2014 College Fair Catch Percentage Leaders

The share of a punter's punts that the returner fair caught instead of running back. Public play-by-play does not record hang time, so the fair-catch rate is the best available stand-in: a punt that hangs long enough for the coverage team to arrive leaves the returner no choice but to wave for a fair catch.

Higher usually means better hang time, though a returner who is no threat also calls for more fair catches. College punts whose play text does not say how they ended are left out of the count. In 2014, Matt Mengel (52.7%) led college football punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Kristian Stern (49.4%) and Ryan Nowicki (47.1%). 125 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 29.1%.

Final 2014 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Matt Mengel	UCLA	52.7%	55	39.7	38.1	20	36%	5%	−0.3
2	Kristian Stern	UTSA	49.4%	83	41.2	39.7	33	40%	1%	+11.9
3	Ryan Nowicki	Georgia Southern	47.1%	35	40.1	37.8	17	50%	6%	−0.4
4	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	46.3%	40	40.5	37.4	13	32%	10%	−0.8
5	Sean Wale	Boise State	44.8%	58	41.0	36.9	21	36%	7%	−6.0
6	Bradley Pinion	Clemson	44.1%	70	42.5	39.8	28	41%	3%	+8.7
7	Alex Tardieu	Army	43.9%	44	39.3	38.7	19	43%	2%	+8.3
8	Jaron Bentrude	Utah State	43.4%	78	40.9	38.5	33	42%	6%	+11.1
9	Cason Beatty	Florida State	43.2%	44	41.6	38.7	15	34%	5%	+5.4
10	Kris Albarado	USC	43.1%	53	41.6	36.7	19	37%	8%	−3.1
11	Erich Toth	Indiana	42.9%	77	40.7	36.3	21	29%	8%	−8.3
12	Sam Irwin-HIll	Arkansas	42.6%	54	40.1	39.2	29	54%	4%	+14.3
13	Taylor Symmank	Texas Tech	42.3%	54	42.6	39.8	18	34%	9%	+8.7
14	Kaleb Smith	Oklahoma State	42.1%	76	42.1	39.8	24	32%	7%	+11.0
15	Logan Piper	Houston	42.1%	39	39.3	36.2	11	29%	11%	−1.4
16	Riley Dixon	Syracuse	41.7%	75	42.4	37.4	27	36%	4%	−3.9
17	Ethan Perry	TCU	41.4%	60	39.0	37.4	27	46%	8%	+5.2
18	Kyle Brindza	Notre Dame	41.3%	47	41.6	37.8	17	36%	15%	+1.0
19	Spencer Smith	Memphis	40.4%	53	40.2	39.3	20	38%	2%	+9.3
20	Nick O'Toole	West Virginia	40.0%	52	42.5	38.2	23	45%	4%	−1.7
21	Spencer Roth	Baylor	40.0%	46	43.3	41.2	20	43%	4%	+4.6
22	Tommy Hibbard	North Carolina	39.7%	64	41.1	39.4	29	45%	5%	+2.6
23	Luke Ferguson	Arkansas State	38.8%	52	41.5	39.3	22	42%	8%	+0.9
24	Christian Brinser	Missouri	38.6%	71	41.2	38.5	24	34%	1%	+3.5
25	Justin Wain	UConn	38.5%	74	38.8	36.2	23	34%	6%	−10.3
26	Garrett Swanson	Fresno State	38.4%	76	40.5	37.0	26	35%	4%	−5.0
27	Dillon Kidd	Iowa	37.5%	42	39.1	34.3	14	33%	2%	−15.2
28	Jamie Keehn	LSU	37.3%	68	45.0	41.2	25	37%	4%	+7.6
29	Will Johnson	Texas State	37.1%	65	43.8	41.3	24	37%	6%	+14.4
30	Justin Vogel	Miami	36.7%	49	43.7	41.2	22	45%	2%	+11.0
31	Nick Ellis	Toledo	36.6%	48	36.6	37.0	17	40%	0%	−5.5
32	Matt Darr	Tennessee	36.5%	76	42.5	38.8	27	36%	13%	+9.4
33	Alex Starzyk	Temple	36.4%	70	38.4	36.5	18	27%	6%	−3.4
34	Colin Downing	Iowa State	36.1%	69	39.4	38.4	19	28%	0%	−1.6
35	Drew Kaser	Texas A&M	35.7%	56	44.5	40.9	23	41%	9%	+12.5
36	Tyler Grassman	Buffalo	34.8%	50	40.7	38.4	18	36%	8%	+3.5
37	Collin Barber	Georgia	34.4%	32	39.2	37.5	13	41%	3%	−2.5
38	Ryan Winslow	Pittsburgh	34.1%	48	39.9	37.0	18	44%	10%	+2.4
39	Sam Foltz	Nebraska	33.9%	56	41.9	38.2	25	45%	7%	+4.8
40	Tyler Wedel	Northern Illinois	33.9%	59	41.7	41.0	26	44%	0%	+11.5
41	JK Scott	Alabama	33.3%	48	47.0	43.3	26	54%	10%	+18.0
42	Keith Kostol	Oregon State	32.8%	69	39.6	37.1	31	45%	1%	−2.4
43	Will Monday	Duke	32.7%	56	43.4	40.0	21	39%	13%	+11.3
44	Landon Foster	Kentucky	32.3%	66	42.6	39.2	28	44%	6%	+4.7
45	Logan Yunker	UNLV	32.1%	82	40.5	38.5	35	43%	5%	+1.7
46	Joel Alesi	San Diego State	32.1%	55	36.3	34.4	22	40%	2%	−5.2
47	Devon Bell	Mississippi State	31.9%	49	43.0	39.4	17	36%	11%	+2.6
48	Jed Barnett	Oklahoma	31.6%	57	40.6	35.8	14	25%	9%	−9.9
49	Tyler Hull	South Carolina	31.6%	38	41.2	37.1	15	39%	8%	+0.6
50	Ryan Johnson	Louisville	31.0%	60	40.5	35.4	16	27%	7%	−14.5
51	Brian McDonald	Massachusetts	30.9%	57	37.7	34.5	12	21%	11%	−15.8
52	Cameron Johnston	Ohio State	30.8%	39	45.1	41.3	23	59%	13%	+7.8
53	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	30.6%	44	47.8	42.9	15	42%	6%	+9.8
54	Scott Arellano	BYU	30.5%	60	44.8	40.8	29	49%	3%	+11.5
55	Thomas Meadows	Purdue	30.4%	58	39.8	36.2	14	24%	3%	−7.2
56	Wil Baumann	NC State	30.4%	56	45.3	40.2	25	45%	5%	+12.9
57	Dalton Parks	Tulsa	30.3%	70	42.0	38.8	21	30%	7%	−2.9
58	Tyler Sarrazin	Southern Miss	29.8%	66	39.5	37.2	18	31%	5%	−8.7
59	Joe Davidson	Bowling Green	29.7%	75	42.0	38.7	25	33%	4%	+8.1
60	William Russ	Texas	29.7%	66	42.3	38.2	22	33%	5%	−1.3
61	Peter Picerelli	Tulane	29.4%	71	37.8	35.7	20	28%	6%	−13.5
62	Drew Meyer	Wisconsin	29.4%	51	38.1	34.2	17	33%	6%	−10.0
63	Christian Koch	Miami (OH)	29.1%	57	40.4	37.1	14	25%	9%	−5.1
64	Caleb Houston	UCF	28.9%	48	38.5	35.3	19	41%	7%	−0.6
65	Nathan Renfro	Maryland	28.8%	78	41.1	36.1	21	28%	11%	−4.6
66	Hunter Mullins	UAB	28.6%	59	44.1	39.2	24	45%	4%	+1.1
67	Eric Keena	North Texas	28.6%	43	44.8	39.4	9	21%	2%	−0.2
68	Tom Hackett	Utah	28.0%	77	47.0	42.8	37	49%	13%	+23.6
69	Sam Geraci	Cincinnati	27.9%	46	39.0	35.9	13	30%	9%	−5.2
70	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	27.5%	52	42.1	39.9	18	35%	8%	+3.6
71	Mike Sadler	Michigan State	27.1%	49	41.3	35.6	14	29%	10%	−8.0
72	Ethan Wood	Wyoming	27.0%	66	41.4	37.3	19	30%	8%	+1.9
73	Joseph Occhipinti	Western Kentucky	26.8%	46	37.7	34.6	11	24%	7%	−11.6
74	Daniel Pasquariello	Penn State	26.8%	41	37.7	35.7	14	34%	5%	−7.8
75	Daniel Cadona	Louisiana	26.4%	55	43.3	38.1	26	46%	11%	+5.6
76	Cole Leininger	California	25.5%	52	39.8	36.4	20	38%	10%	−9.9
77	Kyle Christy	Florida	25.5%	56	44.4	39.2	23	41%	13%	+9.5
78	Ryan Kay	Troy	25.0%	62	40.0	36.1	23	37%	3%	−8.5
79	Will Gleeson	Ole Miss	24.4%	50	42.9	40.8	23	50%	4%	+9.9
80	Worth Gregory	East Carolina	24.4%	43	43.5	37.7	15	36%	12%	+3.2
81	Peter Mortell	Minnesota	24.2%	62	45.5	39.9	25	40%	18%	+10.5
82	Alexander Kinal	Wake Forest	24.0%	81	43.6	42.7	28	35%	0%	+21.8
83	Anthony Melchiori	Kent State	23.8%	67	44.3	40.5	29	43%	4%	+11.4
84	Ian Wheeler	Oregon	23.7%	39	39.1	36.5	11	29%	8%	−6.8
85	Dalton Schomp	Florida Atlantic	23.5%	46	45.2	40.9	5	14%	3%	+9.9
86	Ron Coluzzi	Central Michigan	23.4%	48	39.1	35.0	19	40%	10%	−3.8
87	Zachary Lopez	Middle Tennessee	23.3%	34	39.1	36.8	6	18%	6%	−2.8
88	Justin DuVernois	Illinois	22.9%	72	44.4	40.4	21	30%	8%	+10.1
89	A.J. Hughes	Virginia Tech	22.7%	78	40.0	37.9	23	29%	5%	+3.3
90	Jordan Dascalo	Washington State	22.4%	49	41.6	32.9	15	31%	10%	−11.7
91	Mattias Ciabatti	South Florida	22.2%	65	44.4	40.3	27	42%	5%	+9.1
92	Alec Vozenilek	Virginia	22.0%	58	42.5	35.5	15	25%	13%	−8.8
93	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	21.6%	37	41.6	37.5	12	32%	3%	−2.4
94	Alex Howell	Boston College	21.1%	59	42.9	38.7	23	40%	7%	+6.1
95	Zach Paul	Akron	20.6%	66	42.5	36.4	26	39%	21%	−5.1
96	Darragh O'Neill	Colorado	20.6%	65	44.2	39.4	31	48%	5%	+0.9
97	Stephen Witkowski	New Mexico State	20.6%	34	40.8	34.3	9	26%	9%	−8.6
98	Bentlee Critcher	App State	20.0%	41	40.7	33.6	12	29%	5%	−12.8
99	Tyler Williams	Marshall	20.0%	39	44.8	39.8	12	32%	11%	+4.7
100	Trevor Pardula	Kansas	19.8%	83	44.3	39.3	28	34%	12%	+4.8
101	Korey Durkee	Washington	19.6%	60	41.9	39.3	16	31%	10%	+2.1
102	Justin Manton	UL Monroe	19.4%	76	42.4	37.5	24	32%	11%	+2.2
103	Brandon McKee	South Alabama	19.3%	66	41.7	37.1	24	39%	12%	+1.1
104	Ben Rhyne	Stanford	18.9%	54	39.9	35.7	17	32%	9%	+0.6
105	Chris Gradone	Northwestern	18.8%	65	37.9	33.6	20	30%	8%	−19.9
106	Pablo Beltran	Navy	18.8%	34	44.3	39.2	15	44%	15%	+4.6
107	Tim Gleeson	Rutgers	18.8%	32	40.3	35.9	11	34%	6%	−1.8
108	Scott Harding	Hawai'i	17.6%	86	41.3	40.0	31	42%	3%	+9.5
109	Logan McPherson	Louisiana Tech	17.3%	57	37.1	32.5	16	30%	4%	−19.3
110	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	17.1%	43	37.1	30.7	8	20%	3%	−22.8
111	Mitch Bonnstetter	Ohio	16.9%	63	41.8	38.8	24	38%	5%	+3.9
112	Jay Mattox	UTEP	16.1%	34	41.7	35.5	9	26%	12%	−7.0
113	Will Conant	Air Force	16.0%	56	43.8	39.1	23	41%	16%	+6.6
114	Colby Cooke	Vanderbilt	15.6%	66	42.4	39.0	24	37%	11%	+7.5
115	Jackson Koonce	SMU	15.5%	74	40.8	36.7	13	18%	4%	−8.3
116	Matt Haack	Arizona State	14.0%	52	43.3	38.9	18	36%	8%	+1.3
117	Owen Dubiel	Eastern Michigan	13.8%	58	40.0	38.7	20	34%	5%	−0.9
118	Zack Rogers	New Mexico	12.7%	56	42.6	37.8	21	37%	11%	+1.4
119	James Farrimond	Rice	11.7%	60	42.1	35.9	16	27%	12%	−2.1
120	Hayden Hunt	Colorado State	10.3%	44	43.8	38.7	11	26%	7%	+5.7
121	Drew Riggleman	Arizona	10.1%	69	46.4	38.8	24	35%	13%	+4.6
122	Alex Boy	Nevada	10.0%	54	44.5	38.4	14	27%	10%	−0.3
123	Will Hagerup	Michigan	9.8%	53	42.9	34.5	17	33%	18%	−7.0
124	J. Schroeder	Western Michigan	9.8%	51	43.1	40.3	18	40%	2%	+4.7
125	Jose Laphitzondo	Florida International	7.0%	59	40.7	36.1	10	17%	7%	−12.9

All 2014 College punter rankings

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