2014 College Punts Returned Leaders

Punts the receiving team fielded and ran back, including muffs. Fewer returns mean the punter and coverage team gave the returner less to work with.

Compare with return yards allowed. In 2014, Jackson Koonce (30) led college football punters in punts returned, ahead of Trevor Pardula (28) and Justin Manton (28). 171 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Returns	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Jackson Koonce	SMU	30	74	40.8	36.7	13	18%	4%	15%	−8.3
2	Trevor Pardula	Kansas	28	83	44.3	39.3	28	34%	12%	20%	+4.8
3	Justin Manton	UL Monroe	28	76	42.4	37.5	24	32%	11%	19%	+2.2
4	Drew Riggleman	Arizona	27	69	46.4	38.8	24	35%	13%	10%	+4.6
5	Mattias Ciabatti	South Florida	27	65	44.4	40.3	27	42%	5%	22%	+9.1
6	James Farrimond	Rice	27	60	42.1	35.9	16	27%	12%	12%	−2.1
7	Joe Davidson	Bowling Green	26	75	42.0	38.7	25	33%	4%	30%	+8.1
8	Bradley Pinion	Clemson	26	70	42.5	39.8	28	41%	3%	44%	+8.7
9	William Russ	Texas	26	66	42.3	38.2	22	33%	5%	30%	−1.3
10	Ryan Johnson	Louisville	26	60	40.5	35.4	16	27%	7%	31%	−14.5
11	Wil Baumann	NC State	26	56	45.3	40.2	25	45%	5%	30%	+12.9
12	A.J. Hughes	Virginia Tech	25	78	40.0	37.9	23	29%	5%	23%	+3.3
13	Nathan Renfro	Maryland	24	78	41.1	36.1	21	28%	11%	29%	−4.6
14	Chris Gradone	Northwestern	24	65	37.9	33.6	20	30%	8%	19%	−19.9
15	Alec Vozenilek	Virginia	24	58	42.5	35.5	15	25%	13%	22%	−8.8
16	Alex Howell	Boston College	24	59	42.9	38.7	23	40%	7%	21%	+6.1
17	Jose Laphitzondo	Florida International	24	59	40.7	36.1	10	17%	7%	7%	−12.9
18	Kaleb Smith	Oklahoma State	23	76	42.1	39.8	24	32%	7%	42%	+11.0
19	Kristian Stern	UTSA	22	83	41.2	39.7	33	40%	1%	49%	+11.9
20	Zack Rogers	New Mexico	22	56	42.6	37.8	21	37%	11%	13%	+1.4
21	Alex Boy	Nevada	22	54	44.5	38.4	14	27%	10%	10%	−0.3
22	Riley Dixon	Syracuse	21	75	42.4	37.4	27	36%	4%	42%	−3.9
23	Peter Picerelli	Tulane	21	71	37.8	35.7	20	28%	6%	29%	−13.5
24	Keith Kostol	Oregon State	21	69	39.6	37.1	31	45%	1%	33%	−2.4
25	Darragh O'Neill	Colorado	21	65	44.2	39.4	31	48%	5%	21%	+0.9
26	Mitch Bonnstetter	Ohio	21	63	41.8	38.8	24	38%	5%	17%	+3.9
27	Hayden Hunt	Colorado State	21	44	43.8	38.7	11	26%	7%	10%	+5.7
28	Garrett Swanson	Fresno State	20	76	40.5	37.0	26	35%	4%	38%	−5.0
29	Matt Darr	Tennessee	20	76	42.5	38.8	27	36%	13%	36%	+9.4
30	Justin DuVernois	Illinois	20	72	44.4	40.4	21	30%	8%	23%	+10.1
31	Justin Wain	UConn	20	74	38.8	36.2	23	34%	6%	38%	−10.3
32	Colby Cooke	Vanderbilt	20	66	42.4	39.0	24	37%	11%	16%	+7.5
33	Ben Rhyne	Stanford	20	54	39.9	35.7	17	32%	9%	19%	+0.6
34	Will Hagerup	Michigan	20	53	42.9	34.5	17	33%	18%	10%	−7.0
35	Eric Keena	North Texas	20	43	44.8	39.4	9	21%	2%	29%	−0.2
36	Logan Yunker	UNLV	19	82	40.5	38.5	35	43%	5%	32%	+1.7
37	Christian Brinser	Missouri	19	71	41.2	38.5	24	34%	1%	39%	+3.5
38	Dalton Parks	Tulsa	19	70	42.0	38.8	21	30%	7%	30%	−2.9
39	Anthony Melchiori	Kent State	19	67	44.3	40.5	29	43%	4%	24%	+11.4
40	Peter Mortell	Minnesota	19	62	45.5	39.9	25	40%	18%	24%	+10.5
41	Christian Koch	Miami (OH)	19	57	40.4	37.1	14	25%	9%	29%	−5.1
42	Kyle Christy	Florida	19	56	44.4	39.2	23	41%	13%	25%	+9.5
43	Jordan Dascalo	Washington State	19	49	41.6	32.9	15	31%	10%	22%	−11.7
44	Tom Hackett	Utah	18	77	47.0	42.8	37	49%	13%	28%	+23.6
45	Jamie Keehn	LSU	18	68	45.0	41.2	25	37%	4%	37%	+7.6
46	Will Johnson	Texas State	18	65	43.8	41.3	24	37%	6%	37%	+14.4
47	Landon Foster	Kentucky	18	66	42.6	39.2	28	44%	6%	32%	+4.7
48	Ryan Kay	Troy	18	62	40.0	36.1	23	37%	3%	25%	−8.5
49	Brandon McKee	South Alabama	18	66	41.7	37.1	24	39%	12%	19%	+1.1
50	Dalton Schomp	Florida Atlantic	18	46	45.2	40.9	5	14%	3%	24%	+9.9
51	Colin Downing	Iowa State	17	69	39.4	38.4	19	28%	0%	36%	−1.6
52	Alex Starzyk	Temple	17	70	38.4	36.5	18	27%	6%	36%	−3.4
53	Scott Arellano	BYU	17	60	44.8	40.8	29	49%	3%	31%	+11.5
54	Tyler Sarrazin	Southern Miss	17	66	39.5	37.2	18	31%	5%	30%	−8.7
55	Tyler Wedel	Northern Illinois	17	59	41.7	41.0	26	44%	0%	34%	+11.5
56	Sean Wale	Boise State	17	58	41.0	36.9	21	36%	7%	45%	−6.0
57	Joel Alesi	San Diego State	17	55	36.3	34.4	22	40%	2%	32%	−5.2
58	Logan McPherson	Louisiana Tech	17	57	37.1	32.5	16	30%	4%	17%	−19.3
59	Drew Meyer	Wisconsin	17	51	38.1	34.2	17	33%	6%	29%	−10.0
60	Mike Sadler	Michigan State	17	49	41.3	35.6	14	29%	10%	27%	−8.0
61	Caleb Houston	UCF	17	48	38.5	35.3	19	41%	7%	29%	−0.6
62	Worth Gregory	East Carolina	17	43	43.5	37.7	15	36%	12%	24%	+3.2
63	Bentlee Critcher	App State	17	41	40.7	33.6	12	29%	5%	20%	−12.8
64	Stephen Witkowski	New Mexico State	17	34	40.8	34.3	9	26%	9%	21%	−8.6
65	Erich Toth	Indiana	16	77	40.7	36.3	21	29%	8%	43%	−8.3
66	Jaron Bentrude	Utah State	15	78	40.9	38.5	33	42%	6%	43%	+11.1
67	Zach Paul	Akron	15	66	42.5	36.4	26	39%	21%	21%	−5.1
68	Ethan Wood	Wyoming	15	66	41.4	37.3	19	30%	8%	27%	+1.9
69	Thomas Meadows	Purdue	15	58	39.8	36.2	14	24%	3%	30%	−7.2
70	Will Monday	Duke	15	56	43.4	40.0	21	39%	13%	33%	+11.3
71	Hunter Mullins	UAB	15	59	44.1	39.2	24	45%	4%	29%	+1.1
72	Nick O'Toole	West Virginia	15	52	42.5	38.2	23	45%	4%	40%	−1.7
73	Justin Vogel	Miami	15	49	43.7	41.2	22	45%	2%	37%	+11.0
74	Alexander Kinal	Wake Forest	14	81	43.6	42.7	28	35%	0%	24%	+21.8
75	Scott Harding	Hawai'i	14	86	41.3	40.0	31	42%	3%	18%	+9.5
76	Brian McDonald	Massachusetts	14	57	37.7	34.5	12	21%	11%	31%	−15.8
77	Jed Barnett	Oklahoma	14	57	40.6	35.8	14	25%	9%	32%	−9.9
78	Sam Foltz	Nebraska	14	56	41.9	38.2	25	45%	7%	34%	+4.8
79	Sam Irwin-HIll	Arkansas	14	54	40.1	39.2	29	54%	4%	43%	+14.3
80	Taylor Symmank	Texas Tech	14	54	42.6	39.8	18	34%	9%	42%	+8.7
81	Will Gleeson	Ole Miss	14	50	42.9	40.8	23	50%	4%	24%	+9.9
82	Daniel Pasquariello	Penn State	14	41	37.7	35.7	14	34%	5%	27%	−7.8
83	Daniel Carlson	Auburn	14	37	41.6	37.5	12	32%	3%	22%	−2.4
84	Pablo Beltran	Navy	14	34	44.3	39.2	15	44%	15%	19%	+4.6
85	Tim Gleeson	Rutgers	14	32	40.3	35.9	11	34%	6%	19%	−1.8
86	Ryan Rodwell	Georgia Tech	14	29	40.8	37.6	13	45%	7%	19%	+3.7
87	Mike Ruggles	UTEP	14	23	46.7	38.2	6	26%	0%	9%	+0.1
88	Tommy Hibbard	North Carolina	13	64	41.1	39.4	29	45%	5%	40%	+2.6
89	Matt Haack	Arizona State	13	52	43.3	38.9	18	36%	8%	14%	+1.3
90	Devon Bell	Mississippi State	13	49	43.0	39.4	17	36%	11%	32%	+2.6
91	Joseph Occhipinti	Western Kentucky	13	46	37.7	34.6	11	24%	7%	27%	−11.6
92	Cason Beatty	Florida State	13	44	41.6	38.7	15	34%	5%	43%	+5.4
93	Ryan Winslow	Pittsburgh	13	48	39.9	37.0	18	44%	10%	34%	+2.4
94	Tyler Hull	South Carolina	13	38	41.2	37.1	15	39%	8%	32%	+0.6
95	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	13	44	47.8	42.9	15	42%	6%	31%	+9.8
96	Jay Mattox	UTEP	13	34	41.7	35.5	9	26%	12%	16%	−7.0
97	Daniel Cadona	Louisiana	12	55	43.3	38.1	26	46%	11%	26%	+5.6
98	Drew Kaser	Texas A&M	12	56	44.5	40.9	23	41%	9%	36%	+12.5
99	Will Conant	Air Force	12	56	43.8	39.1	23	41%	16%	16%	+6.6
100	Matt Mengel	UCLA	12	55	39.7	38.1	20	36%	5%	53%	−0.3
101	Logan Piper	Houston	12	39	39.3	36.2	11	29%	11%	42%	−1.4
102	Zachary Lopez	Middle Tennessee	12	34	39.1	36.8	6	18%	6%	23%	−2.8
103	Owen Dubiel	Eastern Michigan	11	58	40.0	38.7	20	34%	5%	14%	−0.9
104	Spencer Smith	Memphis	11	53	40.2	39.3	20	38%	2%	40%	+9.3
105	Spencer Roth	Baylor	11	46	43.3	41.2	20	43%	4%	40%	+4.6
106	J. Schroeder	Western Michigan	11	51	43.1	40.3	18	40%	2%	10%	+4.7
107	JK Scott	Alabama	10	48	47.0	43.3	26	54%	10%	33%	+18.0
108	Tyler Williams	Marshall	10	39	44.8	39.8	12	32%	11%	20%	+4.7
109	Wil Lutz	Georgia State	10	27	39.2	34.3	4	15%	8%	14%	−6.1
110	Tyler Grassman	Buffalo	9	50	40.7	38.4	18	36%	8%	35%	+3.5
111	Dillon Kidd	Iowa	9	42	39.1	34.3	14	33%	2%	38%	−15.2
112	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	9	43	37.1	30.7	8	20%	3%	17%	−22.8
113	Ian Wheeler	Oregon	9	39	39.1	36.5	11	29%	8%	24%	−6.8
114	Collin Barber	Georgia	9	32	39.2	37.5	13	41%	3%	34%	−2.5
115	Ethan Perry	TCU	8	60	39.0	37.4	27	46%	8%	41%	+5.2
116	Korey Durkee	Washington	8	60	41.9	39.3	16	31%	10%	20%	+2.1
117	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	8	52	42.1	39.9	18	35%	8%	27%	+3.6
118	Kris Albarado	USC	8	53	41.6	36.7	19	37%	8%	43%	−3.1
119	Ron Coluzzi	Central Michigan	8	48	39.1	35.0	19	40%	10%	23%	−3.8
120	Kyle Brindza	Notre Dame	8	47	41.6	37.8	17	36%	15%	41%	+1.0
121	Cameron Johnston	Ohio State	8	39	45.1	41.3	23	59%	13%	31%	+7.8
122	Joseph Roth	Rutgers	8	28	35.4	33.5	4	14%	0%	36%	−8.5
123	Austin Barnes	Eastern Michigan	8	21	44.5	34.0	4	19%	0%	14%	−8.1
124	Dylan Seibert	Houston	8	12	41.9	39.8	2	17%	0%	17%	+1.1
125	Luke Ferguson	Arkansas State	7	52	41.5	39.3	22	42%	8%	39%	+0.9
126	Nick Ellis	Toledo	7	48	36.6	37.0	17	40%	0%	37%	−5.5
127	Cole Leininger	California	6	52	39.8	36.4	20	38%	10%	26%	−9.9
128	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	6	40	40.5	37.4	13	32%	10%	46%	−0.8
129	Matt Hubbard	Georgia State	6	33	34.9	29.9	6	21%	3%	30%	−15.7
130	Jarrett Cervi	Old Dominion	6	22	40.3	33.9	2	9%	4%	41%	−10.4
131	Sam Geraci	Cincinnati	5	46	39.0	35.9	13	30%	9%	28%	−5.2
132	Ryan Nowicki	Georgia Southern	5	35	40.1	37.8	17	50%	6%	47%	−0.4
133	Chris Gulla	Penn State	5	28	37.3	35.8	9	32%	4%	39%	−3.5
134	Blake Macek	North Texas	5	30	41.0	36.9	11	46%	17%	33%	+1.4
135	Sean O'Kane	Middle Tennessee	5	19	38.9	32.7	4	27%	20%	8%	−1.7
136	Michael Davidson	Texas	5	14	42.2	36.5	5	36%	0%	29%	−4.1
137	Alex Tardieu	Army	4	44	39.3	38.7	19	43%	2%	44%	+8.3
138	Connor Kornbrath	Iowa	4	16	36.7	34.4	8	50%	6%	38%	−0.9
139	Scott Secor	Ball State	4	13	39.8	34.8	4	31%	8%	0%	−0.9
140	Jimmy Hutchinson	Auburn	4	9	36.6	35.1	2	22%	0%	22%	−0.7
141	John Lloyd	Cincinnati	3	11	36.3	36.0	6	55%	0%	18%	+0.4
142	Bobby Puyol	UConn	3	6	35.0	34.3	1	17%	0%	50%	−3.4
143	Taylor Heinicke	Old Dominion	2	13	47.7	41.2	8	62%	0%	0%	+4.2
144	Stephen Hogan	Arkansas State	2	11	45.5	42.1	3	27%	18%	18%	+1.4
145	Gary Wunderlich	Ole Miss	2	10	45.2	43.4	2	22%	0%	44%	+1.7
146	Christian Kock	Miami (OH)	2	8	37.6	36.5	2	25%	0%	50%	−1.0
147	Bart Houston	Wisconsin	2	7	34.7	33.3	1	14%	0%	0%	−3.2
148	Matt Mills	Central Michigan	2	4	30.5	24.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−3.2
149	Nicolai Bornand	UNLV	2	3	44.7	38.7	1	33%	0%	33%	−0.2
150	Kelly Kingseed	New Mexico State	1	14	34.8	32.1	5	33%	0%	8%	−7.9
151	Nick Jacobs	Memphis	1	15	33.5	33.5	12	80%	0%	60%	+0.5
152	Adam Searl	UCLA	1	11	39.1	38.0	6	60%	10%	60%	+1.4
153	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	1	10	41.4	39.2	3	30%	0%	60%	−0.6
154	Adam Erickson	Georgia	1	9	32.7	31.7	5	56%	0%	33%	−2.2
155	Cody Kessler	USC	1	7	33.0	25.3	3	43%	43%	0%	−0.7
156	Joshua Appleby	Louisville	1	6	42.3	38.8	1	17%	17%	67%	+0.7
157	Gerald Shouse	Louisiana Tech	1	4	35.8	35.8	1	25%	0%	0%	−2.2
158	Hassan Dixon	Temple	1	3	36.7	35.3	0	0%	0%	67%	−0.7
159	Hunter Niswander	Northwestern	1	5	36.0	29.0	1	33%	0%	33%	−2.3
160	Mitch Lochbihler	Kansas State	1	2	38.0	-2.0	0	0%	0%	50%	−9.0
161	O'Kane Sean	Middle Tennessee	1	3	53.3	43.3	1	33%	0%	33%	−0.1
162	Cody Rademacher	SMU	1	2	29.5	19.5	1	50%	50%	0%	−0.1
163	Richard Montgomery	Idaho	1	2	45.5	39.0	1	50%	50%	0%	+1.2
164	Tyler Mayes	Temple	1	2	33.0	35.5	2	100%	0%	0%	+0.4
165	Chris Smith	Temple	1	1	35.0	34.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.4
166	Justin Simmons	Boston College	1	1	43.0	38.0	1	100%	0%	0%	0.0
167	Kenneth Dixon	Louisiana Tech	1	1	47.0	48.0	1	100%	0%	0%	+0.5
168	Michael Cummings	Kansas	1	1	21.0	15.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.4
169	Mikael Sroka	UTEP	1	1	37.0	36.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.5
170	Toby Baker	Arkansas	1	1	36.0	1.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−1.3
171	Warren Harvey	East Carolina	1	1	34.0	31.0	1	100%	0%	0%	+0.2

All 2014 College punter rankings

Punts Returned in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2013 2012 2011

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