2025 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 2025, Stone Harrington (76) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchbacks, ahead of Lucas Carneiro (73) and Patrick Durkin (68). 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	TB	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Stone Harrington	Texas Tech	76	102	64.4	75%	17	+14.7
2	Lucas Carneiro	Ole Miss	73	82	64.6	89%	7	+8.0
3	Patrick Durkin	Tulane	68	78	63.8	87%	7	+5.4
4	Carter Davis	Miami	67	76	64.6	88%	7	+7.3
5	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	67	78	63.8	86%	11	+5.8
6	Lorcan Quinn	Marshall	66	73	64.8	90%	7	−2.2
7	Ian Wagner	Arizona	66	75	65.0	88%	6	+6.6
8	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	62	72	64.6	86%	9	+6.6
9	Colton Boomer	Boise State	59	72	64.4	82%	10	+4.0
10	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	59	76	63.8	78%	15	+8.6
11	Dillon Curtis	Utah	59	83	62.9	71%	21	+5.2
12	Jayden Fielding	Ohio State	59	84	63.8	70%	21	+4.7
13	Adam Zouagui	South Florida	58	75	63.9	77%	15	+4.5
14	Nick Keller	Louisville	57	74	64.2	77%	16	+4.6
15	Chris Freeman	UConn	57	83	63.9	69%	22	+8.6
16	Cristiano Rosa	James Madison	57	84	63.5	68%	23	+1.2
17	Jake Weinberg	Florida State	56	60	62.8	93%	3	+2.7
18	Ryon Sayeri	USC	56	83	64.3	67%	24	+5.5
19	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	55	66	64.2	83%	10	+8.2
20	Erik Schmidt	Notre Dame	55	70	64.1	79%	15	+0.8
21	John Hoyet Chance	Louisiana Tech	53	59	65.4	90%	6	+7.3
22	Gianni Spetic	Memphis	53	76	63.1	70%	20	+8.8
23	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	52	64	63.3	81%	12	−1.7
24	David Olano	Illinois	51	68	62.4	75%	11	+2.9
25	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	50	60	63.9	83%	9	+5.2
26	Ethan Moczulski	Washington	48	67	64.3	72%	18	−2.6
27	Jaffer Murphy	UTSA	48	79	61.9	61%	29	−2.3
28	Trey Smack	Florida	47	61	63.9	77%	13	+4.7
29	Devin Bale	Arkansas	47	66	62.8	71%	14	−3.3
30	Michael James	Texas State	47	83	62.0	57%	29	−1.6
31	Brendan Franke	Indiana	46	51	64.2	90%	5	+5.0
32	Jack Cassidy	Western Kentucky	46	66	62.8	70%	14	+4.4
33	Brady Denaburg	Minnesota	45	55	63.9	82%	9	+4.9
34	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	45	65	63.7	69%	15	−3.4
35	Will Ferrin	BYU	45	78	62.3	58%	18	+7.6
36	Buck Buchanan	Colorado	44	55	63.4	80%	8	+1.5
37	Andrew Nelms	Florida Atlantic	44	63	62.9	70%	18	+3.1
38	Reed Harradine	Southern Miss	44	63	63.5	70%	16	+2.4
39	Stephen Rusnak	Cincinnati	44	72	63.2	61%	22	+4.2
40	Connor Gibbs	Auburn	43	55	64.2	78%	10	+6.5
41	Aeron Burrell	LSU	43	62	62.9	69%	14	+2.9
42	Beckham Sunderland	Michigan	42	65	64.1	65%	16	+9.3
43	Nate Reed	Delaware	42	65	62.3	65%	18	−5.0
44	Elijah Slibeck	Virginia	42	66	62.6	64%	20	+9.0
45	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	42	70	62.6	60%	23	+2.1
46	Noe Ruelas	UCF	41	59	63.5	69%	18	−0.2
47	Laith Marjan	Kansas	40	64	63.8	63%	21	+1.1
48	Keaton Emmett	Nevada	39	48	63.3	81%	7	+2.8
49	Cash McVay	App State	39	56	63.8	70%	16	+0.2
50	Carl Hardin	Temple	39	62	62.7	63%	18	−3.3
51	Sam Keltner	SMU	39	69	62.3	57%	28	+2.8
52	Rece Verhoff	North Carolina	38	51	64.4	75%	12	+5.1
53	Robert Hammond III	Toledo	38	66	62.8	58%	25	−2.3
54	Tate Sandell	Oklahoma	38	68	63.8	56%	26	+7.1
55	Randy Bond	Texas A&M	37	49	62.3	76%	9	−1.2
56	Ryan Harris	Washington State	37	58	62.7	64%	18	+2.1
57	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	37	67	63.4	55%	27	−1.2
58	Reagan Tubbs	Air Force	37	67	59.7	55%	27	−4.7
59	Caden Costa	UNLV	37	85	63.1	44%	39	+4.7
60	Braeden McAlister	Georgia State	36	42	63.4	86%	6	−2.4
61	Kyle Lowe	Virginia Tech	36	48	61.3	75%	10	−1.1
62	Conor Talty	Alabama	36	65	62.4	55%	20	+10.3
63	Sam Carpenter	Pittsburgh	36	66	62.9	55%	28	−3.6
64	Drew Stevens	Iowa	36	71	62.2	51%	27	+11.1
65	Enock Gota	Rice	35	43	63.3	81%	8	+2.0
66	Kyle Ferrie	Mississippi State	35	44	64.0	80%	7	+3.0
67	Philippe Laforge	Coastal Carolina	35	57	62.9	61%	19	+4.6
68	Rhett Armstrong	Baylor	35	67	63.6	52%	30	+11.0
69	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	34	68	60.5	50%	27	−0.7
70	Gabriel Plascencia	San Diego State	33	44	63.2	75%	8	+3.8
71	Atticus Sappington	Oregon	33	50	63.4	66%	14	0.0
72	Seth Morgan	Tulsa	33	59	60.5	56%	24	+5.9
73	Paddy McAteer	Troy	33	60	60.2	55%	24	−3.1
74	Jadyn Oh	Syracuse	32	46	60.4	70%	13	−1.3
75	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	32	50	63.4	64%	16	−1.1
76	Baylen Woodman	Middle Tennessee	32	51	61.5	63%	13	+1.6
77	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	32	63	63.1	51%	20	−3.1
78	Zac Yoakam	Houston	32	67	63.5	48%	31	−4.2
79	Ryan Hawk	New Mexico State	31	46	61.0	67%	11	+2.6
80	Nathan Dibert	Eastern Michigan	31	61	60.3	51%	26	−9.6
81	Dylan Lynch	Fresno State	31	64	61.5	48%	26	+9.2
82	Nathanial Vakos	Wisconsin	30	37	62.5	81%	6	−0.4
83	Seth Turner	Purdue	30	53	63.3	57%	16	+3.6
84	Jack Howes	Buffalo	30	59	59.8	51%	25	−10.2
85	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	30	60	61.2	50%	22	+5.6
86	Liam Boyd	Charlotte	29	39	62.0	74%	8	+0.2
87	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	29	50	62.9	58%	20	+2.3
88	Jesus Gomez	Arizona State	29	54	61.5	54%	21	−6.8
89	Kali Nguma	North Texas	29	64	60.3	45%	29	−1.9
90	Nate McCashland	TCU	28	53	61.5	53%	19	+1.1
91	Will Hryszko	Kent State	27	51	62.3	53%	21	+2.2
92	Max Morgan	Liberty	26	55	61.7	47%	25	−0.9
93	Owen Simpson	UAB	26	57	58.7	46%	27	−26.3
94	Hunter Smith	Western Michigan	26	62	61.6	42%	29	+2.3
95	Cosme Salas	Duke	25	36	63.4	69%	5	+6.0
96	Charlie Birtwistle	NC State	25	40	63.2	63%	15	+0.3
97	Isaiah Hankins	Colorado State	25	42	61.6	60%	17	−4.5
98	Evan Scruggs	Georgia Southern	25	62	62.0	40%	36	−2.8
99	John Hohl	Nebraska	24	50	61.8	48%	22	+0.4
100	Zachary Robbins	Utah State	24	52	61.5	46%	26	−3.5
101	Mathias Brown	San José State	24	57	61.6	42%	29	−7.1
102	Oliver Robbins	Missouri	24	57	62.3	42%	25	+8.9
103	Grant Glasgow	New Mexico	23	38	61.3	61%	11	+0.2
104	Everett Scott	East Carolina	23	52	61.2	44%	28	−2.4
105	Yousef Obeid	Missouri State	23	52	59.9	44%	27	+0.3
106	Luke Akers	Northwestern	22	39	63.1	56%	17	+0.6
107	Todd Pelino	Duke	22	45	59.5	49%	22	−3.5
108	Anderson Britton	Army	22	53	60.3	42%	26	−4.1
109	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	22	62	57.7	35%	30	−3.8
110	Christian Pavon	Sam Houston	21	44	63.4	48%	23	−5.8
111	Marlon Hauck	Mississippi State	20	27	63.5	74%	6	+3.3
112	Gage Hurych	Oregon	20	30	64.3	67%	7	+3.0
113	Zach Long	Bowling Green	20	57	58.6	35%	30	−3.3
114	Hamilton DiBoyan	South Alabama	20	59	61.4	34%	27	−1.5
115	Britton Williams	Kennesaw State	20	65	61.2	31%	35	+1.4
116	Andy Quinn	Boston College	19	34	63.4	56%	13	−2.0
117	Martin Connington	Michigan State	19	37	62.0	51%	12	−2.2
118	Jared Zirkel	Texas A&M	18	30	62.8	60%	11	−1.6
119	Lance Gossett	Navy	17	56	60.3	30%	26	−1.7
120	Noah Grant	Florida International	17	70	60.3	24%	47	−2.3
121	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	16	26	62.3	62%	10	+5.3
122	Quinn Warren	Indiana	16	36	61.3	44%	17	−0.7
123	Max Kelley	South Carolina	16	41	60.8	39%	19	+1.8
124	Hunter Green	San Diego State	15	20	64.0	75%	4	0.0
125	Andrew Glass	Northern Illinois	15	47	56.6	32%	23	−8.0
126	Kansei Matsuzawa	Hawai'i	15	47	59.6	32%	30	−2.7
127	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	14	32	61.9	44%	17	−5.7
128	Abram Murray	California	14	34	60.1	41%	17	+3.8
129	Miguel Arenas	North Texas	14	37	56.6	38%	19	−5.6
130	Cade Graham	Central Michigan	14	58	60.5	24%	38	+1.9
131	David Dellenbach	Ohio	14	68	58.9	21%	40	−22.5
132	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	13	15	64.1	87%	2	+1.6
133	Andrew Conrad	East Carolina	13	20	63.1	65%	6	+1.3
134	Justin Dewers	Vanderbilt	12	17	64.4	71%	5	+0.2
135	Tanner Cragun	UTEP	12	21	61.7	57%	8	−2.4
136	Nick Konieczynski	NC State	12	25	61.9	48%	12	+3.9
137	Marcello Diomede	Notre Dame	11	16	64.6	69%	5	+1.4
138	Will Stone	Texas	11	20	60.7	55%	7	+1.7
139	Nate Flower	West Virginia	11	24	61.0	46%	10	−0.7
140	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	10	20	62.3	50%	10	−0.3
141	Caleb Ojeda	Oregon State	10	37	60.0	27%	26	+0.2
142	Owen Wiley	Akron	10	50	51.5	20%	29	−11.9
143	Chase Leon	South Florida	9	11	61.8	82%	2	−1.2
144	Kyle Cunanan	Nebraska	9	18	59.5	50%	9	−1.8
145	Jackson Cleaver	UTEP	9	25	59.8	36%	15	0.0
146	DC Pippin	Ball State	9	29	58.2	31%	18	+0.4
147	Sean Olvera-Harle	Hawai'i	8	24	61.5	33%	16	+1.7
148	Philip Noyes	Maryland	8	38	58.5	21%	30	−6.3
149	Mason Shipley	Texas	8	42	61.8	19%	22	+3.6
150	Brunno Reus	Florida State	7	7	67.1	100%	0	+0.7
151	Josh Hamel	Old Dominion	7	17	63.3	41%	10	+2.7
152	Logan Klotz	Louisiana	7	52	59.6	13%	39	+3.4
153	Blake Ford	Arkansas	6	8	60.8	75%	2	0.0
154	Kyle Konrardy	Iowa State	6	9	64.2	67%	3	+1.5
155	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	6	15	59.8	40%	9	−4.6
156	Marcus Lye	Massachusetts	6	33	56.7	18%	23	−6.6
157	Liam Connor	Boston College	5	10	62.9	50%	3	+0.7
158	Towns McGough	Auburn	5	10	64.1	50%	5	+1.2
159	Nathanial Eichner	Old Dominion	5	34	57.3	15%	23	−3.8
160	Jackson Courville	Ohio State	4	4	65.0	100%	0	+0.4
161	Max Gilbert	Tennessee	4	4	65.0	100%	0	+0.8
162	Blake Craig	Missouri	4	7	61.0	57%	3	+0.9
163	Grady Gross	Washington	4	7	56.1	57%	3	−0.1
164	Ethan Head	West Virginia	4	26	59.2	15%	22	+2.7
165	Bert Auburn	Miami	3	3	65.0	100%	0	+0.3
166	Matthias Dunn	BYU	3	3	65.0	100%	0	+0.6
167	Grady Dangerfield	Tennessee	3	4	58.5	75%	1	−1.0
168	Daniel Kinney	Kennesaw State	3	5	61.4	60%	2	+0.3
169	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	3	10	62.8	30%	7	+0.2
170	Carson Holmer	Ball State	3	12	58.4	25%	9	−3.9
171	Nikola Dugandzic	Northwestern	3	15	59.5	20%	9	+0.6
172	Jace Gilbert	Iowa State	3	26	57.9	12%	21	−0.6
173	Anthony Ruggles	Toledo	2	2	65.0	100%	0	+0.2
174	Tanner Gillis	Memphis	2	2	57.5	100%	0	+0.2
175	Tripp Woody	Syracuse	2	2	65.0	100%	0	+0.2
176	Chase Allen	Rice	2	3	50.3	67%	1	−2.6
177	Ian Hershey	Texas Tech	2	3	58.7	67%	1	−0.3
178	Jarrett Reeser	Boise State	2	3	64.0	67%	1	+0.4
179	John Cannon	Western Kentucky	2	3	65.0	67%	1	+0.6
180	Kanyon Floyd	Arizona State	2	4	64.5	50%	2	+1.0
181	Keelan Anderson	Wyoming	2	4	37.5	50%	2	−4.8
182	Ryan Barker	Penn State	2	4	52.5	50%	0	+0.4
183	Dominic De Freitas	App State	2	5	53.8	40%	3	0.0
184	Easton Black	TCU	2	5	62.8	40%	3	−0.9
185	Peter Notaro	Alabama	2	5	63.4	40%	3	+1.9
186	Sean O'Haire	Maryland	2	6	60.0	33%	4	−5.4
187	Brayden Johnson	Akron	2	7	56.7	29%	4	−2.5
188	Henry Helms	Northwestern	2	8	59.9	25%	6	+1.9
189	William Joyce	South Carolina	2	9	57.8	22%	7	−4.2
190	Mikhail Iakovlev	Old Dominion	2	11	56.9	18%	9	+0.3
191	Riley Callaghan	Old Dominion	2	12	63.2	17%	8	−5.5
192	Carter Brown	Utah State	2	13	62.5	15%	7	+1.1
193	Luca Lombardo	Boston College	2	13	61.1	15%	11	−0.7
194	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	2	19	59.2	11%	13	−3.7
195	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	2	23	60.2	9%	20	+3.5
196	Caden Buhr	Iowa	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
197	Garrison Smith	Florida Atlantic	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
198	Noah McGough	UCF	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
199	Quinn Castner	Clemson	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
200	Ramon Villela	UNLV	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
201	Tripp Bryant	Georgia Southern	1	1	65.0	100%	0	+0.1
202	Austin Welch	Oklahoma	1	2	63.5	50%	1	+0.2
203	Carson Hilbert	Louisville	1	2	64.0	50%	1	+1.2
204	Cooper Helmke	Tulane	1	2	62.0	50%	1	+0.2
205	Creighton Wilbanks	Southern Miss	1	2	42.5	50%	1	−1.6
206	Dane Efird	Kansas	1	2	64.5	50%	1	−0.7
207	Dominic Zvada	Michigan	1	2	64.0	50%	1	+0.2
208	John Love	Virginia Tech	1	2	39.0	50%	1	−2.2
209	John McGuire	Auburn	1	2	64.0	50%	0	−0.7
210	Justin Welch	Navy	1	2	59.5	50%	1	−0.7
211	Tyler Black	Liberty	1	2	61.5	50%	1	−0.3
212	Upton Bellenfant	Texas Tech	1	2	65.0	50%	1	+0.2
213	Zac Chapeau	Central Michigan	1	2	32.0	50%	1	−2.1
214	Drew Henderson	Louisiana Tech	1	3	54.0	33%	1	−1.6
215	RJ Lopez	Sam Houston	1	3	62.0	33%	2	−0.6
216	Liam Padron	Texas A&M	1	4	59.5	25%	2	+1.0
217	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	1	4	51.5	25%	3	+1.2
218	Collin Rogers	SMU	1	5	63.6	20%	4	+0.4
219	Mike Baker	Ole Miss	1	5	62.6	20%	3	−0.5
220	Erik Sandvik	Wyoming	1	6	60.2	17%	3	+0.9
221	Kyle Lemmermann	TCU	1	6	64.8	17%	5	+0.7
222	Sam Bisesi	TCU	1	6	64.0	17%	5	−0.8
223	Spencer Barnett	Texas	1	6	58.2	17%	3	+0.5
224	Tony Sterner	Louisiana	1	6	53.7	17%	5	−2.1
225	Brek Schultz	Louisiana	1	7	57.1	14%	2	+0.6
226	Reid Schuback	Alabama	1	7	59.0	14%	4	−0.2
227	Tanner Rinker	Utah State	1	7	62.1	14%	3	−1.4
228	Mason Love	South Carolina	1	8	54.5	13%	7	−2.7
229	Michael Luckhurst	California	1	10	62.5	10%	9	+2.3
230	Noah Botsford	UTEP	1	10	56.2	10%	9	−3.1
231	Chase Meyer	California	1	12	53.5	8%	11	−2.7
232	Nathan Kirkwood	Navy	1	12	54.4	8%	11	−3.1
233	Ryan Capriotti	Maryland	1	17	55.6	6%	7	−6.7
234	Chase Smith	Iowa State	1	27	56.5	4%	25	−8.0

All 2025 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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