2016 College Punt Return Yards Allowed Leaders

Total yards the receiving team gained on returns of a punter's kicks. It combines the punter's placement and the coverage team's tackling.

Lower is better, but more returns means more yards. In 2016, Payton Theisler (438) led college football punters in punt return yards allowed, ahead of Brandon Wright (311) and Alex Kinney (309). 157 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Ret yds	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	438	65	42.2	34.2	21	32%	3%	16%	−18.5
2	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	311	61	39.8	34.0	17	28%	5%	17%	−19.6
3	Alex Kinney	Colorado	309	66	41.3	35.0	15	24%	6%	33%	−11.0
4	Rigoberto Sanchez	Hawai'i	298	67	44.6	38.9	24	36%	6%	31%	+6.8
5	Michael Cintron	Rutgers	285	95	37.9	33.2	19	20%	6%	24%	−40.2
6	Dylan Klumph	California	253	50	44.8	38.5	19	38%	6%	14%	−6.7
7	Johnny Townsend	Florida	244	60	48.0	42.0	24	41%	10%	25%	+13.4
8	Kyle DeWeen	Buffalo	238	72	39.8	34.3	22	30%	8%	23%	−15.6
9	Ryan Winslow	Pittsburgh	231	55	42.6	36.2	14	25%	11%	19%	−5.6
10	Cole Moos	Kansas	229	73	41.4	38.2	13	19%	3%	28%	−2.1
11	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	224	67	41.9	38.1	15	24%	2%	28%	−1.4
12	Eric Keena	North Texas	224	69	43.8	39.8	27	40%	3%	18%	+7.7
13	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	222	77	42.7	38.4	21	31%	4%	25%	−2.5
14	Logan Tyler	Florida State	222	49	40.6	34.8	13	28%	4%	30%	−7.6
15	Sean Kelly	South Carolina	213	72	42.5	38.5	30	42%	6%	37%	+1.1
16	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	207	67	42.6	36.9	26	38%	10%	12%	−10.7
17	JK Scott	Alabama	205	46	47.7	40.3	16	36%	16%	24%	+6.7
18	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	200	54	43.5	37.3	18	33%	6%	13%	−3.6
19	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	199	62	41.6	37.4	21	34%	3%	19%	−2.0
20	Hunter Niswander	Northwestern	193	70	41.4	36.4	26	37%	9%	23%	−4.3
21	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	183	61	44.3	39.3	27	44%	10%	26%	+5.9
22	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	179	58	39.3	34.6	21	40%	6%	24%	−11.9
23	Worth Gregory	East Carolina	177	51	42.3	38.1	17	33%	4%	28%	−3.2
24	Josh Pollack	Arizona	172	48	42.3	36.4	14	34%	5%	8%	−7.4
25	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	169	60	48.0	44.5	37	62%	3%	26%	+25.3
26	Trevor Daniel	Tennessee	166	64	44.7	40.2	28	44%	11%	41%	+10.6
27	Justin Vogel	Miami	158	57	44.2	41.1	25	44%	2%	47%	+7.2
28	Nick Gasser	Akron	155	59	37.7	35.1	23	40%	0%	28%	−11.7
29	Will Gleeson	Ole Miss	153	28	44.1	38.1	11	41%	4%	41%	−1.1
30	Corey Bojorquez	New Mexico	152	46	42.4	37.8	15	33%	7%	19%	−4.1
31	Tanner Blain	San Diego State	152	56	41.9	38.3	27	57%	6%	29%	+7.0
32	Derek Adams	Kent State	151	76	40.3	37.4	25	43%	2%	43%	−5.3
33	Mike Knoll	Boston College	150	86	38.3	34.9	16	19%	8%	32%	−21.5
34	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	150	48	37.5	33.8	25	53%	2%	26%	−9.0
35	Dalton Parks	Tulsa	147	64	41.8	37.6	20	31%	9%	22%	−0.9
36	Stone Wilson	Florida International	147	61	37.6	34.2	13	21%	5%	30%	−15.4
37	Alan Luna	UTEP	143	62	41.0	37.5	19	34%	2%	12%	−5.8
38	Evan Pantels	UNLV	143	64	41.7	38.3	16	25%	3%	18%	−1.0
39	Ryan Frain	Illinois	143	53	40.1	35.9	21	40%	8%	20%	−10.2
40	Mason King	Louisville	140	47	42.7	39.3	15	32%	2%	51%	+4.8
41	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	134	70	40.6	37.3	27	39%	7%	15%	−3.9
42	Jamie Sackville	SMU	134	71	39.6	35.9	23	32%	7%	21%	−4.6
43	Joseph Gedeon	Indiana	133	55	40.0	36.9	25	45%	0%	15%	+1.6
44	Kenny Allen	Michigan	131	46	42.6	37.6	21	46%	11%	17%	+1.1
45	Justin Wain	UConn	128	74	40.8	37.4	24	32%	8%	43%	−3.2
46	Ryan Rodwell	Georgia Tech	125	44	43.4	38.4	15	34%	11%	32%	−2.9
47	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	123	53	37.7	34.9	23	47%	6%	36%	−5.3
48	Grant McKinniss	Kentucky	122	55	39.5	36.0	12	21%	9%	19%	−5.6
49	Alex Boy	Nevada	122	51	43.7	38.0	18	39%	11%	30%	+3.4
50	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	121	62	37.9	34.1	22	35%	6%	36%	−12.6
51	Ian Wheeler	Oregon	119	59	37.8	34.8	22	37%	5%	43%	−10.0
52	Jack Fox	Rice	118	75	40.7	37.7	31	41%	4%	35%	−0.9
53	Jake Bailey	Stanford	118	45	42.8	39.3	22	49%	4%	14%	+6.0
54	Kyle Schmidt	Ball State	117	57	41.3	37.9	21	36%	7%	16%	+4.8
55	Steven Coutts	Louisiana	117	58	44.4	41.0	24	41%	7%	46%	+7.5
56	Toby Baker	Arkansas	114	50	44.6	41.3	21	42%	6%	40%	+16.6
57	Tristan Vizcaino	Washington	114	43	39.6	33.6	15	35%	12%	15%	−11.9
58	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	114	40	39.8	35.0	21	51%	5%	38%	−7.4
59	Dayton Balvanz	UL Monroe	112	63	41.0	38.3	25	40%	5%	34%	−0.2
60	Austin Rehkow	Idaho	112	49	42.6	38.1	26	58%	5%	31%	+3.2
61	Michael Farkas	Ohio	111	69	41.0	38.7	31	46%	4%	40%	+4.5
62	Sean Wale	Boise State	110	47	45.2	40.5	19	42%	7%	41%	+7.0
63	Hayden Hunt	Colorado State	109	50	44.3	40.9	27	54%	6%	32%	+14.2
64	Marshall Long	Georgia	106	49	38.7	35.2	14	29%	6%	27%	−9.4
65	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	106	56	42.1	38.4	25	45%	9%	28%	+6.7
66	Jonathan Hernandez	South Florida	105	59	41.2	38.5	26	51%	0%	40%	+3.0
67	Gerald Shouse	Louisiana Tech	105	32	43.0	37.2	13	41%	13%	16%	+1.5
68	Austin Barnes	Eastern Michigan	101	60	43.7	40.7	33	55%	7%	32%	+17.1
69	Nicholas Conte	Virginia	101	74	44.3	40.5	34	46%	12%	22%	+13.0
70	Kaare Vedvik	Marshall	101	70	40.0	37.1	26	41%	3%	39%	+1.1
71	Justin Martin	Miami (OH)	98	33	38.0	35.2	7	21%	3%	20%	−4.8
72	Billy Kinney	West Virginia	96	51	41.4	37.5	15	31%	10%	40%	+1.1
73	Shane Tripucka	Texas A&M	95	66	43.2	41.4	25	40%	0%	36%	+10.5
74	Arthur Hart	Charlotte	94	68	39.2	36.6	16	25%	6%	24%	−11.7
75	Jacob Ambrose	Northern Illinois	93	70	39.1	36.4	20	33%	8%	23%	−6.6
76	Ron Coluzzi	Iowa	93	68	41.3	38.4	26	38%	7%	47%	+4.1
77	Adam Nunez	TCU	90	69	39.6	37.7	26	38%	3%	36%	−2.6
78	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	87	54	40.9	38.2	22	41%	6%	27%	+3.5
79	Michael Barden	Texas Tech	84	43	38.3	35.1	10	24%	5%	10%	−10.3
80	Caleb Houston	UCF	84	64	41.8	39.6	21	38%	4%	39%	+4.9
81	Austin Kent	UCLA	84	44	38.3	36.5	15	37%	2%	51%	−5.1
82	Michael Dickson	Texas	81	65	47.4	43.4	30	48%	14%	29%	+23.9
83	Ethan Wood	Wyoming	81	65	41.6	39.8	32	52%	3%	18%	+8.3
84	Danny Stirt	Duke	81	25	36.5	31.7	7	28%	8%	48%	−9.5
85	Dalton Schomp	Florida Atlantic	78	68	42.6	39.4	24	38%	10%	32%	+10.0
86	Lumi Kaba	Texas State	75	74	41.9	39.2	20	27%	8%	39%	+3.3
87	Wade Lees	Maryland	75	65	39.9	38.4	21	32%	2%	41%	−2.5
88	Nick Ellis	Toledo	75	47	43.1	37.9	15	37%	15%	19%	+5.6
89	Steve Brosy	Air Force	70	46	41.3	39.2	25	57%	2%	40%	+4.5
90	Colin Downing	Iowa State	69	58	41.1	38.8	24	41%	5%	34%	+5.3
91	Austin Parker	Duke	68	29	42.1	38.3	13	45%	7%	39%	+2.4
92	Joseph Davidson	Bowling Green	67	61	45.8	43.5	24	45%	6%	19%	+26.0
93	Matt Haack	Arizona State	67	66	43.9	42.0	21	32%	5%	35%	+14.5
94	Corey Fatony	Missouri	67	66	43.8	41.0	28	43%	9%	19%	+15.3
95	Tyler Sarrazin	Southern Miss	67	48	44.6	41.0	17	33%	10%	17%	+11.9
96	Bentlee Critcher	App State	67	50	40.9	37.7	21	45%	7%	43%	−0.8
97	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	65	45	40.8	39.4	22	49%	0%	64%	+5.6
98	Sam Geraci	Cincinnati	63	66	40.0	37.6	33	49%	5%	50%	+2.8
99	Nicolai Bornand	UNLV	62	3	46.7	26.0	2	67%	0%	0%	−0.1
100	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	61	46	42.7	39.2	22	48%	11%	16%	+5.0
101	Cooper Mojsiejenko	Central Michigan	59	20	41.0	35.8	8	36%	0%	29%	−0.7
102	David Reisner	Illinois	59	23	40.6	37.2	5	22%	4%	22%	−8.0
103	Alex Barta	Navy	57	20	42.0	38.2	7	35%	5%	25%	−1.2
104	Adam Searl	UCLA	52	6	41.0	31.4	2	40%	0%	40%	−2.0
105	Alex Starzyk	Temple	51	48	39.7	38.2	22	46%	2%	13%	−2.2
106	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	51	55	38.4	37.0	16	30%	4%	29%	−7.7
107	Marcus Ripley	Texas State	50	8	38.4	32.1	1	13%	0%	0%	−3.9
108	Stefan Flintoft	UCLA	48	23	40.3	36.9	7	32%	5%	27%	−3.8
109	Jake Collins	Western Kentucky	47	36	42.9	38.8	11	32%	12%	18%	+6.8
110	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	46	65	39.4	38.1	19	30%	3%	27%	−5.8
111	Nick Porebski	Oregon State	45	64	41.3	38.9	23	35%	9%	40%	+4.5
112	Ryan Kay	Troy	44	62	40.8	38.9	28	50%	7%	35%	+6.9
113	Sam Loy	Vanderbilt	43	64	41.2	37.8	23	36%	10%	21%	−0.9
114	Joe Schopper	Purdue	42	56	40.7	37.8	25	45%	11%	25%	+4.7
115	Josh Growden	LSU	42	51	41.9	39.8	20	40%	6%	50%	+5.5
116	Andy Teasdall	Clemson	42	48	37.7	35.1	18	38%	8%	52%	−6.2
117	A.J. Cole III	NC State	42	46	41.6	38.1	13	28%	9%	34%	−3.9
118	Matt Flynn	Georgia Southern	42	56	39.1	37.9	11	20%	2%	48%	−10.5
119	Mitchell Ludwig	Virginia Tech	40	62	38.8	37.2	31	51%	3%	45%	−2.1
120	Cameron Johnston	Ohio State	39	49	46.2	43.4	23	47%	10%	39%	+18.4
121	Brandon McKee	South Alabama	38	44	44.5	41.4	27	61%	11%	37%	+11.7
122	Dane Roy	Houston	37	55	40.7	38.7	19	35%	7%	45%	+0.1
123	Mike Weaver	Wake Forest	37	10	41.2	37.5	4	40%	0%	30%	+1.8
124	Tristan Payton	UCF	35	2	43.0	25.5	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.2
125	Gary Wunderlich	Ole Miss	34	21	43.7	39.3	4	19%	5%	42%	+0.2
126	Zach Sinor	Oklahoma State	33	52	42.4	40.4	35	66%	2%	38%	+13.0
127	Jack Sheldon	Central Michigan	33	43	40.3	37.5	16	38%	12%	15%	−3.2
128	Jonny Linehan	BYU	28	52	42.7	41.4	22	54%	5%	28%	+10.4
129	Chris Tilbey	USC	27	46	37.8	36.4	19	41%	4%	35%	−3.9
130	Zachary Block	Tulane	26	68	40.8	38.8	23	34%	7%	33%	−1.9
131	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	26	28	41.9	38.7	12	46%	8%	17%	+0.1
132	Spencer Smith	Memphis	23	44	45.2	43.0	11	27%	7%	36%	+13.3
133	Kody Schexnayder	Mississippi State	22	18	36.9	34.6	4	22%	6%	59%	−4.1
134	P.J. Rosowski	Wisconsin	17	15	36.7	35.5	3	20%	0%	33%	−1.5
135	Oliver Holdenson	Georgia State	17	6	37.5	31.3	1	17%	17%	0%	−1.9
136	Sam Gentry	New Mexico	17	5	34.4	27.0	0	0%	20%	20%	−4.0
137	Erik Powell	Washington State	16	1	68.0	52.0	0	0%	0%	0%	+1.0
138	Matt Aragon	Arizona	14	3	38.7	34.0	1	33%	0%	33%	−0.5
139	Mitch Lochbihler	Kansas State	14	4	48.3	44.8	0	0%	0%	50%	+1.8
140	J.D. Mote	Army	13	13	36.5	32.4	2	15%	15%	23%	−3.6
141	Drew Galitz	Baylor	11	52	41.3	40.5	15	30%	4%	46%	+3.4
142	Zach Charme	Washington State	8	7	38.7	31.9	5	71%	29%	33%	−0.3
143	Jake Glatting	Arizona	7	10	39.4	37.0	3	43%	0%	20%	−1.5
144	Tom Sheldon	North Carolina	6	46	42.5	40.2	18	39%	11%	42%	+8.0
145	James Coleman	Western Michigan	6	25	40.2	39.2	9	39%	4%	55%	+2.9
146	Erik Harris	Navy	6	10	45.1	44.5	7	70%	0%	44%	+6.0
147	Cam Echols-Luper	Arkansas State	6	4	34.8	33.3	1	25%	0%	0%	−2.6
148	James Sherman	Texas State	6	3	37.7	35.7	0	0%	0%	33%	−0.8
149	Kevin Phillips	Auburn	5	40	41.4	39.5	14	36%	8%	61%	+4.9
150	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	5	2	47.0	44.5	1	50%	0%	50%	+0.6
151	Alex Robinson	Stanford	4	4	37.0	36.0	4	100%	0%	75%	+0.4
152	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	2	78	38.3	36.9	20	25%	3%	46%	−12.1
153	Brice Ramsey	Georgia	2	15	34.6	34.5	5	33%	0%	53%	−2.2
154	Carson King	Clemson	2	1	37.0	35.0	1	100%	0%	0%	+0.1
155	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	2	16	40.9	41.3	5	31%	0%	6%	−0.4
156	Jaleel Scott	New Mexico State	1	4	37.5	37.3	0	0%	0%	50%	+1.3
157	Reid Nelson	Vanderbilt	1	2	28.0	27.5	0	0%	0%	0%	−1.8

All 2016 College punter rankings

Punt Return Yards Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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