2026 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 2026, Carter Cremascoli (97%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Brody Laga (96%) and Nick Reed (95%). 146 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 15 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 64%. 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	TB%	Kickoffs	Avg dist	Returns	Points
1	Carter Cremascoli	Air Force	97%	37	64.9	0	+2.7
2	Brody Laga	BYU	96%	23	65.0	1	−0.3
3	Nick Reed	SMU	95%	19	65.3	1	−1.2
4	Brendan Baird	SMU	94%	17	64.7	1	+0.9
5	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	94%	31	65.0	2	+1.2
6	James London	App State	90%	41	64.9	3	−0.6
7	John Hoyet Chance	TCU	90%	29	65.3	2	−0.9
8	Zechariah Duke	Kennesaw State	89%	19	64.9	2	+1.6
9	Connor Gibbs	Auburn	89%	28	63.9	2	+1.5
10	Paddy McAteer	Indiana	89%	37	64.9	3	+3.1
11	Stone Harrington	Texas Tech	89%	27	64.9	3	+3.4
12	Brock Taylor	Vanderbilt	89%	18	64.9	1	+1.2
13	Kyle Konrardy	Iowa State	89%	35	64.9	4	0.0
14	Max Gilbert	Arkansas	88%	25	65.2	3	+1.6
15	Justin Dewers	Vanderbilt	88%	16	64.8	1	+1.4
16	Lorcan Quinn	Alabama	87%	47	64.8	5	+5.1
17	Jake Weinberg	Miami	87%	38	64.5	4	+0.1
18	David Olano	Texas A&M	87%	30	64.8	3	−1.6
19	Nick Keller	Louisville	85%	48	64.4	6	+5.3
20	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	85%	20	64.3	3	+1.8
21	Scott Starzyk	LSU	85%	46	64.8	6	+1.8
22	Josh Turbyville	Tennessee	85%	39	64.7	5	+0.4
23	Ian Kelly	Charlotte	84%	19	63.8	3	+0.9
24	Tate Sandell	Oklahoma	84%	25	64.2	3	+0.7
25	Tarik Ahmetbasic	Memphis	84%	43	64.1	5	+1.8
26	Patrick Durkin	Florida	84%	49	63.7	8	+2.3
27	Andrew Conrad	East Carolina	83%	24	64.5	3	+1.7
28	Landon Rehkow	Utah State	83%	18	64.1	1	+0.4
29	Conor McAneney	Florida State	83%	41	64.8	7	+0.5
30	Enock Gota	Rice	82%	17	64.2	3	+1.9
31	Brunno Reus	Missouri	82%	39	64.8	6	−3.4
32	Collin Rogers	Florida Atlantic	81%	37	64.3	6	+0.6
33	Cosme Salas	Duke	81%	21	63.8	4	−3.4
34	Cole Byrd	Virginia Tech	80%	46	64.3	4	+4.7
35	Derek Morris	Massachusetts	80%	45	64.4	8	+0.1
36	Adam Zouagui	Kentucky	80%	40	64.7	1	+2.6
37	Marcello Diomede	Ohio State	79%	48	63.1	5	+1.0
38	Will Stone	UCF	79%	33	62.8	7	+0.2
39	Beckham Sunderland	Minnesota	78%	36	64.5	8	+3.4
40	Oliver Hautanen	Buffalo	78%	18	59.1	3	+0.2
41	Dillon Curtis	Utah	78%	40	64.1	6	+3.9
42	Owen Simpson	UAB	77%	35	64.0	4	+0.7
43	Ian French	Arizona	77%	39	62.4	4	−0.5
44	Hunter Rioux	Louisiana Tech	76%	34	62.6	3	−1.5
45	Jack Cassidy	West Virginia	76%	46	62.5	5	+1.4
46	Drew Klein	North Dakota State	76%	37	63.4	6	+0.4
47	Nathan Dibert	Eastern Michigan	76%	37	64.2	8	+5.0
48	Mateen Bhaghani	UCLA	75%	40	63.3	6	−0.2
49	Ethan Moczulski	Illinois	75%	32	63.5	7	+2.2
50	Erik Sandvik	Wyoming	75%	24	64.5	4	+2.0
51	Antonio Chadha	Pittsburgh	75%	16	64.9	3	−2.6
52	Liam Boyd	Michigan State	74%	31	64.0	7	+3.0
53	Andrew Nelms	Old Dominion	74%	27	63.8	7	−1.2
54	Michael James	Texas State	74%	38	63.0	7	+1.0
55	Peyton Woodring	Georgia	73%	49	64.2	6	+2.7
56	Joseph Kim	Oklahoma State	73%	45	63.4	5	−1.4
57	Jordan Westrich	Akron	73%	15	64.7	3	+0.9
58	Carlos Arreola	UTEP	73%	22	64.3	6	+1.4
59	Elijah Slibeck	Virginia	72%	43	64.2	11	+4.3
60	Mike Baker	UConn	71%	42	63.5	7	+0.2
61	Abram Murray	UL Monroe	71%	24	63.5	6	+2.6
62	Blake Ford	Georgia Southern	71%	34	63.8	10	+1.1
63	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	70%	33	61.6	5	+3.6
64	Cooper Helmke	Tulane	69%	26	63.3	1	+1.3
65	Caleb Carlson	Wake Forest	69%	48	62.9	11	+0.9
66	Carson Smith	Arizona State	69%	32	63.7	6	+3.3
67	Ryan Short	Northern Illinois	68%	19	63.6	4	+0.1
68	Grant Glasgow	New Mexico	68%	22	64.2	4	+3.5
69	Elliot Arnold	Colorado	67%	18	64.8	6	+0.1
70	Robert Hammond III	Kansas State	66%	29	63.5	8	+2.1
71	Jacob Baggett	Michigan	65%	26	63.6	7	−1.4
72	Cooper DiLeva	San Diego State	65%	31	63.2	9	+2.8
73	Robert Gunn III	Clemson	65%	31	64.4	8	+0.6
74	Micah Drescher	Notre Dame	64%	39	63.4	13	−2.6
75	Jadyn Oh	Oregon State	64%	55	62.6	16	−6.4
76	Zac Yoakam	Houston	63%	49	63.0	15	+4.9
77	Garrison Rippa	Jacksonville State	63%	38	63.1	12	+0.6
78	Max Kelley	South Carolina	62%	34	63.2	9	+2.2
79	Kellan McLaughlin	Miami (OH)	62%	39	63.9	13	−3.2
80	Baylen Woodman	James Madison	61%	49	62.7	11	+1.2
81	Ryon Sayeri	USC	61%	46	63.3	8	−1.9
82	Tripp Woody	Syracuse	61%	23	61.3	7	−3.5
83	Will Hryszko	Ohio	60%	40	63.8	8	+3.9
84	Lucas Carneiro	Ole Miss	60%	25	62.4	8	−6.3
85	Peter McStravick	Ole Miss	60%	15	64.4	4	0.0
86	Colton Boomer	Boise State	60%	42	61.1	12	−3.9
87	Dane Efird	Kansas	59%	37	62.3	8	−4.4
88	Gianni Spetic	Texas	59%	37	62.7	12	−1.8
89	Aeron Burrell	North Carolina	59%	27	63.7	10	+3.4
90	Mathias Brown	San José State	58%	33	63.8	11	−0.5
91	Riley Sullivan	Baylor	57%	37	63.8	8	+1.0
92	Lucas Tenbrock	Penn State	57%	23	62.0	8	−0.9
93	Emmet Kenney	Stanford	56%	34	63.2	14	+2.7
94	Michael Taylor II	North Texas	56%	43	61.9	15	−4.3
95	Carl Hardin	Temple	56%	36	62.5	11	−2.0
96	Joe McFadden	Nevada	56%	27	62.9	9	+4.0
97	Ryan Kobzeff	Fresno State	54%	37	63.1	10	+3.8
98	Clayton Amaya	Arkansas State	54%	39	60.4	12	−1.6
99	Tyler Black	Liberty	53%	32	61.3	12	−1.1
100	Gage Hurych	Oregon	53%	34	61.4	8	+1.4
101	Stephen Rusnak	Cincinnati	53%	38	61.8	12	−3.8
102	Hunter McKee	Washington	53%	19	61.9	4	−1.0
103	Seth Turner	Purdue	51%	43	62.5	15	+4.8
104	Brody Boehm	Ball State	50%	28	62.4	11	−1.4
105	Eli Ozick	Iowa	49%	37	61.9	10	+0.4
106	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	47%	19	56.9	9	+1.6
107	Samuel Guiden Krebs	Marshall	46%	24	62.0	12	−7.2
108	Braydon Doane	UTSA	45%	44	60.3	13	+0.8
109	Reice Griffith	Toledo	45%	44	61.1	19	−5.2
110	Gavin Lahm	Wisconsin	45%	33	63.1	12	+3.6
111	Zak Zeman	Western Michigan	45%	22	60.3	6	+3.6
112	Andy Quinn	Boston College	45%	20	63.0	8	+2.4
113	Oisin Flynn	Mississippi State	45%	29	63.5	8	−0.5
114	Sam Hunsaker	Pittsburgh	44%	25	63.6	11	−1.2
115	Brayden Baker	UNLV	44%	32	63.0	14	−3.4
116	Cavan Craig	Colorado State	43%	35	63.0	16	−7.7
117	Karl Campbell	Western Kentucky	42%	26	59.4	10	−0.3
118	John Hohl	Nebraska	42%	45	59.8	13	−0.8
119	Noah Sur	Northwestern	42%	38	61.7	18	+0.2
120	Kanoah Vinesett	NC State	41%	29	59.6	14	+1.3
121	Lawson Thorn	South Florida	41%	17	63.4	6	+3.6
122	Wyatt Joyce	Middle Tennessee	41%	17	60.8	8	+0.5
123	Marlon Hauck	Tulsa	41%	44	61.6	16	+3.0
124	Towns McGough	California	40%	30	60.3	13	−11.4
125	Erik Schmidt	Notre Dame	40%	15	62.5	1	−0.2
126	Robert Czeremcha	Florida International	39%	33	61.3	14	+1.5
127	Balint Vorosmarty	Georgia State	38%	39	63.2	20	−3.9
128	Dominic Bourgeois	Middle Tennessee	38%	16	60.6	7	+0.1
129	Ethan Head	Troy	35%	31	61.8	13	+5.0
130	Sean Olvera-Harle	Hawai'i	35%	31	60.5	15	+0.4
131	Eli Fulcher	Maryland	35%	17	59.6	10	−1.5
132	Tucker Smack	Delaware	35%	26	60.6	15	+1.5
133	Daniel Leahy	Maryland	33%	21	61.4	9	−2.5
134	Miguel Arenas	Washington State	33%	21	61.6	7	+1.1
135	Gavin Strange	Duke	32%	19	62.3	7	+1.7
136	Lance Gossett	Navy	30%	30	62.0	10	+2.4
137	Kyah Francone	New Mexico State	27%	22	62.5	16	+2.7
138	Daniel Porto	Coastal Carolina	26%	27	59.9	17	+1.0
139	Reed Harradine	Southern Miss	26%	27	60.6	15	+0.3
140	Dawson Jones	Army	26%	39	58.4	24	−9.5
141	Logan Klotz	Louisiana	25%	40	60.3	22	−1.1
142	Sean Leonard	Kent State	24%	21	59.0	9	−1.4
143	Peyton Argent	South Alabama	20%	15	61.2	8	−0.2
144	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	19%	31	61.7	17	−9.6
145	Dylan Freebury	South Alabama	17%	18	60.1	8	−2.2
146	Grant Meadors	Sacramento State	7%	15	50.9	8	−2.9

All 2026 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

More 2026 College kickoff specialist leaderboards

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