2025 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 2025, Jake Weinberg (93%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Lorcan Quinn (90%) and Brendan Franke (90%). 135 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 60%.

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

All 2025 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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