2015 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 2015, Alex Howell (31) led college football punters in punts returned, ahead of Johnny Townsend (30) and Peter Mortell (28). 167 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Returns	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Alex Howell	Boston College	31	92	41.7	39.8	33	36%	7%	21%	+14.1
2	Johnny Townsend	Florida	30	79	44.9	42.7	34	43%	5%	33%	+23.6
3	Peter Mortell	Minnesota	28	70	43.3	39.2	29	41%	3%	22%	+7.4
4	Tommy Openshaw	Vanderbilt	27	79	40.9	34.9	30	38%	4%	36%	−10.7
5	Anthony Melchiori	Kent State	26	93	41.4	38.1	24	30%	7%	30%	+3.9
6	Anthony Torres	New Mexico State	26	66	40.6	35.7	23	35%	5%	5%	−15.2
7	Alan Luna	UTEP	24	65	44.4	37.6	16	27%	17%	8%	−1.5
8	Chris Qualls	UL Monroe	23	87	36.7	34.1	23	27%	4%	42%	−25.0
9	Corey Fatony	Missouri	23	81	42.9	40.0	27	33%	4%	33%	+10.0
10	Erich Toth	Indiana	23	58	41.7	36.7	19	32%	9%	21%	−4.9
11	Christian Koch	Miami (OH)	22	82	38.4	36.2	19	23%	2%	32%	−19.7
12	Landon Foster	Kentucky	22	61	40.3	35.9	18	30%	3%	25%	−16.6
13	Ryan Frain	Illinois	21	70	40.2	33.4	12	17%	13%	20%	−22.1
14	Caleb Houston	UCF	21	65	44.2	40.2	30	46%	5%	47%	+4.6
15	Satchel Ziffer	Old Dominion	21	61	40.2	37.8	18	30%	2%	11%	−8.1
16	Daniel Pasquariello	Penn State	21	52	40.3	36.2	14	27%	6%	16%	−0.7
17	Tyler Williams	Marshall	20	68	44.3	40.0	32	47%	13%	22%	+14.3
18	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	20	63	42.2	38.1	16	26%	8%	28%	+2.0
19	Jonny Linehan	BYU	20	58	43.0	38.4	17	29%	5%	28%	−1.4
20	Mattias Ciabatti	South Florida	20	57	43.2	38.9	20	36%	7%	19%	+5.7
21	Matthew Wyman	Kansas	20	53	41.5	37.6	13	24%	2%	8%	−8.1
22	Nicholas Conte	Virginia	20	52	44.7	38.7	19	36%	10%	21%	+2.5
23	Drew Riggleman	Arizona	20	49	44.8	41.1	21	43%	12%	6%	+9.0
24	Rigoberto Sanchez	Hawai'i	19	74	45.1	42.0	33	52%	2%	26%	+15.3
25	Zack Rogers	New Mexico	19	64	41.6	39.8	21	33%	3%	30%	+8.4
26	Ryan Winslow	Pittsburgh	19	61	41.2	37.8	22	36%	11%	39%	+4.0
27	JK Scott	Alabama	19	57	44.2	38.4	21	38%	15%	24%	+4.0
28	Drew Kaser	Texas A&M	19	53	48.0	41.3	21	40%	15%	21%	+16.1
29	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	19	49	45.7	39.6	15	31%	7%	26%	+2.5
30	Bentlee Critcher	App State	19	47	44.1	39.0	15	32%	13%	22%	+1.1
31	Alexander Kinal	Wake Forest	18	75	43.8	41.2	34	45%	4%	34%	+14.6
32	Tanner Blain	San Diego State	18	73	40.6	37.0	29	40%	11%	28%	+5.5
33	Matt Haack	Arizona State	18	67	43.3	40.3	33	49%	0%	19%	+7.2
34	Zach Sinor	Oklahoma State	18	68	40.3	38.0	30	45%	4%	38%	+5.5
35	Ethan Wood	Wyoming	18	67	41.8	40.1	24	37%	5%	11%	+8.4
36	Lumi Kaba	Texas State	18	65	44.3	40.9	18	30%	7%	21%	+8.1
37	Tyler Grassman	Buffalo	18	65	41.0	35.7	18	31%	9%	27%	−6.4
38	Cason Beatty	Florida State	18	55	44.5	40.0	22	41%	6%	34%	+3.9
39	James Farrimond	Rice	18	59	43.1	36.8	17	33%	4%	29%	−4.8
40	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	18	49	44.0	38.7	22	45%	14%	14%	+3.7
41	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	17	62	39.5	36.5	19	31%	6%	32%	−12.3
42	A.J. Cole III	NC State	17	61	42.1	39.4	28	46%	10%	34%	+9.7
43	Wil Lutz	Georgia State	17	57	43.9	38.6	21	36%	7%	15%	+3.9
44	Sam Foltz	Nebraska	17	53	44.4	38.6	15	28%	9%	15%	−3.6
45	Nick Porebski	Oregon State	16	72	41.1	38.5	29	40%	1%	44%	−4.5
46	Garrett Swanson	Fresno State	16	67	42.2	37.3	21	31%	4%	40%	−7.6
47	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	16	66	41.0	37.7	26	39%	5%	34%	−3.4
48	A.J. Hughes	Virginia Tech	16	66	43.0	39.7	22	33%	14%	27%	+6.1
49	Drew Meyer	Wisconsin	16	63	39.7	36.0	23	37%	13%	24%	−4.4
50	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	16	63	41.5	37.0	16	25%	13%	37%	−3.8
51	Ryan Kay	Troy	16	61	41.9	37.0	23	38%	11%	24%	−3.3
52	Justin Vogel	Miami	16	60	43.0	37.2	21	36%	10%	32%	−4.7
53	Kris Albarado	USC	16	59	41.3	36.9	16	27%	5%	44%	−5.8
54	Ron Coluzzi	Central Michigan	16	59	39.2	37.5	18	33%	5%	37%	−4.6
55	Trevor Daniel	Tennessee	16	55	45.4	40.5	24	44%	13%	27%	+15.1
56	Zachary Block	Tulane	16	47	37.9	32.5	6	13%	2%	39%	−25.4
57	Hunter Niswander	Northwestern	15	78	38.3	37.5	23	29%	3%	37%	−2.6
58	Alex Boy	Nevada	15	63	42.3	38.2	18	29%	6%	37%	+2.5
59	Alex Starzyk	Temple	15	58	42.2	37.7	20	34%	12%	28%	+4.9
60	Andy Teasdall	Clemson	15	58	39.0	37.5	19	33%	0%	36%	−3.8
61	Hayden Hunt	Colorado State	15	50	46.3	42.5	26	51%	2%	33%	+13.2
62	Toby Baker	Arkansas	15	42	41.3	38.1	21	50%	5%	37%	+4.0
63	Justin Wain	UConn	14	70	37.9	35.2	21	30%	7%	49%	−7.2
64	Riley Dixon	Syracuse	14	65	43.7	40.3	30	46%	8%	33%	+10.2
65	Mitch Bonnstetter	Ohio	14	62	38.8	36.9	26	42%	6%	36%	−2.7
66	Eric Keena	North Texas	14	60	44.2	41.6	20	34%	5%	38%	+4.5
67	Logan Piper	Houston	14	57	40.2	38.7	24	43%	5%	32%	+7.5
68	Alex Kinney	Colorado	14	66	40.1	38.5	26	47%	2%	28%	+2.7
69	Colin Downing	Iowa State	14	53	40.9	38.6	21	39%	2%	38%	−3.1
70	Austin Barnes	Eastern Michigan	14	45	43.6	40.6	16	36%	2%	19%	+2.1
71	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	14	43	47.7	41.9	20	47%	14%	19%	+13.3
72	Brandon McKee	South Alabama	14	39	39.8	31.9	7	18%	18%	21%	−11.9
73	Michael Dickson	Texas	13	77	41.3	39.6	23	31%	8%	43%	+5.7
74	Zach Paul	Akron	13	71	41.2	37.3	24	35%	12%	19%	+2.9
75	Dalton Parks	Tulsa	13	63	41.0	38.4	23	37%	8%	47%	+4.4
76	Will Monday	Duke	13	60	43.6	38.6	29	48%	22%	25%	+9.3
77	Joey Roth	Rutgers	13	58	40.0	34.8	11	19%	10%	36%	−18.6
78	Blake O'Neill	Michigan	13	53	41.3	37.4	25	49%	8%	26%	+4.6
79	Alex Tardieu	Army	13	50	40.2	38.0	15	30%	4%	31%	+0.2
80	Joseph Davidson	Bowling Green	13	49	45.6	39.4	14	30%	6%	19%	−3.8
81	Ryan Rodwell	Georgia Tech	13	46	39.0	37.3	17	38%	0%	25%	+1.7
82	Dalton Schomp	Florida Atlantic	13	45	48.0	43.8	19	43%	5%	24%	+11.4
83	Aleem Sunanon	South Alabama	13	31	42.7	39.7	6	19%	0%	23%	+1.8
84	Taylor Symmank	Texas Tech	13	25	44.7	37.3	10	40%	12%	16%	+2.8
85	Arthur Hart	Charlotte	12	75	38.6	36.8	22	29%	4%	47%	−12.4
86	Logan Yunker	UNLV	12	67	42.5	38.1	19	29%	11%	38%	−4.3
87	Ethan Perry	TCU	12	61	39.2	37.4	27	44%	7%	31%	+1.9
88	Worth Gregory	East Carolina	12	60	43.0	40.1	34	56%	10%	22%	+17.6
89	Steven Coutts	Louisiana	12	59	42.4	39.2	23	38%	7%	41%	+5.5
90	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	12	58	39.7	37.7	23	40%	0%	25%	−4.3
91	Cameron Johnston	Ohio State	12	55	44.1	40.8	22	40%	13%	36%	+11.6
92	Nicolas Pritchard	Maryland	12	55	38.2	36.3	13	24%	2%	33%	−13.4
93	Ian Wheeler	Oregon	12	44	40.1	34.2	13	28%	5%	33%	−13.8
94	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	12	48	42.1	37.4	22	49%	16%	24%	+1.8
95	Tyler Sarrazin	Southern Miss	12	39	40.1	35.9	20	50%	5%	3%	+3.0
96	Will Gleeson	Ole Miss	12	41	40.5	38.0	14	35%	3%	35%	−1.6
97	Jackson Koonce	SMU	12	27	39.6	30.7	3	12%	8%	20%	−13.2
98	Nick O'Toole	West Virginia	11	65	45.7	40.8	28	43%	22%	27%	+17.6
99	Joshua Appleby	Louisville	11	63	40.2	38.2	28	44%	5%	51%	+1.0
100	Joe Schopper	Purdue	11	58	40.2	38.3	19	33%	3%	32%	−4.4
101	Sean Wale	Boise State	11	51	42.2	38.3	24	46%	10%	41%	+7.1
102	Collin Barber	Georgia	11	39	40.3	34.4	13	33%	15%	21%	−3.8
103	Josh Williams	SMU	11	38	38.7	36.8	11	30%	0%	11%	−8.5
104	Spencer Smith	Memphis	11	37	47.2	43.4	9	24%	11%	30%	+11.6
105	Jacob Ambrose	Northern Illinois	10	65	37.8	37.7	21	35%	5%	37%	−2.6
106	Sean Kelly	South Carolina	10	55	44.3	41.3	25	45%	7%	25%	+10.3
107	Dillon Kidd	Iowa	10	53	40.4	37.0	24	44%	8%	37%	+4.4
108	Jamie Keehn	LSU	10	54	40.9	36.5	17	33%	10%	31%	−7.7
109	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	10	51	42.4	41.6	22	44%	4%	54%	+10.0
110	Gerald Shouse	Louisiana Tech	10	48	40.7	38.1	28	57%	4%	33%	+4.6
111	Zach Charme	Washington State	10	41	40.0	32.8	11	27%	10%	20%	−16.4
112	Alex Barta	Navy	10	39	42.3	34.9	11	28%	18%	18%	−6.6
113	Sam Geraci	Cincinnati	10	38	45.9	39.8	14	36%	13%	20%	+3.0
114	Stone Wilson	Florida International	10	42	40.5	38.3	9	25%	6%	40%	+0.7
115	Trevor Owens	Middle Tennessee	10	31	36.2	30.9	5	16%	6%	20%	−20.8
116	Ryan Nowicki	Georgia Southern	10	29	40.7	38.9	16	55%	7%	38%	−0.2
117	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	10	26	40.6	36.2	8	31%	8%	8%	−10.2
118	Tom Hackett	Utah	9	55	47.8	43.6	25	46%	15%	35%	+20.1
119	Korey Durkee	Washington	9	45	43.0	38.6	17	38%	16%	31%	+3.4
120	Alex Robinson	Stanford	9	35	42.9	40.2	16	47%	6%	26%	+4.4
121	Luke Ferguson	Arkansas State	8	67	42.9	40.4	33	49%	9%	29%	+12.5
122	Drew Galitz	Baylor	8	40	40.7	40.0	13	33%	0%	38%	+4.9
123	Eric Kahn	Kansas	8	29	34.0	32.2	8	29%	7%	33%	−12.5
124	Jake Collins	Western Kentucky	8	31	41.6	39.4	12	43%	4%	15%	−1.9
125	Chris Gulla	Penn State	8	23	37.7	34.7	9	41%	9%	24%	−1.6
126	Matt Mengel	UCLA	7	50	39.9	39.0	18	37%	4%	43%	+4.8
127	Nick Ellis	Toledo	7	38	38.2	37.1	13	39%	3%	27%	+2.0
128	Kevin Phillips	Auburn	6	52	41.1	37.2	16	31%	10%	44%	−0.9
129	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	6	40	42.5	37.3	15	38%	15%	49%	0.0
130	Steve Brosy	Air Force	6	33	37.0	33.5	12	39%	10%	29%	−6.1
131	Brice Ramsey	Georgia	6	20	42.4	41.0	6	30%	0%	30%	−1.7
132	Cole Leininger	California	5	35	41.5	39.6	12	35%	3%	53%	+2.4
133	Joseph Occhipinti	Western Kentucky	5	15	37.9	29.3	4	27%	7%	13%	−9.5
134	J. Schroeder	Western Michigan	4	39	42.1	39.4	11	33%	9%	22%	+4.4
135	Peter Picerelli	Tulane	4	31	36.7	35.0	12	40%	0%	39%	−6.6
136	Chris Ayers	Florida International	4	21	39.4	32.5	4	19%	14%	40%	−9.3
137	Joey Mangili	North Carolina	4	21	40.7	38.0	5	25%	10%	30%	+2.1
138	Michael Barden	Texas Tech	4	16	44.8	40.6	4	27%	7%	27%	+2.6
139	Mac Loudermilk	UCF	4	9	50.4	48.0	4	44%	11%	22%	+6.9
140	Devon Bell	Mississippi State	3	9	41.1	35.6	2	22%	11%	44%	−1.6
141	Luke Strebel	Air Force	3	9	41.8	41.8	1	11%	0%	22%	+1.1
142	Thomas Meadows	Purdue	3	8	39.1	32.5	1	13%	13%	29%	−5.9
143	Gary Wunderlich	Ole Miss	3	7	46.7	41.3	5	71%	0%	14%	+0.4
144	Brett Dunn	Air Force	2	13	41.5	41.2	3	23%	0%	54%	+1.1
145	Dylan Mulder	Eastern Michigan	2	8	33.4	33.4	4	50%	0%	38%	−3.3
146	Jake Browning	Washington	2	6	30.0	28.7	6	100%	0%	0%	+0.9
147	Daniel Portillo	UTSA	2	5	32.4	31.8	3	60%	0%	0%	+0.9
148	Tyler O'Connor	Michigan State	2	5	38.4	28.0	2	40%	20%	0%	−2.1
149	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	2	4	40.0	15.5	1	25%	0%	0%	−4.1
150	Blake Macek	North Texas	1	14	35.9	27.9	6	43%	36%	36%	−2.4
151	Ryan Rickel	Florida Atlantic	1	10	35.2	35.5	9	82%	9%	44%	+1.6
152	Marshall Koehn	Iowa	1	8	40.9	40.4	3	38%	0%	0%	−0.3
153	Aaron Novoa	Hawai'i	1	5	37.6	34.2	2	40%	20%	25%	+2.4
154	Tyson Broekemeier	Nebraska	1	5	37.0	32.8	3	60%	20%	40%	+1.0
155	Logan McPherson	Louisiana Tech	1	4	33.3	31.3	1	25%	0%	0%	−0.9
156	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	1	4	40.8	37.5	2	50%	0%	0%	−1.0
157	Blake Lucas	Massachusetts	1	3	34.0	28.7	1	33%	0%	67%	−1.8
158	David Reisner	Illinois	1	3	45.3	45.7	1	33%	0%	33%	+1.5
159	Michael Cintron	Rutgers	1	3	51.0	48.0	0	0%	0%	0%	+1.6
160	Nate Renfro	Tennessee	1	2	42.5	36.5	1	50%	0%	50%	−0.3
161	Ruben Guzman	Kansas	1	2	30.0	13.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−4.4
162	Bryan Kirshe	Kentucky	1	1	31.0	2.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−2.4
163	Clayton Hatfield	Texas Tech	1	1	65.0	43.0	0	0%	0%	0%	+0.5
164	Colby Cooke	Vanderbilt	1	1	43.0	24.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−1.3
165	Michael Julian	Toledo	1	1	36.0	-7.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−2.4
166	P.J. Rosowski	Wisconsin	1	1	40.0	55.0	0	0%	0%	0%	+1.1
167	Rhett Almond	BYU	1	1	48.0	-8.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−2.5

All 2015 College punter rankings

Punts Returned in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2014 2013 2012 2011

More 2015 College punter leaderboards

Other 2015 College rankings

Loading the interactive stats…