2026 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 2026, Dawson Jones (24) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff returns allowed, ahead of Logan Klotz (22) and Balint Vorosmarty (20). 213 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	Returns	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Points
1	Dawson Jones	Army	24	39	58.4	26%	−9.5
2	Logan Klotz	Louisiana	22	40	60.3	25%	−1.1
3	Balint Vorosmarty	Georgia State	20	39	63.2	38%	−3.9
4	Reice Griffith	Toledo	19	44	61.1	45%	−5.2
5	Noah Sur	Northwestern	18	38	61.7	42%	+0.2
6	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	17	31	61.7	19%	−9.6
7	Daniel Porto	Coastal Carolina	17	27	59.9	26%	+1.0
8	Jadyn Oh	Oregon State	16	55	62.6	64%	−6.4
9	Marlon Hauck	Tulsa	16	44	61.6	41%	+3.0
10	Cavan Craig	Colorado State	16	35	63.0	43%	−7.7
11	Kyah Francone	New Mexico State	16	22	62.5	27%	+2.7
12	Zac Yoakam	Houston	15	49	63.0	63%	+4.9
13	Michael Taylor II	North Texas	15	43	61.9	56%	−4.3
14	Seth Turner	Purdue	15	43	62.5	51%	+4.8
15	Sean Olvera-Harle	Hawai'i	15	31	60.5	35%	+0.4
16	Reed Harradine	Southern Miss	15	27	60.6	26%	+0.3
17	Tucker Smack	Delaware	15	26	60.6	35%	+1.5
18	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	14	34	63.2	56%	+2.7
19	Robert Czeremcha	Florida International	14	33	61.3	39%	+1.5
20	Brayden Baker	UNLV	14	32	63.0	44%	−3.4
21	Kanoah Vinesett	NC State	14	29	59.6	41%	+1.3
22	John Hohl	Nebraska	13	45	59.8	42%	−0.8
23	Braydon Doane	UTSA	13	44	60.3	45%	+0.8
24	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	13	39	63.9	62%	−3.2
25	Micah Drescher	Notre Dame	13	39	63.4	64%	−2.6
26	Ethan Head	Troy	13	31	61.8	35%	+5.0
27	Towns McGough	California	13	30	60.3	40%	−11.4
28	Colton Boomer	Boise State	12	42	61.1	60%	−3.9
29	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	12	39	60.4	54%	−1.6
30	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	12	38	63.1	63%	+0.6
31	Stephen Rusnak	Cincinnati	12	38	61.8	53%	−3.8
32	Gianni Spetic	Texas	12	37	62.7	59%	−1.8
33	Gavin Lahm	Wisconsin	12	33	63.1	45%	+3.6
34	Tyler Black	Liberty	12	32	61.3	53%	−1.1
35	Samuel Guiden Krebs	Marshall	12	24	62.0	46%	−7.2
36	Baylen Woodman	James Madison	11	49	62.7	61%	+1.2
37	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	11	48	62.9	69%	+0.9
38	Elijah Slibeck	Virginia	11	43	64.2	72%	+4.3
39	Carl Hardin	Temple	11	36	62.5	56%	−2.0
40	Mathias Brown	San José State	11	33	63.8	58%	−0.5
41	Brody Boehm	Ball State	11	28	62.4	50%	−1.4
42	Sam Hunsaker	Pittsburgh	11	25	63.6	44%	−1.2
43	Eli Ozick	Iowa	10	37	61.9	49%	+0.4
44	Ryan Kobzeff	Fresno State	10	37	63.1	54%	+3.8
45	Blake Ford	Georgia Southern	10	34	63.8	71%	+1.1
46	Lance Gossett	Navy	10	30	62.0	30%	+2.4
47	Aeron Burrell	North Carolina	10	27	63.7	59%	+3.4
48	Karl Campbell	Western Kentucky	10	26	59.4	42%	−0.3
49	Eli Fulcher	Maryland	10	17	59.6	35%	−1.5
50	Max Kelley	South Carolina	9	34	63.2	62%	+2.2
51	Cooper DiLeva	San Diego State	9	31	63.2	65%	+2.8
52	Joe McFadden	Nevada	9	27	62.9	56%	+4.0
53	Daniel Leahy	Maryland	9	21	61.4	33%	−2.5
54	Sean Leonard	Kent State	9	21	59.0	24%	−1.4
55	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	9	19	56.9	47%	+1.6
56	Patrick Durkin	Florida	8	49	63.7	84%	+2.3
57	Ryon Sayeri	USC	8	46	63.3	61%	−1.9
58	Derek Morris	Massachusetts	8	45	64.4	80%	+0.1
59	Will Hryszko	Ohio	8	40	63.8	60%	+3.9
60	Dane Efird	Kansas	8	37	62.3	59%	−4.4
61	Nathan Dibert	Eastern Michigan	8	37	64.2	76%	+5.0
62	Riley Sullivan	Baylor	8	37	63.8	57%	+1.0
63	Beckham Sunderland	Minnesota	8	36	64.5	78%	+3.4
64	Gage Hurych	Oregon	8	34	61.4	53%	+1.4
65	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	8	31	64.4	65%	+0.6
66	Oisin Flynn	Mississippi State	8	29	63.5	45%	−0.5
67	Robert Hammond III	Kansas State	8	29	63.5	66%	+2.1
68	Lucas Carneiro	Ole Miss	8	25	62.4	60%	−6.3
69	Lucas Tenbrock	Penn State	8	23	62.0	57%	−0.9
70	Andy Quinn	Boston College	8	20	63.0	45%	+2.4
71	Dylan Freebury	South Alabama	8	18	60.1	17%	−2.2
72	Wyatt Joyce	Middle Tennessee	8	17	60.8	41%	+0.5
73	Grant Meadors	Sacramento State	8	15	50.9	7%	−2.9
74	Peyton Argent	South Alabama	8	15	61.2	20%	−0.2
75	Ilya Uvaydov	New Mexico State	8	13	57.1	31%	−5.9
76	Mike Baker	UConn	7	42	63.5	71%	+0.2
77	Conor McAneney	Florida State	7	41	64.8	83%	+0.5
78	Michael James	Texas State	7	38	63.0	74%	+1.0
79	Will Stone	UCF	7	33	62.8	79%	+0.2
80	Ethan Moczulski	Illinois	7	32	63.5	75%	+2.2
81	Liam Boyd	Michigan State	7	31	64.0	74%	+3.0
82	Andrew Nelms	Old Dominion	7	27	63.8	74%	−1.2
83	Jacob Baggett	Michigan	7	26	63.6	65%	−1.4
84	Tripp Woody	Syracuse	7	23	61.3	61%	−3.5
85	Miguel Arenas	Washington State	7	21	61.6	33%	+1.1
86	Gavin Strange	Duke	7	19	62.3	32%	+1.7
87	Dominic Bourgeois	Middle Tennessee	7	16	60.6	38%	+0.1
88	Davis Little	South Alabama	7	12	54.4	0%	+0.4
89	Ethan Warner	Bowling Green	7	11	61.6	27%	+0.1
90	Braxton Doak	Central Michigan	7	7	59.7	0%	−1.1
91	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	6	49	64.2	73%	+2.7
92	Nick Keller	Louisville	6	48	64.4	85%	+5.3
93	Scott Starzyk	LSU	6	46	64.8	85%	+1.8
94	Dillon Curtis	Utah	6	40	64.1	78%	+3.9
95	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	6	40	63.3	75%	−0.2
96	Brunno Reus	Missouri	6	39	64.8	82%	−3.4
97	Collin Rogers	Florida Atlantic	6	37	64.3	81%	+0.6
98	Drew Klein	North Dakota State	6	37	63.4	76%	+0.4
99	Carson Smith	Arizona State	6	32	63.7	69%	+3.3
100	Abram Murray	UL Monroe	6	24	63.5	71%	+2.6
101	Carlos Arreola	UTEP	6	22	64.3	73%	+1.4
102	Zak Zeman	Western Michigan	6	22	60.3	45%	+3.6
103	Elliot Arnold	Colorado	6	18	64.8	67%	+0.1
104	Lawson Thorn	South Florida	6	17	63.4	41%	+3.6
105	Aidan Stire	Akron	6	12	63.1	33%	+0.4
106	Palmer Domschke	Western Michigan	6	11	54.2	18%	−1.0
107	Chase Reeves	Liberty	6	10	56.6	20%	−0.7
108	Everett Scott	East Carolina	6	10	58.5	20%	−0.9
109	Nico Ottomanelli	Sam Houston	6	9	63.0	33%	−0.7
110	Marcello Diomede	Ohio State	5	48	63.1	79%	+1.0
111	Lorcan Quinn	Alabama	5	47	64.8	87%	+5.1
112	Jack Cassidy	West Virginia	5	46	62.5	76%	+1.4
113	Joseph Kim	Oklahoma State	5	45	63.4	73%	−1.4
114	Tarik Ahmetbasic	Memphis	5	43	64.1	84%	+1.8
115	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	5	39	64.7	85%	+0.4
116	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	5	33	61.6	70%	+3.6
117	Tate Ryan	Sam Houston	5	11	62.5	36%	−2.5
118	Caden VanHuis	Central Michigan	5	10	56.7	30%	−2.7
119	Michael Smith	Western Kentucky	5	7	59.4	29%	−6.2
120	Tommy Bauchiero	Rice	5	7	57.3	14%	+0.4
121	Cole Byrd	Virginia Tech	4	46	64.3	80%	+4.7
122	Ian French	Arizona	4	39	62.4	77%	−0.5
123	Jake Weinberg	Miami	4	38	64.5	87%	+0.1
124	Kyle Konrardy	Iowa State	4	35	64.9	89%	0.0
125	Owen Simpson	UAB	4	35	64.0	77%	+0.7
126	Erik Sandvik	Wyoming	4	24	64.5	75%	+2.0
127	Grant Glasgow	New Mexico	4	22	64.2	68%	+3.5
128	Cosme Salas	Duke	4	21	63.8	81%	−3.4
129	Hunter McKee	Washington	4	19	61.9	53%	−1.0
130	Ryan Short	Northern Illinois	4	19	63.6	68%	+0.1
131	Peter McStravick	Ole Miss	4	15	64.4	60%	0.0
132	Ian Hershey	Texas Tech	4	14	63.1	71%	+1.5
133	Shay Barker	Syracuse	4	13	61.2	54%	+1.2
134	Morgan Suarez	James Madison	4	11	64.5	64%	+2.0
135	Kyle Ferrie	Mississippi State	4	8	64.9	50%	−2.0
136	Travis Kenner	Bowling Green	4	7	38.9	0%	−4.3
137	Jacob Fernandez	Nevada	4	5	64.4	20%	+0.4
138	James London	App State	3	41	64.9	90%	−0.6
139	Paddy McAteer	Indiana	3	37	64.9	89%	+3.1
140	Hunter Rioux	Louisiana Tech	3	34	62.6	76%	−1.5
141	David Olano	Texas A&M	3	30	64.8	87%	−1.6
142	Stone Harrington	Texas Tech	3	27	64.9	89%	+3.4
143	Max Gilbert	Arkansas	3	25	65.2	88%	+1.6
144	Tate Sandell	Oklahoma	3	25	64.2	84%	+0.7
145	Andrew Conrad	East Carolina	3	24	64.5	83%	+1.7
146	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	3	20	64.3	85%	+1.8
147	Ian Kelly	Charlotte	3	19	63.8	84%	+0.9
148	Oliver Hautanen	Buffalo	3	18	59.1	78%	+0.2
149	Enock Gota	Rice	3	17	64.2	82%	+1.9
150	Antonio Chadha	Pittsburgh	3	16	64.9	75%	−2.6
151	Jordan Westrich	Akron	3	15	64.7	73%	+0.9
152	Daniel Kinney	Kennesaw State	3	11	59.6	64%	−0.8
153	Quinn Warren	Indiana	3	11	64.2	64%	+1.2
154	Colton Chmelar	Texas A&M	3	10	63.3	70%	+0.2
155	G.Gross	Washington	3	10	63.8	60%	−0.1
156	Kason Mullis	Delaware	3	9	63.6	56%	−0.7
157	Saul Marks	Sacramento State	3	9	62.8	44%	+0.6
158	Treyton McKee	Bowling Green	3	9	64.2	67%	+0.8
159	Charlie Birtwistle	Charlotte	3	7	59.7	29%	+0.8
160	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	2	31	65.0	94%	+1.2
161	John Hoyet Chance	TCU	2	29	65.3	90%	−0.9
162	Connor Gibbs	Auburn	2	28	63.9	89%	+1.5
163	Zechariah Duke	Kennesaw State	2	19	64.9	89%	+1.6
164	Zach McGowan	Buffalo	2	14	61.9	79%	+0.1
165	Jack Stevens	Washington State	2	8	61.4	38%	+1.0
166	Grady Dangerfield	Tennessee	2	6	64.0	67%	+1.8
167	Leo Liptak	Coastal Carolina	2	6	61.0	67%	+0.7
168	Zac Chapeau	Central Michigan	2	6	61.2	67%	−1.6
169	Cadel Ayala	Colorado	2	4	62.8	0%	−1.1
170	Carston Kieffer	Arizona State	2	3	64.0	33%	+1.2
171	Henry Helms	Northwestern	2	3	56.0	33%	−1.0
172	Jonah Delange	UAB	2	3	65.0	33%	+0.6
173	Bryce McFerson	Maryland	2	2	60.0	0%	−1.1
174	Bryson Hosea	Army	2	2	51.0	0%	−0.1
175	Cooper Peterson	Ohio State	2	2	60.5	0%	+0.9
176	Dominic De Freitas	North Texas	2	2	43.5	0%	−5.0
177	Jake Hulstein	Army	2	2	63.5	0%	+0.5
178	Tony Sterner	Louisiana	2	2	59.5	0%	0.0
179	Adam Zouagui	Kentucky	1	40	64.7	80%	+2.6
180	Cooper Helmke	Tulane	1	26	63.3	69%	+1.3
181	Brody Laga	BYU	1	23	65.0	96%	−0.3
182	Nick Reed	SMU	1	19	65.3	95%	−1.2
183	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	1	18	64.9	89%	+1.2
184	Landon Rehkow	Utah State	1	18	64.1	83%	+0.4
185	Brendan Baird	SMU	1	17	64.7	94%	+0.9
186	Justin Dewers	Vanderbilt	1	16	64.8	88%	+1.4
187	Erik Schmidt	Notre Dame	1	15	62.5	40%	−0.2
188	Cristiano Rosa	Penn State	1	14	64.4	71%	+1.1
189	D.Lovelace	NC State	1	11	57.9	9%	+0.6
190	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	1	9	62.6	56%	−3.6
191	Hunter Green	Washington	1	9	65.0	89%	+1.5
192	Rocco Graziano	Oregon	1	8	63.5	63%	+0.9
193	Sam Carpenter	Sam Houston	1	7	63.0	43%	−0.6
194	Braeden McAlister	Arkansas	1	6	64.2	83%	+0.5
195	Brandon Rabasco	Florida	1	4	63.0	75%	−0.1
196	Carter Genchi	Pittsburgh	1	4	61.5	0%	0.0
197	Matthew Parker	Penn State	1	3	63.0	0%	−0.1
198	Noah McGough	UCF	1	3	65.0	67%	+0.4
199	Asher Murray	Texas A&M	1	2	63.5	50%	−1.7
200	Conor Talty	Alabama	1	2	44.5	50%	+0.2
201	Daniel Gerlach	Colorado	1	2	65.0	50%	+0.4
202	Manaki Watanabe	Fresno State	1	2	65.0	50%	+0.7
203	Noah Perez	East Carolina	1	2	40.5	0%	+0.5
204	Yousef Obeid	Missouri State	1	2	59.5	50%	−1.9
205	Blake Craig	Missouri	1	1	65.0	0%	−1.8
206	Chase Meyer	California	1	1	58.0	0%	−0.9
207	Cooper Heimbach	Marshall	1	1	64.0	0%	−3.4
208	Dane Pizzaro	Rutgers	1	1	54.0	0%	−1.3
209	David Barker	New Mexico State	1	1	56.0	0%	0.0
210	Dusty Zimmer	Southern Miss	1	1	66.0	0%	−0.9
211	Gaston Gramatica	South Florida	1	1	62.0	0%	+0.5
212	Nate McCashland	TCU	1	1	16.0	0%	−0.6
213	Nathan Dinwiddie	Liberty	1	1	61.0	0%	+0.8

All 2026 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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