2016 College Punt Touchbacks Leaders

A touchback punt sails into the end zone and gives the other team the ball at its own 20, wasting most of the distance. Ties go to the punter who punted more often from the opponent's side of the 50, where touchbacks are hardest to avoid.

Fewer is better. In 2016, Jonathan Hernandez (0) topped college football punters in punt touchbacks, ahead of Nick Gasser (0) and Shane Tripucka (0). 122 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts).

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

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

All 2016 College punter rankings

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

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