2016 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 2016, Austin Seibert (64.4%) led college football punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Kevin Phillips (60.5%) and Andy Teasdall (52.1%). 122 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 29.3%.

Final 2016 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	64.4%	45	40.8	39.4	22	49%	0%	+5.6
2	Kevin Phillips	Auburn	60.5%	40	41.4	39.5	14	36%	8%	+4.9
3	Andy Teasdall	Clemson	52.1%	48	37.7	35.1	18	38%	8%	−6.2
4	Austin Kent	UCLA	51.2%	44	38.3	36.5	15	37%	2%	−5.1
5	Mason King	Louisville	51.1%	47	42.7	39.3	15	32%	2%	+4.8
6	Sam Geraci	Cincinnati	50.0%	66	40.0	37.6	33	49%	5%	+2.8
7	Josh Growden	LSU	50.0%	51	41.9	39.8	20	40%	6%	+5.5
8	Matt Flynn	Georgia Southern	47.9%	56	39.1	37.9	11	20%	2%	−10.5
9	Justin Vogel	Miami	47.3%	57	44.2	41.1	25	44%	2%	+7.2
10	Ron Coluzzi	Iowa	47.0%	68	41.3	38.4	26	38%	7%	+4.1
11	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	46.4%	78	38.3	36.9	20	25%	3%	−12.1
12	Steven Coutts	Louisiana	46.2%	58	44.4	41.0	24	41%	7%	+7.5
13	Drew Galitz	Baylor	46.0%	52	41.3	40.5	15	30%	4%	+3.4
14	Dane Roy	Houston	45.5%	55	40.7	38.7	19	35%	7%	+0.1
15	Mitchell Ludwig	Virginia Tech	45.0%	62	38.8	37.2	31	51%	3%	−2.1
16	Justin Wain	UConn	43.3%	74	40.8	37.4	24	32%	8%	−3.2
17	Bentlee Critcher	App State	43.2%	50	40.9	37.7	21	45%	7%	−0.8
18	Derek Adams	Kent State	43.1%	76	40.3	37.4	25	43%	2%	−5.3
19	Ian Wheeler	Oregon	42.6%	59	37.8	34.8	22	37%	5%	−10.0
20	Tom Sheldon	North Carolina	42.2%	46	42.5	40.2	18	39%	11%	+8.0
21	Sean Wale	Boise State	41.0%	47	45.2	40.5	19	42%	7%	+7.0
22	Trevor Daniel	Tennessee	41.0%	64	44.7	40.2	28	44%	11%	+10.6
23	Wade Lees	Maryland	40.7%	65	39.9	38.4	21	32%	2%	−2.5
24	Michael Farkas	Ohio	40.3%	69	41.0	38.7	31	46%	4%	+4.5
25	Jonathan Hernandez	South Florida	40.0%	59	41.2	38.5	26	51%	0%	+3.0
26	Toby Baker	Arkansas	40.0%	50	44.6	41.3	21	42%	6%	+16.6
27	Nick Porebski	Oregon State	39.7%	64	41.3	38.9	23	35%	9%	+4.5
28	Billy Kinney	West Virginia	39.6%	51	41.4	37.5	15	31%	10%	+1.1
29	Steve Brosy	Air Force	39.5%	46	41.3	39.2	25	57%	2%	+4.5
30	Kaare Vedvik	Marshall	39.3%	70	40.0	37.1	26	41%	3%	+1.1
31	Lumi Kaba	Texas State	38.9%	74	41.9	39.2	20	27%	8%	+3.3
32	Caleb Houston	UCF	38.8%	64	41.8	39.6	21	38%	4%	+4.9
33	Cameron Johnston	Ohio State	38.8%	49	46.2	43.4	23	47%	10%	+18.4
34	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	38.5%	40	39.8	35.0	21	51%	5%	−7.4
35	Zach Sinor	Oklahoma State	38.0%	52	42.4	40.4	35	66%	2%	+13.0
36	Sean Kelly	South Carolina	36.8%	72	42.5	38.5	30	42%	6%	+1.1
37	Brandon McKee	South Alabama	36.6%	44	44.5	41.4	27	61%	11%	+11.7
38	Spencer Smith	Memphis	36.1%	44	45.2	43.0	11	27%	7%	+13.3
39	Shane Tripucka	Texas A&M	36.1%	66	43.2	41.4	25	40%	0%	+10.5
40	Adam Nunez	TCU	35.9%	69	39.6	37.7	26	38%	3%	−2.6
41	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	35.7%	62	37.9	34.1	22	35%	6%	−12.6
42	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	35.7%	53	37.7	34.9	23	47%	6%	−5.3
43	Matt Haack	Arizona State	35.4%	66	43.9	42.0	21	32%	5%	+14.5
44	Ryan Kay	Troy	35.2%	62	40.8	38.9	28	50%	7%	+6.9
45	Chris Tilbey	USC	34.9%	46	37.8	36.4	19	41%	4%	−3.9
46	Jack Fox	Rice	34.8%	75	40.7	37.7	31	41%	4%	−0.9
47	A.J. Cole III	NC State	34.1%	46	41.6	38.1	13	28%	9%	−3.9
48	Colin Downing	Iowa State	34.0%	58	41.1	38.8	24	41%	5%	+5.3
49	Dayton Balvanz	UL Monroe	33.9%	63	41.0	38.3	25	40%	5%	−0.2
50	Alex Kinney	Colorado	33.3%	66	41.3	35.0	15	24%	6%	−11.0
51	Zachary Block	Tulane	32.8%	68	40.8	38.8	23	34%	7%	−1.9
52	Austin Barnes	Eastern Michigan	32.2%	60	43.7	40.7	33	55%	7%	+17.1
53	Mike Knoll	Boston College	32.1%	86	38.3	34.9	16	19%	8%	−21.5
54	Hayden Hunt	Colorado State	31.9%	50	44.3	40.9	27	54%	6%	+14.2
55	Ryan Rodwell	Georgia Tech	31.8%	44	43.4	38.4	15	34%	11%	−2.9
56	Dalton Schomp	Florida Atlantic	31.6%	68	42.6	39.4	24	38%	10%	+10.0
57	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	31.0%	49	42.6	38.1	26	58%	5%	+3.2
58	Rigoberto Sanchez	Hawai'i	30.6%	67	44.6	38.9	24	36%	6%	+6.8
59	Alex Boy	Nevada	30.0%	51	43.7	38.0	18	39%	11%	+3.4
60	Logan Tyler	Florida State	29.8%	49	40.6	34.8	13	28%	4%	−7.6
61	Stone Wilson	Florida International	29.6%	61	37.6	34.2	13	21%	5%	−15.4
62	Michael Dickson	Texas	29.0%	65	47.4	43.4	30	48%	14%	+23.9
63	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	28.8%	55	38.4	37.0	16	30%	4%	−7.7
64	Tanner Blain	San Diego State	28.6%	56	41.9	38.3	27	57%	6%	+7.0
65	Cole Moos	Kansas	28.4%	73	41.4	38.2	13	19%	3%	−2.1
66	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	28.3%	56	42.1	38.4	25	45%	9%	+6.7
67	Worth Gregory	East Carolina	27.7%	51	42.3	38.1	17	33%	4%	−3.2
68	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	27.6%	67	41.9	38.1	15	24%	2%	−1.4
69	Nick Gasser	Akron	27.6%	59	37.7	35.1	23	40%	0%	−11.7
70	Jonny Linehan	BYU	27.5%	52	42.7	41.4	22	54%	5%	+10.4
71	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	27.5%	54	40.9	38.2	22	41%	6%	+3.5
72	Marshall Long	Georgia	27.1%	49	38.7	35.2	14	29%	6%	−9.4
73	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	27.0%	65	39.4	38.1	19	30%	3%	−5.8
74	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	25.9%	60	48.0	44.5	37	62%	3%	+25.3
75	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	25.9%	61	44.3	39.3	27	44%	10%	+5.9
76	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	25.5%	48	37.5	33.8	25	53%	2%	−9.0
77	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	25.0%	77	42.7	38.4	21	31%	4%	−2.5
78	Johnny Townsend	Florida	25.0%	60	48.0	42.0	24	41%	10%	+13.4
79	Joe Schopper	Purdue	25.0%	56	40.7	37.8	25	45%	11%	+4.7
80	JK Scott	Alabama	24.4%	46	47.7	40.3	16	36%	16%	+6.7
81	Michael Cintron	Rutgers	24.4%	95	37.9	33.2	19	20%	6%	−40.2
82	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	24.0%	58	39.3	34.6	21	40%	6%	−11.9
83	Arthur Hart	Charlotte	23.8%	68	39.2	36.6	16	25%	6%	−11.7
84	Kyle DeWeen	Buffalo	23.2%	72	39.8	34.3	22	30%	8%	−15.6
85	Jacob Ambrose	Northern Illinois	23.1%	70	39.1	36.4	20	33%	8%	−6.6
86	Hunter Niswander	Northwestern	22.7%	70	41.4	36.4	26	37%	9%	−4.3
87	Dalton Parks	Tulsa	22.4%	64	41.8	37.6	20	31%	9%	−0.9
88	Nicholas Conte	Virginia	22.1%	74	44.3	40.5	34	46%	12%	+13.0
89	Jamie Sackville	SMU	21.1%	71	39.6	35.9	23	32%	7%	−4.6
90	Sam Loy	Vanderbilt	21.0%	64	41.2	37.8	23	36%	10%	−0.9
91	Justin Martin	Miami (OH)	20.0%	33	38.0	35.2	7	21%	3%	−4.8
92	Ryan Frain	Illinois	19.6%	53	40.1	35.9	21	40%	8%	−10.2
93	Nick Ellis	Toledo	19.4%	47	43.1	37.9	15	37%	15%	+5.6
94	Corey Fatony	Missouri	19.4%	66	43.8	41.0	28	43%	9%	+15.3
95	Joseph Davidson	Bowling Green	19.2%	61	45.8	43.5	24	45%	6%	+26.0
96	Corey Bojorquez	New Mexico	19.0%	46	42.4	37.8	15	33%	7%	−4.1
97	Grant McKinniss	Kentucky	18.9%	55	39.5	36.0	12	21%	9%	−5.6
98	Ryan Winslow	Pittsburgh	18.9%	55	42.6	36.2	14	25%	11%	−5.6
99	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	18.6%	62	41.6	37.4	21	34%	3%	−2.0
100	Ethan Wood	Wyoming	18.3%	65	41.6	39.8	32	52%	3%	+8.3
101	Eric Keena	North Texas	17.7%	69	43.8	39.8	27	40%	3%	+7.7
102	Jake Collins	Western Kentucky	17.6%	36	42.9	38.8	11	32%	12%	+6.8
103	Evan Pantels	UNLV	17.5%	64	41.7	38.3	16	25%	3%	−1.0
104	Kenny Allen	Michigan	17.4%	46	42.6	37.6	21	46%	11%	+1.1
105	Tyler Sarrazin	Southern Miss	17.0%	48	44.6	41.0	17	33%	10%	+11.9
106	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	16.7%	61	39.8	34.0	17	28%	5%	−19.6
107	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	16.4%	65	42.2	34.2	21	32%	3%	−18.5
108	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	15.8%	57	41.3	37.9	21	36%	7%	+4.8
109	Gerald Shouse	Louisiana Tech	15.6%	32	43.0	37.2	13	41%	13%	+1.5
110	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	15.6%	46	42.7	39.2	22	48%	11%	+5.0
111	Jack Sheldon	Central Michigan	15.4%	43	40.3	37.5	16	38%	12%	−3.2
112	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	14.6%	43	39.6	33.6	15	35%	12%	−11.9
113	Joseph Gedeon	Indiana	14.5%	55	40.0	36.9	25	45%	0%	+1.6
114	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	14.5%	70	40.6	37.3	27	39%	7%	−3.9
115	Dylan Klumph	California	14.0%	50	44.8	38.5	19	38%	6%	−6.7
116	Jake Bailey	Stanford	14.0%	45	42.8	39.3	22	49%	4%	+6.0
117	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	13.2%	54	43.5	37.3	18	33%	6%	−3.6
118	Alex Starzyk	Temple	12.5%	48	39.7	38.2	22	46%	2%	−2.2
119	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	12.3%	67	42.6	36.9	26	38%	10%	−10.7
120	Alan Luna	UTEP	12.0%	62	41.0	37.5	19	34%	2%	−5.8
121	Michael Barden	Texas Tech	9.8%	43	38.3	35.1	10	24%	5%	−10.3
122	Josh Pollack	Arizona	7.5%	48	42.3	36.4	14	34%	5%	−7.4

All 2016 College punter rankings

Fair Catch Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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