9
118	Ryan Hawk	New Mexico State	11	46	61.0	67%	+2.6
119	Grant Glasgow	New Mexico	11	38	61.3	61%	+0.2
120	Jared Zirkel	Texas A&M	11	30	62.8	60%	−1.6
121	Luca Lombardo	Boston College	11	13	61.1	15%	−0.7
122	Chase Meyer	California	11	12	53.5	8%	−2.7
123	Nathan Kirkwood	Navy	11	12	54.4	8%	−3.1
124	Colton Boomer	Boise State	10	72	64.4	82%	+4.0
125	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	10	66	64.2	83%	+8.2
126	Connor Gibbs	Auburn	10	55	64.2	78%	+6.5
127	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	10	48	61.3	75%	−1.1
128	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	10	26	62.3	62%	+5.3
129	Nate Flower	West Virginia	10	24	61.0	46%	−0.7
130	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	10	20	62.3	50%	−0.3
131	Josh Hamel	Old Dominion	10	17	63.3	41%	+2.7
132	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	9	72	64.6	86%	+6.6
133	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	9	60	63.9	83%	+5.2
134	Brady Denaburg	Minnesota	9	55	63.9	82%	+4.9
135	Randy Bond	Texas A&M	9	49	62.3	76%	−1.2
136	Kyle Cunanan	Nebraska	9	18	59.5	50%	−1.8
137	J.Green	UL Monroe	9	15	48.4	0%	−1.7
138	Nikola Dugandzic	Northwestern	9	15	59.5	20%	+0.6
139	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	9	15	59.8	40%	−4.6
140	Carson Holmer	Ball State	9	12	58.4	25%	−3.9
141	Mikhail Iakovlev	Old Dominion	9	11	56.9	18%	+0.3
142	Michael Luckhurst	California	9	10	62.5	10%	+2.3
143	Noah Botsford	UTEP	9	10	56.2	10%	−3.1
144	Buck Buchanan	Colorado	8	55	63.4	80%	+1.5
145	Gabriel Plascencia	San Diego State	8	44	63.2	75%	+3.8
146	Enock Gota	Rice	8	43	63.3	81%	+2.0
147	Liam Boyd	Charlotte	8	39	62.0	74%	+0.2
148	Tanner Cragun	UTEP	8	21	61.7	57%	−2.4
149	Kyah Francone	New Mexico State	8	14	59.0	0%	+2.7
150	Riley Callaghan	Old Dominion	8	12	63.2	17%	−5.5
151	Max Walker	Oregon State	8	8	62.5	0%	+1.2
152	Lucas Carneiro	Ole Miss	7	82	64.6	89%	+8.0
153	Patrick Durkin	Tulane	7	78	63.8	87%	+5.4
154	Carter Davis	Miami	7	76	64.6	88%	+7.3
155	Lorcan Quinn	Marshall	7	73	64.8	90%	−2.2
156	Keaton Emmett	Nevada	7	48	63.3	81%	+2.8
157	Kyle Ferrie	Mississippi State	7	44	64.0	80%	+3.0
158	Gage Hurych	Oregon	7	30	64.3	67%	+3.0
159	Will Stone	Texas	7	20	60.7	55%	+1.7
160	Ryan Capriotti	Maryland	7	17	55.6	6%	−6.7
161	Carter Brown	Utah State	7	13	62.5	15%	+1.1
162	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	7	10	62.8	30%	+0.2
163	William Joyce	South Carolina	7	9	57.8	22%	−4.2
164	Mason Love	South Carolina	7	8	54.5	13%	−2.7
165	Ian Wagner	Arizona	6	75	65.0	88%	+6.6
166	John Hoyet Chance	Louisiana Tech	6	59	65.4	90%	+7.3
167	Braeden McAlister	Georgia State	6	42	63.4	86%	−2.4
168	Nathanial Vakos	Wisconsin	6	37	62.5	81%	−0.4
169	Marlon Hauck	Mississippi State	6	27	63.5	74%	+3.3
170	Andrew Conrad	East Carolina	6	20	63.1	65%	+1.3
171	Henry Helms	Northwestern	6	8	59.9	25%	+1.9
172	Connor Weselman	Missouri	6	7	52.0	0%	−4.6
173	Nico Radicic	Indiana	6	7	51.0	0%	−2.1
174	Brendan Franke	Indiana	5	51	64.2	90%	+5.0
175	Cosme Salas	Duke	5	36	63.4	69%	+6.0
176	Justin Dewers	Vanderbilt	5	17	64.4	71%	+0.2
177	Marcello Diomede	Notre Dame	5	16	64.6	69%	+1.4
178	Towns McGough	Auburn	5	10	64.1	50%	+1.2
179	Kyle Lemmermann	TCU	5	6	64.8	17%	+0.7
180	Sam Bisesi	TCU	5	6	64.0	17%	−0.8
181	Tony Sterner	Louisiana	5	6	53.7	17%	−2.1
182	Jacob Green	UL Monroe	5	5	53.2	0%	−1.0
183	Josh Placzek	Indiana	5	5	57.8	0%	−0.9
184	Hunter Green	San Diego State	4	20	64.0	75%	0.0
185	Brayden Johnson	Akron	4	7	56.7	29%	−2.5
186	Reid Schuback	Alabama	4	7	59.0	14%	−0.2
187	Sean O'Haire	Maryland	4	6	60.0	33%	−5.4
188	Collin Rogers	SMU	4	5	63.6	20%	+0.4
189	Jake Weinberg	Florida State	3	60	62.8	93%	+2.7
190	Liam Connor	Boston College	3	10	62.9	50%	+0.7
191	Kyle Konrardy	Iowa State	3	9	64.2	67%	+1.5
192	Blake Craig	Missouri	3	7	61.0	57%	+0.9
193	Grady Gross	Washington	3	7	56.1	57%	−0.1
194	Tanner Rinker	Utah State	3	7	62.1	14%	−1.4
195	Erik Sandvik	Wyoming	3	6	60.2	17%	+0.9
196	Spencer Barnett	Texas	3	6	58.2	17%	+0.5
197	Dominic De Freitas	App State	3	5	53.8	40%	0.0
198	Easton Black	TCU	3	5	62.8	40%	−0.9
199	Mike Baker	Ole Miss	3	5	62.6	20%	−0.5
200	Peter Notaro	Alabama	3	5	63.4	40%	+1.9
201	Carston Kieffer	Arizona State	3	4	43.0	0%	+0.3
202	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	3	4	51.5	25%	+1.2
203	Brody Boehm	Ball State	3	3	61.3	0%	−1.0
204	Daniel Jackson	Minnesota	3	3	55.7	0%	+0.8
205	Morgan Suarez	James Madison	3	3	64.7	0%	−0.7
206	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	2	15	64.1	87%	+1.6
207	Chase Leon	South Florida	2	11	61.8	82%	−1.2
208	Blake Ford	Arkansas	2	8	60.8	75%	0.0
209	Brek Schultz	Louisiana	2	7	57.1	14%	+0.6
210	Daniel Kinney	Kennesaw State	2	5	61.4	60%	+0.3
211	Kanyon Floyd	Arizona State	2	4	64.5	50%	+1.0
212	Keelan Anderson	Wyoming	2	4	37.5	50%	−4.8
213	Liam Padron	Texas A&M	2	4	59.5	25%	+1.0
214	RJ Lopez	Sam Houston	2	3	62.0	33%	−0.6
215	Carson Rhodes	Iowa State	2	2	59.5	0%	−1.4
216	Dane Pizzaro	Rutgers	2	2	6.0	0%	−6.0
217	Hayden Arnold	Baylor	2	2	14.5	0%	−4.4
218	Joe McFadden	Nevada	2	2	55.5	0%	−3.3
219	Liam Rickman	Georgia State	2	2	13.0	0%	−4.6
220	Nick Mazzie	East Carolina	2	2	54.5	0%	−5.0
221	Patrick Foley	UAB	2	2	12.5	0%	−5.4
222	RJ Kocan	West Virginia	2	2	32.5	0%	−2.5
223	Spencer Sullins	UConn	2	2	61.5	0%	−1.3
224	TJ Hartley III	Georgia Southern	2	2	61.5	0%	−0.1
225	Tristan Alvano	Nebraska	2	2	50.0	0%	+0.1
226	Grady Dangerfield	Tennessee	1	4	58.5	75%	−1.0
227	Chase Allen	Rice	1	3	50.3	67%	−2.6
228	Drew Henderson	Louisiana Tech	1	3	54.0	33%	−1.6
229	Ian Hershey	Texas Tech	1	3	58.7	67%	−0.3
230	Jarrett Reeser	Boise State	1	3	64.0	67%	+0.4
231	John Cannon	Western Kentucky	1	3	65.0	67%	+0.6
232	Austin Welch	Oklahoma	1	2	63.5	50%	+0.2
233	Carson Hilbert	Louisville	1	2	64.0	50%	+1.2
234	Cooper Helmke	Tulane	1	2	62.0	50%	+0.2
235	Creighton Wilbanks	Southern Miss	1	2	42.5	50%	−1.6
236	Dane Efird	Kansas	1	2	64.5	50%	−0.7
237	Dominic Zvada	Michigan	1	2	64.0	50%	+0.2
238	John Love	Virginia Tech	1	2	39.0	50%	−2.2
239	Justin Welch	Navy	1	2	59.5	50%	−0.7
240	Matthew Schramm	Akron	1	2	29.5	0%	−2.6
241	Noah Perez	East Carolina	1	2	40.0	0%	−0.1
242	Tyler Black	Liberty	1	2	61.5	50%	−0.3
243	Upton Bellenfant	Texas Tech	1	2	65.0	50%	+0.2
244	Zac Chapeau	Central Michigan	1	2	32.0	50%	−2.1
245	Alex Bacchetta	Rice	1	1	58.0	0%	−1.5
246	Archie Wilson	Nebraska	1	1	51.0	0%	−0.6
247	Blake Sislo	Michigan State	1	1	43.0	0%	+0.1
248	Brayden Beck	Liberty	1	1	50.0	0%	−0.7
249	Bronson Long	Charlotte	1	1	60.0	0%	+0.3
250	Bryce Olson	Air Force	1	1	64.0	0%	+0.1
251	Charlie Reed	Clemson	1	1	60.0	0%	−0.7
252	Charlie Von Der Meden	Arkansas	1	1	9.0	0%	−2.8
253	Connor Ferguson	Georgia	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.6
254	Ethan Warner	Bowling Green	1	1	61.0	0%	+0.4
255	Grayson Miller	Oklahoma	1	1	52.0	0%	−0.3
256	Joey Cheek	Utah	1	1	65.0	0%	−1.0
257	Kade Stewart	Texas A&M	1	1	62.0	0%	+0.6
258	Kanoah Vinesett	NC State	1	1	37.0	0%	+0.6
259	London Bironas	Stanford	1	1	71.0	0%	−1.7
260	Lucas Osada	Illinois	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.4
261	Matthew Parker	Penn State	1	1	64.0	0%	+0.2
262	Palmer Domschke	Western Michigan	1	1	13.0	0%	−2.7
263	William Weisberg	USC	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.5
264	William Wilkinson	Mississippi State	1	1	38.0	0%	−0.1

All 2025 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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