2026 College Onside Kicks Attempted Leaders

Onside kicks are short kickoffs meant to be recovered by the kicking team. Teams try them when behind late.

Only specialists with at least one appear. In 2026, Carson Smith (3) led college football kickoff specialists in onside kicks attempted, ahead of Daniel Porto (3) and Braydon Doane (2). 59 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	Onside	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Carson Smith	Arizona State	3	32	63.7	69%	6	+3.3
2	Daniel Porto	Coastal Carolina	3	27	59.9	26%	17	+1.0
3	Braydon Doane	UTSA	2	44	60.3	45%	13	+0.8
4	Caden VanHuis	Central Michigan	2	10	56.7	30%	5	−2.7
5	Cooper Heimbach	Marshall	2	1	64.0	0%	1	−3.4
6	Towns McGough	California	2	30	60.3	40%	13	−11.4
7	Andy Quinn	Boston College	2	20	63.0	45%	8	+2.4
8	Carlos Arreola	UTEP	2	22	64.3	73%	6	+1.4
9	Carter Cremascoli	Air Force	2	37	64.9	97%	0	+2.7
10	Cavan Craig	Colorado State	2	35	63.0	43%	16	−7.7
11	Collin Rogers	Florida Atlantic	2	37	64.3	81%	6	+0.6
12	Cooper DiLeva	San Diego State	2	31	63.2	65%	9	+2.8
13	Hunter Rioux	Louisiana Tech	2	34	62.6	76%	3	−1.5
14	Ian Kelly	Charlotte	2	19	63.8	84%	3	+0.9
15	Malik Orsan	South Carolina	2	5	64.2	60%	0	+0.2
16	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	2	31	61.7	19%	17	−9.6
17	Aidan Stire	Akron	1	12	63.1	33%	6	+0.4
18	Blake Ford	Georgia Southern	1	34	63.8	71%	10	+1.1
19	Cosme Salas	Duke	1	21	63.8	81%	4	−3.4
20	Grant Meadors	Sacramento State	1	15	50.9	7%	8	−2.9
21	James London	App State	1	41	64.9	90%	3	−0.6
22	Morgan Suarez	James Madison	1	11	64.5	64%	4	+2.0
23	Reice Griffith	Toledo	1	44	61.1	45%	19	−5.2
24	Ryan Kobzeff	Fresno State	1	37	63.1	54%	10	+3.8
25	Saul Marks	Sacramento State	1	9	62.8	44%	3	+0.6
26	Abram Murray	UL Monroe	1	24	63.5	71%	6	+2.6
27	Aeron Burrell	North Carolina	1	27	63.7	59%	10	+3.4
28	Aidan Birr	Georgia Tech	1	31	65.0	94%	2	+1.2
29	Carl Hardin	Temple	1	36	62.5	56%	11	−2.0
30	Charles Steinkamp	New Mexico	1	20	64.3	85%	3	+1.8
31	Cooper Helmke	Tulane	1	26	63.3	69%	1	+1.3
32	David Olano	Texas A&M	1	30	64.8	87%	3	−1.6
33	Derek Morris	Massachusetts	1	45	64.4	80%	8	+0.1
34	Dominic Bourgeois	Middle Tennessee	1	16	60.6	38%	7	+0.1
35	Elliot Arnold	Colorado	1	18	64.8	67%	6	+0.1
36	Enock Gota	Rice	1	17	64.2	82%	3	+1.9
37	Ethan Moczulski	Illinois	1	32	63.5	75%	7	+2.2
38	Henry Helms	Northwestern	1	3	56.0	33%	2	−1.0
39	Hunter Green	Washington	1	9	65.0	89%	1	+1.5
40	Jack Scullion	Rutgers	1	33	61.6	70%	5	+3.6
41	Kanoah Vinesett	NC State	1	29	59.6	41%	14	+1.3
42	Lucas Osada	Illinois	1	1	63.0	0%	0	0.0
43	Manaki Watanabe	Fresno State	1	2	65.0	50%	1	+0.7
44	Marlon Hauck	Tulsa	1	44	61.6	41%	16	+3.0
45	Mathias Brown	San José State	1	33	63.8	58%	11	−0.5
46	Miguel Arenas	Washington State	1	21	61.6	33%	7	+1.1
47	Nate McCashland	TCU	1	1	16.0	0%	1	−0.6
48	Nico Gramatica	South Florida	1	19	56.9	47%	9	+1.6
49	Nico Ottomanelli	Sam Houston	1	9	63.0	33%	6	−0.7
50	Robert Hammond III	Kansas State	1	29	63.5	66%	8	+2.1
51	Ryan Short	Northern Illinois	1	19	63.6	68%	4	+0.1
52	Ryon Sayeri	USC	1	46	63.3	61%	8	−1.9
53	Scott Starzyk	LSU	1	46	64.8	85%	6	+1.8
54	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	1	6	63.2	67%	0	−0.6
55	Tripp Woody	Syracuse	1	23	61.3	61%	7	−3.5
56	Will Hryszko	Ohio	1	40	63.8	60%	8	+3.9
57	Wyatt Joyce	Middle Tennessee	1	17	60.8	41%	8	+0.5
58	Zac Yoakam	Houston	1	49	63.0	63%	15	+4.9
59	Zak Zeman	Western Michigan	1	22	60.3	45%	6	+3.6

All 2026 College kickoff specialist rankings

Onside Kicks Attempted in other seasons: 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

More 2026 College kickoff specialist leaderboards

Other 2026 College rankings

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