2015 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 2015, Austin Seibert (54.0%) led college football punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Cole Leininger (53.1%) and Joshua Appleby (50.9%). 126 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 29.2%.

Final 2015 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	54.0%	51	42.4	41.6	22	44%	4%	+10.0
2	Cole Leininger	California	53.1%	35	41.5	39.6	12	35%	3%	+2.4
3	Joshua Appleby	Louisville	50.9%	63	40.2	38.2	28	44%	5%	+1.0
4	Justin Wain	UConn	49.2%	70	37.9	35.2	21	30%	7%	−7.2
5	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	48.7%	40	42.5	37.3	15	38%	15%	0.0
6	Arthur Hart	Charlotte	47.2%	75	38.6	36.8	22	29%	4%	−12.4
7	Caleb Houston	UCF	46.9%	65	44.2	40.2	30	46%	5%	+4.6
8	Dalton Parks	Tulsa	46.6%	63	41.0	38.4	23	37%	8%	+4.4
9	Nick Porebski	Oregon State	44.1%	72	41.1	38.5	29	40%	1%	−4.5
10	Kris Albarado	USC	44.1%	59	41.3	36.9	16	27%	5%	−5.8
11	Kevin Phillips	Auburn	44.0%	52	41.1	37.2	16	31%	10%	−0.9
12	Michael Dickson	Texas	43.1%	77	41.3	39.6	23	31%	8%	+5.7
13	Matt Mengel	UCLA	42.9%	50	39.9	39.0	18	37%	4%	+4.8
14	Chris Qualls	UL Monroe	42.3%	87	36.7	34.1	23	27%	4%	−25.0
15	Sean Wale	Boise State	41.2%	51	42.2	38.3	24	46%	10%	+7.1
16	Steven Coutts	Louisiana	40.7%	59	42.4	39.2	23	38%	7%	+5.5
17	Garrett Swanson	Fresno State	40.0%	67	42.2	37.3	21	31%	4%	−7.6
18	Stone Wilson	Florida International	40.0%	42	40.5	38.3	9	25%	6%	+0.7
19	Ryan Winslow	Pittsburgh	39.3%	61	41.2	37.8	22	36%	11%	+4.0
20	Zachary Block	Tulane	39.1%	47	37.9	32.5	6	13%	2%	−25.4
21	Peter Picerelli	Tulane	39.1%	31	36.7	35.0	12	40%	0%	−6.6
22	Zach Sinor	Oklahoma State	38.5%	68	40.3	38.0	30	45%	4%	+5.5
23	Colin Downing	Iowa State	38.5%	53	40.9	38.6	21	39%	2%	−3.1
24	Eric Keena	North Texas	37.9%	60	44.2	41.6	20	34%	5%	+4.5
25	Logan Yunker	UNLV	37.5%	67	42.5	38.1	19	29%	11%	−4.3
26	Drew Galitz	Baylor	37.5%	40	40.7	40.0	13	33%	0%	+4.9
27	Jacob Ambrose	Northern Illinois	37.3%	65	37.8	37.7	21	35%	5%	−2.6
28	Hunter Niswander	Northwestern	37.2%	78	38.3	37.5	23	29%	3%	−2.6
29	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	37.1%	63	41.5	37.0	16	25%	13%	−3.8
30	Alex Boy	Nevada	36.8%	63	42.3	38.2	18	29%	6%	+2.5
31	Toby Baker	Arkansas	36.6%	42	41.3	38.1	21	50%	5%	+4.0
32	Ron Coluzzi	Central Michigan	36.5%	59	39.2	37.5	18	33%	5%	−4.6
33	Dillon Kidd	Iowa	36.5%	53	40.4	37.0	24	44%	8%	+4.4
34	Tommy Openshaw	Vanderbilt	36.4%	79	40.9	34.9	30	38%	4%	−10.7
35	Cameron Johnston	Ohio State	36.4%	55	44.1	40.8	22	40%	13%	+11.6
36	Andy Teasdall	Clemson	36.2%	58	39.0	37.5	19	33%	0%	−3.8
37	Joey Roth	Rutgers	35.7%	58	40.0	34.8	11	19%	10%	−18.6
38	Mitch Bonnstetter	Ohio	35.6%	62	38.8	36.9	26	42%	6%	−2.7
39	Tom Hackett	Utah	35.3%	55	47.8	43.6	25	46%	15%	+20.1
40	Will Gleeson	Ole Miss	35.0%	41	40.5	38.0	14	35%	3%	−1.6
41	Cason Beatty	Florida State	34.0%	55	44.5	40.0	22	41%	6%	+3.9
42	A.J. Cole III	NC State	33.9%	61	42.1	39.4	28	46%	10%	+9.7
43	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	33.9%	66	41.0	37.7	26	39%	5%	−3.4
44	Alexander Kinal	Wake Forest	33.8%	75	43.8	41.2	34	45%	4%	+14.6
45	Corey Fatony	Missouri	32.9%	81	42.9	40.0	27	33%	4%	+10.0
46	Johnny Townsend	Florida	32.9%	79	44.9	42.7	34	43%	5%	+23.6
47	Riley Dixon	Syracuse	32.7%	65	43.7	40.3	30	46%	8%	+10.2
48	Nicolas Pritchard	Maryland	32.7%	55	38.2	36.3	13	24%	2%	−13.4
49	Hayden Hunt	Colorado State	32.7%	50	46.3	42.5	26	51%	2%	+13.2
50	Gerald Shouse	Louisiana Tech	32.6%	48	40.7	38.1	28	57%	4%	+4.6
51	Ian Wheeler	Oregon	32.6%	44	40.1	34.2	13	28%	5%	−13.8
52	Justin Vogel	Miami	32.2%	60	43.0	37.2	21	36%	10%	−4.7
53	Logan Piper	Houston	32.1%	57	40.2	38.7	24	43%	5%	+7.5
54	Christian Koch	Miami (OH)	31.6%	82	38.4	36.2	19	23%	2%	−19.7
55	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	31.6%	62	39.5	36.5	19	31%	6%	−12.3
56	Joe Schopper	Purdue	31.6%	58	40.2	38.3	19	33%	3%	−4.4
57	Jamie Keehn	LSU	31.4%	54	40.9	36.5	17	33%	10%	−7.7
58	Ethan Perry	TCU	31.1%	61	39.2	37.4	27	44%	7%	+1.9
59	Korey Durkee	Washington	31.1%	45	43.0	38.6	17	38%	16%	+3.4
60	Alex Tardieu	Army	30.6%	50	40.2	38.0	15	30%	4%	+0.2
61	Zack Rogers	New Mexico	30.0%	64	41.6	39.8	21	33%	3%	+8.4
62	Anthony Melchiori	Kent State	29.9%	93	41.4	38.1	24	30%	7%	+3.9
63	Spencer Smith	Memphis	29.7%	37	47.2	43.4	9	24%	11%	+11.6
64	Luke Ferguson	Arkansas State	28.6%	67	42.9	40.4	33	49%	9%	+12.5
65	James Farrimond	Rice	28.6%	59	43.1	36.8	17	33%	4%	−4.8
66	Steve Brosy	Air Force	28.6%	33	37.0	33.5	12	39%	10%	−6.1
67	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	28.3%	63	42.2	38.1	16	26%	8%	+2.0
68	Jonny Linehan	BYU	28.1%	58	43.0	38.4	17	29%	5%	−1.4
69	Alex Kinney	Colorado	28.0%	66	40.1	38.5	26	47%	2%	+2.7
70	Alex Starzyk	Temple	27.8%	58	42.2	37.7	20	34%	12%	+4.9
71	Tanner Blain	San Diego State	27.7%	73	40.6	37.0	29	40%	11%	+5.5
72	A.J. Hughes	Virginia Tech	27.3%	66	43.0	39.7	22	33%	14%	+6.1
73	Trevor Daniel	Tennessee	27.3%	55	45.4	40.5	24	44%	13%	+15.1
74	Nick O'Toole	West Virginia	27.0%	65	45.7	40.8	28	43%	22%	+17.6
75	Tyler Grassman	Buffalo	26.8%	65	41.0	35.7	18	31%	9%	−6.4
76	Nick Ellis	Toledo	26.7%	38	38.2	37.1	13	39%	3%	+2.0
77	Alex Robinson	Stanford	26.5%	35	42.9	40.2	16	47%	6%	+4.4
78	Rigoberto Sanchez	Hawai'i	26.3%	74	45.1	42.0	33	52%	2%	+15.3
79	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	26.1%	49	45.7	39.6	15	31%	7%	+2.5
80	Blake O'Neill	Michigan	26.0%	53	41.3	37.4	25	49%	8%	+4.6
81	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	25.0%	58	39.7	37.7	23	40%	0%	−4.3
82	Sean Kelly	South Carolina	25.0%	55	44.3	41.3	25	45%	7%	+10.3
83	Ryan Rodwell	Georgia Tech	25.0%	46	39.0	37.3	17	38%	0%	+1.7
84	Landon Foster	Kentucky	24.6%	61	40.3	35.9	18	30%	3%	−16.6
85	Will Monday	Duke	24.6%	60	43.6	38.6	29	48%	22%	+9.3
86	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	24.4%	48	42.1	37.4	22	49%	16%	+1.8
87	Dalton Schomp	Florida Atlantic	24.4%	45	48.0	43.8	19	43%	5%	+11.4
88	Drew Meyer	Wisconsin	24.2%	63	39.7	36.0	23	37%	13%	−4.4
89	Ryan Kay	Troy	23.7%	61	41.9	37.0	23	38%	11%	−3.3
90	JK Scott	Alabama	23.6%	57	44.2	38.4	21	38%	15%	+4.0
91	Aleem Sunanon	South Alabama	23.3%	31	42.7	39.7	6	19%	0%	+1.8
92	Tyler Williams	Marshall	21.9%	68	44.3	40.0	32	47%	13%	+14.3
93	J. Schroeder	Western Michigan	21.9%	39	42.1	39.4	11	33%	9%	+4.4
94	Peter Mortell	Minnesota	21.7%	70	43.3	39.2	29	41%	3%	+7.4
95	Bentlee Critcher	App State	21.7%	47	44.1	39.0	15	32%	13%	+1.1
96	Worth Gregory	East Carolina	21.7%	60	43.0	40.1	34	56%	10%	+17.6
97	Nicholas Conte	Virginia	21.2%	52	44.7	38.7	19	36%	10%	+2.5
98	Lumi Kaba	Texas State	21.1%	65	44.3	40.9	18	30%	7%	+8.1
99	Erich Toth	Indiana	21.1%	58	41.7	36.7	19	32%	9%	−4.9
100	Brandon McKee	South Alabama	21.1%	39	39.8	31.9	7	18%	18%	−11.9
101	Alex Howell	Boston College	20.9%	92	41.7	39.8	33	36%	7%	+14.1
102	Drew Kaser	Texas A&M	20.8%	53	48.0	41.3	21	40%	15%	+16.1
103	Collin Barber	Georgia	20.5%	39	40.3	34.4	13	33%	15%	−3.8
104	Ryan Frain	Illinois	20.3%	70	40.2	33.4	12	17%	13%	−22.1
105	Zach Charme	Washington State	20.0%	41	40.0	32.8	11	27%	10%	−16.4
106	Sam Geraci	Cincinnati	20.0%	38	45.9	39.8	14	36%	13%	+3.0
107	Trevor Owens	Middle Tennessee	20.0%	31	36.2	30.9	5	16%	6%	−20.8
108	Matt Haack	Arizona State	19.4%	67	43.3	40.3	33	49%	0%	+7.2
109	Mattias Ciabatti	South Florida	19.2%	57	43.2	38.9	20	36%	7%	+5.7
110	Joseph Davidson	Bowling Green	19.1%	49	45.6	39.4	14	30%	6%	−3.8
111	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	19.0%	43	47.7	41.9	20	47%	14%	+13.3
112	Zach Paul	Akron	18.8%	71	41.2	37.3	24	35%	12%	+2.9
113	Austin Barnes	Eastern Michigan	18.6%	45	43.6	40.6	16	36%	2%	+2.1
114	Alex Barta	Navy	17.9%	39	42.3	34.9	11	28%	18%	−6.6
115	Daniel Pasquariello	Penn State	16.0%	52	40.3	36.2	14	27%	6%	−0.7
116	Sam Foltz	Nebraska	15.1%	53	44.4	38.6	15	28%	9%	−3.6
117	Wil Lutz	Georgia State	14.5%	57	43.9	38.6	21	36%	7%	+3.9
118	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	14.3%	49	44.0	38.7	22	45%	14%	+3.7
119	Satchel Ziffer	Old Dominion	11.5%	61	40.2	37.8	18	30%	2%	−8.1
120	Ethan Wood	Wyoming	11.1%	67	41.8	40.1	24	37%	5%	+8.4
121	Josh Williams	SMU	11.1%	38	38.7	36.8	11	30%	0%	−8.5
122	Alan Luna	UTEP	8.5%	65	44.4	37.6	16	27%	17%	−1.5
123	Matthew Wyman	Kansas	8.2%	53	41.5	37.6	13	24%	2%	−8.1
124	Drew Riggleman	Arizona	6.1%	49	44.8	41.1	21	43%	12%	+9.0
125	Anthony Torres	New Mexico State	4.7%	66	40.6	35.7	23	35%	5%	−15.2
126	Tyler Sarrazin	Southern Miss	2.6%	39	40.1	35.9	20	50%	5%	+3.0

All 2015 College punter rankings

Fair Catch Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2014 2013 2012 2011

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