2026 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 2026, Balint Vorosmarty (521) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff return yards allowed, ahead of Dawson Jones (493) and Cavan Craig (476). 211 kickoff specialists qualify. This season is in progress (through Week 7), so the numbers change each week.

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.

Data through Week 7 of the 2026 season, updated October 24, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Ret yds	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Balint Vorosmarty	Georgia State	521	39	63.2	38%	20	−3.9
2	Dawson Jones	Army	493	39	58.4	26%	24	−9.5
3	Cavan Craig	Colorado State	476	35	63.0	43%	16	−7.7
4	Reice Griffith	Toledo	462	44	61.1	45%	19	−5.2
5	Logan Klotz	Louisiana	460	40	60.3	25%	22	−1.1
6	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	385	31	61.7	19%	17	−9.6
7	Jadyn Oh	Oregon State	377	55	62.6	64%	16	−6.4
8	Noah Sur	Northwestern	374	38	61.7	42%	18	+0.2
9	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	344	39	63.9	62%	13	−3.2
10	Micah Drescher	Notre Dame	332	39	63.4	64%	13	−2.6
11	Kyah Francone	New Mexico State	326	22	62.5	27%	16	+2.7
12	Brayden Baker	UNLV	310	32	63.0	44%	14	−3.4
13	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	310	39	60.4	54%	12	−1.6
14	Towns McGough	California	305	30	60.3	40%	13	−11.4
15	Robert Czeremcha	Florida International	294	33	61.3	39%	14	+1.5
16	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	288	38	63.1	63%	12	+0.6
17	Braydon Doane	UTSA	285	44	60.3	45%	13	+0.8
18	Dane Efird	Kansas	285	37	62.3	59%	8	−4.4
19	Seth Turner	Purdue	283	43	62.5	51%	15	+4.8
20	Kanoah Vinesett	NC State	281	29	59.6	41%	14	+1.3
21	Sean Olvera-Harle	Hawai'i	277	31	60.5	35%	15	+0.4
22	Tucker Smack	Delaware	276	26	60.6	35%	15	+1.5
23	Daniel Porto	Coastal Carolina	275	27	59.9	26%	17	+1.0
24	Marlon Hauck	Tulsa	270	44	61.6	41%	16	+3.0
25	Michael Taylor II	North Texas	263	43	61.9	56%	15	−4.3
26	Samuel Guiden Krebs	Marshall	260	24	62.0	46%	12	−7.2
27	Reed Harradine	Southern Miss	257	27	60.6	26%	15	+0.3
28	Sam Hunsaker	Pittsburgh	256	25	63.6	44%	11	−1.2
29	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	255	34	63.2	56%	14	+2.7
30	Stephen Rusnak	Cincinnati	251	38	61.8	53%	12	−3.8
31	Tyler Black	Liberty	243	32	61.3	53%	12	−1.1
32	Gianni Spetic	Texas	242	37	62.7	59%	12	−1.8
33	Mathias Brown	San José State	231	33	63.8	58%	11	−0.5
34	Gavin Lahm	Wisconsin	228	33	63.1	45%	12	+3.6
35	Lucas Carneiro	Ole Miss	228	25	62.4	60%	8	−6.3
36	Zac Yoakam	Houston	225	49	63.0	63%	15	+4.9
37	Colton Boomer	Boise State	224	42	61.1	60%	12	−3.9
38	Jacob Baggett	Michigan	219	26	63.6	65%	7	−1.4
39	Ilya Uvaydov	New Mexico State	218	13	57.1	31%	8	−5.9
40	Oisin Flynn	Mississippi State	218	29	63.5	45%	8	−0.5
41	Blake Ford	Georgia Southern	216	34	63.8	71%	10	+1.1
42	John Hohl	Nebraska	214	45	59.8	42%	13	−0.8
43	Aeron Burrell	North Carolina	212	27	63.7	59%	10	+3.4
44	Derek Morris	Massachusetts	210	45	64.4	80%	8	+0.1
45	Robert Hammond III	Kansas State	209	29	63.5	66%	8	+2.1
46	Wyatt Joyce	Middle Tennessee	209	17	60.8	41%	8	+0.5
47	Conor McAneney	Florida State	209	41	64.8	83%	7	+0.5
48	Brody Boehm	Ball State	204	28	62.4	50%	11	−1.4
49	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	196	48	62.9	69%	11	+0.9
50	Tate Ryan	Sam Houston	195	11	62.5	36%	5	−2.5
51	Elijah Slibeck	Virginia	191	43	64.2	72%	11	+4.3
52	Andrew Nelms	Old Dominion	190	27	63.8	74%	7	−1.2
53	Ethan Head	Troy	186	31	61.8	35%	13	+5.0
54	Peyton Argent	South Alabama	183	15	61.2	20%	8	−0.2
55	Daniel Leahy	Maryland	179	21	61.4	33%	9	−2.5
56	Carl Hardin	Temple	177	36	62.5	56%	11	−2.0
57	Eli Ozick	Iowa	176	37	61.9	49%	10	+0.4
58	Max Kelley	South Carolina	170	34	63.2	62%	9	+2.2
59	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	169	31	64.4	65%	8	+0.6
60	Eli Fulcher	Maryland	163	17	59.6	35%	10	−1.5
61	Ryan Kobzeff	Fresno State	163	37	63.1	54%	10	+3.8
62	Elliot Arnold	Colorado	162	18	64.8	67%	6	+0.1
63	Michael Smith	Western Kentucky	162	7	59.4	29%	5	−6.2
64	Dylan Freebury	South Alabama	161	18	60.1	17%	8	−2.2
65	Baylen Woodman	James Madison	160	49	62.7	61%	11	+1.2
66	Beckham Sunderland	Minnesota	159	36	64.5	78%	8	+3.4
67	Ryon Sayeri	USC	159	46	63.3	61%	8	−1.9
68	Karl Campbell	Western Kentucky	157	26	59.4	42%	10	−0.3
69	Ryan Short	Northern Illinois	156	19	63.6	68%	4	+0.1
70	Sean Leonard	Kent State	155	21	59.0	24%	9	−1.4
71	Andy Quinn	Boston College	155	20	63.0	45%	8	+2.4
72	Joe McFadden	Nevada	154	27	62.9	56%	9	+4.0
73	Lance Gossett	Navy	152	30	62.0	30%	10	+2.4
74	Braxton Doak	Central Michigan	152	7	59.7	0%	7	−1.1
75	Brunno Reus	Missouri	149	39	64.8	82%	6	−3.4
76	Michael James	Texas State	146	38	63.0	74%	7	+1.0
77	Gavin Strange	Duke	144	19	62.3	32%	7	+1.7
78	Tripp Woody	Syracuse	144	23	61.3	61%	7	−3.5
79	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	143	49	64.2	73%	6	+2.7
80	Lucas Tenbrock	Penn State	140	23	62.0	57%	8	−0.9
81	Ethan Warner	Bowling Green	140	11	61.6	27%	7	+0.1
82	Will Hryszko	Ohio	139	40	63.8	60%	8	+3.9
83	Dominic Bourgeois	Middle Tennessee	139	16	60.6	38%	7	+0.1
84	Cooper DiLeva	San Diego State	133	31	63.2	65%	9	+2.8
85	Drew Klein	North Dakota State	133	37	63.4	76%	6	+0.4
86	Ian Hershey	Texas Tech	132	14	63.1	71%	4	+1.5
87	Patrick Durkin	Florida	130	49	63.7	84%	8	+2.3
88	Palmer Domschke	Western Michigan	129	11	54.2	18%	6	−1.0
89	Mike Baker	UConn	128	42	63.5	71%	7	+0.2
90	Collin Rogers	Florida Atlantic	128	37	64.3	81%	6	+0.6
91	Dillon Curtis	Utah	125	40	64.1	78%	6	+3.9
92	Ethan Moczulski	Illinois	124	32	63.5	75%	7	+2.2
93	Riley Sullivan	Baylor	123	37	63.8	57%	8	+1.0
94	Kyle Ferrie	Mississippi State	123	8	64.9	50%	4	−2.0
95	Ian French	Arizona	122	39	62.4	77%	4	−0.5
96	Carson Smith	Arizona State	121	32	63.7	69%	6	+3.3
97	Aidan Stire	Akron	120	12	63.1	33%	6	+0.4
98	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	120	39	64.7	85%	5	+0.4
99	Liam Boyd	Michigan State	117	31	64.0	74%	7	+3.0
100	Scott Starzyk	LSU	117	46	64.8	85%	6	+1.8
101	Nico Ottomanelli	Sam Houston	115	9	63.0	33%	6	−0.7
102	Abram Murray	UL Monroe	114	24	63.5	71%	6	+2.6
103	Nathan Dibert	Eastern Michigan	111	37	64.2	76%	8	+5.0
104	Davis Little	South Alabama	108	12	54.4	0%	7	+0.4
105	Miguel Arenas	Washington State	108	21	61.6	33%	7	+1.1
106	Carlos Arreola	UTEP	108	22	64.3	73%	6	+1.4
107	Chase Reeves	Liberty	105	10	56.6	20%	6	−0.7
108	Nick Keller	Louisville	105	48	64.4	85%	6	+5.3
109	Lorcan Quinn	Alabama	105	47	64.8	87%	5	+5.1
110	Jacob Fernandez	Nevada	104	5	64.4	20%	4	+0.4
111	Antonio Chadha	Pittsburgh	104	16	64.9	75%	3	−2.6
112	Grant Meadors	Sacramento State	103	15	50.9	7%	8	−2.9
113	Everett Scott	East Carolina	102	10	58.5	20%	6	−0.9
114	Joseph Kim	Oklahoma State	99	45	63.4	73%	5	−1.4
115	Jake Weinberg	Miami	96	38	64.5	87%	4	+0.1
116	Caden VanHuis	Central Michigan	95	10	56.7	30%	5	−2.7
117	Peter McStravick	Ole Miss	95	15	64.4	60%	4	0.0
118	Gage Hurych	Oregon	92	34	61.4	53%	8	+1.4
119	Erik Sandvik	Wyoming	91	24	64.5	75%	4	+2.0
120	Kyle Konrardy	Iowa State	90	35	64.9	89%	4	0.0
121	Morgan Suarez	James Madison	90	11	64.5	64%	4	+2.0
122	Will Stone	UCF	89	33	62.8	79%	7	+0.2
123	Lawson Thorn	South Florida	88	17	63.4	41%	6	+3.6
124	Treyton McKee	Bowling Green	87	9	64.2	67%	3	+0.8
125	Owen Simpson	UAB	82	35	64.0	77%	4	+0.7
126	Cosme Salas	Duke	81	21	63.8	81%	4	−3.4
127	Kason Mullis	Delaware	81	9	63.6	56%	3	−0.7
128	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	80	19	56.9	47%	9	+1.6
129	Hunter Rioux	Louisiana Tech	79	34	62.6	76%	3	−1.5
130	Max Gilbert	Arkansas	78	25	65.2	88%	3	+1.6
131	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	77	40	63.3	75%	6	−0.2
132	Dominic De Freitas	North Texas	75	2	43.5	0%	2	−5.0
133	Shay Barker	Syracuse	73	13	61.2	54%	4	+1.2
134	James London	App State	71	41	64.9	90%	3	−0.6
135	Zak Zeman	Western Michigan	69	22	60.3	45%	6	+3.6
136	Tarik Ahmetbasic	Memphis	69	43	64.1	84%	5	+1.8
137	Jordan Westrich	Akron	66	15	64.7	73%	3	+0.9
138	Jack Cassidy	West Virginia	65	46	62.5	76%	5	+1.4
139	Grant Glasgow	New Mexico	65	22	64.2	68%	4	+3.5
140	Travis Kenner	Bowling Green	62	7	38.9	0%	4	−4.3
141	Tommy Bauchiero	Rice	61	7	57.3	14%	5	+0.4
142	Charlie Birtwistle	Charlotte	60	7	59.7	29%	3	+0.8
143	G.Gross	Washington	60	10	63.8	60%	3	−0.1
144	Quinn Warren	Indiana	60	11	64.2	64%	3	+1.2
145	David Olano	Texas A&M	59	30	64.8	87%	3	−1.6
146	Colton Chmelar	Texas A&M	58	10	63.3	70%	3	+0.2
147	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	57	33	61.6	70%	5	+3.6
148	Saul Marks	Sacramento State	56	9	62.8	44%	3	+0.6
149	Cole Byrd	Virginia Tech	55	46	64.3	80%	4	+4.7
150	Hunter McKee	Washington	55	19	61.9	53%	4	−1.0
151	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	55	20	64.3	85%	3	+1.8
152	Paddy McAteer	Indiana	54	37	64.9	89%	3	+3.1
153	Marcello Diomede	Ohio State	51	48	63.1	79%	5	+1.0
154	Tate Sandell	Oklahoma	51	25	64.2	84%	3	+0.7
155	Enock Gota	Rice	50	17	64.2	82%	3	+1.9
156	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	50	31	65.0	94%	2	+1.2
157	Stone Harrington	Texas Tech	49	27	64.9	89%	3	+3.4
158	Andrew Conrad	East Carolina	45	24	64.5	83%	3	+1.7
159	Blake Craig	Missouri	45	1	65.0	0%	1	−1.8
160	Ian Kelly	Charlotte	43	19	63.8	84%	3	+0.9
161	Jonah Delange	UAB	43	3	65.0	33%	2	+0.6
162	Cadel Ayala	Colorado	42	4	62.8	0%	2	−1.1
163	John Hoyet Chance	TCU	42	29	65.3	90%	2	−0.9
164	Asher Murray	Texas A&M	42	2	63.5	50%	1	−1.7
165	Tony Sterner	Louisiana	40	2	59.5	0%	2	0.0
166	Jake Hulstein	Army	39	2	63.5	0%	2	+0.5
167	Zechariah Duke	Kennesaw State	39	19	64.9	89%	2	+1.6
168	Leo Liptak	Coastal Carolina	38	6	61.0	67%	2	+0.7
169	Grady Dangerfield	Tennessee	36	6	64.0	67%	2	+1.8
170	Bryce McFerson	Maryland	35	2	60.0	0%	2	−1.1
171	Brody Laga	BYU	34	23	65.0	96%	1	−0.3
172	Cooper Heimbach	Marshall	34	1	64.0	0%	1	−3.4
173	Carston Kieffer	Arizona State	33	3	64.0	33%	2	+1.2
174	Zac Chapeau	Central Michigan	33	6	61.2	67%	2	−1.6
175	Connor Gibbs	Auburn	31	28	63.9	89%	2	+1.5
176	Zach McGowan	Buffalo	30	14	61.9	79%	2	+0.1
177	Daniel Gerlach	Colorado	30	2	65.0	50%	1	+0.4
178	Chase Meyer	California	29	1	58.0	0%	1	−0.9
179	Dane Pizzaro	Rutgers	29	1	54.0	0%	1	−1.3
180	Nick Reed	SMU	29	19	65.3	95%	1	−1.2
181	Henry Helms	Northwestern	28	3	56.0	33%	2	−1.0
182	Cooper Peterson	Ohio State	27	2	60.5	0%	2	+0.9
183	Cooper Helmke	Tulane	27	26	63.3	69%	1	+1.3
184	Daniel Kinney	Kennesaw State	25	11	59.6	64%	3	−0.8
185	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	25	9	62.6	56%	1	−3.6
186	Bryson Hosea	Army	24	2	51.0	0%	2	−0.1
187	Oliver Hautanen	Buffalo	22	18	59.1	78%	3	+0.2
188	Brendan Baird	SMU	22	17	64.7	94%	1	+0.9
189	Dusty Zimmer	Southern Miss	22	1	66.0	0%	1	−0.9
190	Jack Stevens	Washington State	20	8	61.4	38%	2	+1.0
191	Brandon Rabasco	Florida	20	4	63.0	75%	1	−0.1
192	Noah McGough	UCF	20	3	65.0	67%	1	+0.4
193	Justin Dewers	Vanderbilt	19	16	64.8	88%	1	+1.4
194	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	18	18	64.9	89%	1	+1.2
195	Carter Genchi	Pittsburgh	17	4	61.5	0%	1	0.0
196	Hunter Green	Washington	17	9	65.0	89%	1	+1.5
197	Yousef Obeid	Missouri State	17	2	59.5	50%	1	−1.9
198	Braeden McAlister	Arkansas	16	6	64.2	83%	1	+0.5
199	Cristiano Rosa	Penn State	16	14	64.4	71%	1	+1.1
200	Noah Perez	East Carolina	16	2	40.5	0%	1	+0.5
201	Rocco Graziano	Oregon	15	8	63.5	63%	1	+0.9
202	Sam Carpenter	Sam Houston	15	7	63.0	43%	1	−0.6
203	Gaston Gramatica	South Florida	14	1	62.0	0%	1	+0.5
204	Manaki Watanabe	Fresno State	13	2	65.0	50%	1	+0.7
205	Nathan Dinwiddie	Liberty	13	1	61.0	0%	1	+0.8
206	David Barker	New Mexico State	11	1	56.0	0%	1	0.0
207	Adam Zouagui	Kentucky	10	40	64.7	80%	1	+2.6
208	Landon Rehkow	Utah State	10	18	64.1	83%	1	+0.4
209	D.Lovelace	NC State	9	11	57.9	9%	1	+0.6
210	Matthew Parker	Penn State	9	3	63.0	0%	1	−0.1
211	Conor Talty	Alabama	7	2	44.5	50%	1	+0.2

All 2026 College kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Return Yards Allowed in other seasons: 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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