2017 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 2017, JK Scott (54.8%) led college football punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Mac Loudermilk (53.8%) and Quinton Conaway (53.5%). 125 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 30.6%.

Final 2017 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	JK Scott	Alabama	54.8%	42	43.4	40.9	24	56%	7%	+12.9
2	Mac Loudermilk	UCF	53.8%	41	39.5	38.3	24	59%	0%	+4.7
3	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	53.5%	48	39.6	36.6	9	18%	2%	−12.6
4	Cameron Nizialek	Georgia	51.0%	49	44.5	41.8	23	47%	6%	+9.3
5	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	50.0%	63	42.5	40.1	27	43%	10%	+11.2
6	Joe Schopper	Purdue	49.1%	67	40.2	37.3	28	44%	5%	+0.4
7	Cody Grace	Arkansas State	48.7%	44	40.9	40.8	25	57%	0%	+8.0
8	Zach Feagles	Miami	48.5%	68	38.1	37.1	27	40%	4%	−3.9
9	Wade Lees	Maryland	47.6%	64	39.2	37.4	17	27%	3%	−12.7
10	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	46.2%	57	43.2	41.4	22	39%	7%	+8.4
11	Will Gleeson	Ole Miss	45.8%	51	41.5	40.2	23	45%	2%	+7.1
12	Sam Geraci	Louisiana	45.5%	64	40.7	39.2	24	42%	7%	+5.3
13	Zach Von Rosenberg	LSU	45.2%	33	43.3	42.1	12	36%	3%	+7.6
14	James Smith	Cincinnati	44.6%	64	42.0	41.4	25	39%	0%	+10.1
15	Shane Tripucka	Texas A&M	43.4%	76	46.1	43.3	26	34%	8%	+25.4
16	Billy Kinney	West Virginia	43.3%	61	40.0	35.9	20	33%	7%	−12.2
17	Aidan Marshall	Auburn	43.2%	38	39.4	34.1	9	24%	8%	−5.2
18	Dominic Panazzolo	Texas Tech	43.1%	55	42.0	39.6	14	25%	4%	+0.7
19	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	42.3%	57	38.4	34.5	19	33%	5%	−12.7
20	Ryan Rickel	Florida Atlantic	42.2%	46	42.6	41.0	16	36%	2%	+8.0
21	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	41.2%	53	39.2	37.5	12	23%	9%	−9.6
22	Stefan Flintoft	UCLA	41.2%	52	42.8	38.8	18	35%	2%	−0.3
23	Bailey Flint	Toledo	40.5%	39	37.1	35.6	17	44%	8%	−1.8
24	Dane Roy	Houston	40.4%	53	41.6	38.8	23	44%	10%	+2.2
25	Adam Nunez	TCU	40.0%	61	39.3	36.5	31	50%	6%	−2.4
26	Blake Johnson	Arkansas	40.0%	59	38.6	37.6	18	31%	5%	−4.1
27	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	40.0%	36	42.6	37.8	11	31%	8%	−4.5
28	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	39.7%	70	45.2	42.5	28	40%	6%	+13.0
29	Ryan Winslow	Pittsburgh	39.6%	57	44.5	38.7	20	35%	9%	−5.2
30	Drue Chrisman	Ohio State	39.5%	44	44.0	41.4	18	41%	7%	+7.6
31	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	39.1%	48	42.8	40.5	21	44%	8%	+8.2
32	Michael Dickson	Texas	38.9%	73	48.4	44.8	35	49%	11%	+36.8
33	Zach Sinor	Oklahoma State	38.9%	36	43.0	38.1	8	22%	14%	0.0
34	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	38.5%	54	43.7	40.0	23	43%	11%	+10.2
35	Will Spiers	Clemson	38.3%	60	40.8	36.7	28	47%	7%	−1.6
36	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	37.9%	67	41.7	38.5	21	31%	12%	+2.1
37	Colin Downing	Iowa State	37.9%	62	40.3	38.7	27	46%	5%	+3.8
38	Adam Stack	Oregon	36.7%	54	38.0	35.7	18	33%	6%	−10.0
39	Nick Porebski	Oregon State	36.7%	49	38.5	37.5	12	24%	2%	−7.9
40	Michael Farkas	Ohio	36.2%	54	40.4	37.9	17	35%	4%	+2.4
41	Arthur Hart	Charlotte	36.1%	85	43.5	39.5	24	28%	12%	+2.4
42	Tom Sheldon	North Carolina	35.9%	45	45.8	42.5	15	34%	5%	+6.4
43	Matt Flynn	Georgia Southern	35.5%	66	40.2	36.6	15	23%	9%	−11.8
44	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	35.4%	64	42.4	37.2	20	32%	13%	+1.0
45	Xavier Subotsch	App State	35.4%	52	39.8	35.9	19	37%	10%	−6.2
46	Jake Bailey	Stanford	35.3%	53	45.1	42.5	25	48%	6%	+14.4
47	Alex Kinney	Colorado	35.2%	56	43.8	41.1	28	50%	4%	+10.4
48	Quinn Skillin	Boise State	35.1%	36	40.6	38.2	18	47%	8%	+7.4
49	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	34.9%	66	40.5	38.0	22	33%	5%	−5.8
50	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	34.9%	46	44.2	42.6	18	39%	7%	+11.7
51	Brad Robbins	Michigan	34.6%	58	40.9	36.9	24	42%	7%	−5.6
52	Brady Farlow	Louisiana Tech	34.4%	36	37.6	35.5	7	19%	3%	−10.6
53	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	33.8%	85	40.7	38.0	29	35%	6%	+2.4
54	Evan Rabon	Coastal Carolina	32.7%	56	43.3	39.9	20	36%	5%	+5.4
55	Stone Wilson	Florida International	32.6%	50	41.8	37.9	20	40%	12%	−2.3
56	Kyle DeWeen	Buffalo	32.1%	56	40.6	37.9	21	38%	5%	−1.0
57	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	32.0%	59	42.1	39.7	24	41%	7%	+3.9
58	Jack Fox	Rice	31.5%	57	44.2	37.2	17	30%	13%	−5.0
59	Corey Bojorquez	New Mexico	31.1%	67	47.3	42.1	33	49%	18%	+17.3
60	Blake Patterson	TCU	31.0%	30	41.3	39.6	10	33%	7%	+0.6
61	Corey Fatony	Missouri	30.6%	50	44.5	41.8	23	46%	8%	+13.7
62	Reid Budrovich	USC	30.6%	49	42.5	37.5	19	38%	6%	−2.6
63	Nick Gasser	Akron	30.6%	78	41.9	36.8	26	33%	4%	−14.2
64	Brett Graham	UConn	30.5%	63	38.8	37.3	23	37%	3%	−2.1
65	Tim Zaleski	Wyoming	30.1%	81	39.4	37.4	28	35%	5%	−0.6
66	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	29.9%	67	42.0	38.3	29	43%	16%	+7.2
67	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	29.5%	64	40.5	38.8	28	44%	8%	−5.4
68	Derek Adams	Kent State	29.5%	79	43.6	40.5	22	28%	11%	+8.8
69	Jonathan Hernandez	South Florida	29.3%	58	43.2	36.9	14	23%	17%	−2.9
70	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	29.3%	59	43.5	37.9	16	27%	7%	−1.7
71	Zachary Block	Tulane	29.3%	52	39.6	36.6	15	33%	9%	−2.3
72	Logan Tyler	Florida State	29.0%	65	43.2	39.1	21	34%	6%	+3.4
73	Austin Barnes	East Carolina	28.9%	50	44.0	39.4	17	35%	12%	+0.8
74	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	28.6%	66	43.0	38.5	19	29%	14%	+6.1
75	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	28.6%	50	43.2	40.0	27	53%	6%	+9.6
76	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	28.0%	51	40.3	37.4	25	48%	4%	+2.6
77	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	27.9%	73	45.6	41.3	31	42%	7%	+10.0
78	Hunter Niswander	Northwestern	27.9%	63	42.9	39.9	21	33%	5%	+5.5
79	Matt Panton	Kentucky	27.5%	57	42.7	40.5	20	35%	5%	+4.8
80	Kaare Vedvik	Marshall	27.5%	53	44.4	40.8	24	45%	13%	+14.4
81	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	27.4%	64	43.9	38.2	21	33%	9%	−2.3
82	Sam Loy	Vanderbilt	27.4%	64	40.2	36.5	17	27%	6%	−11.5
83	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	27.1%	50	44.1	39.7	21	42%	2%	+5.3
84	Joel Whitford	Washington	27.0%	37	41.4	39.2	15	41%	5%	+1.4
85	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	26.7%	47	41.6	39.6	29	62%	9%	+6.4
86	Zac Everett	Southern Miss	26.4%	60	40.5	38.6	21	35%	5%	+2.6
87	Jonny Linehan	BYU	26.4%	59	42.9	41.9	28	47%	3%	+11.9
88	A.J. Cole III	NC State	26.4%	53	43.8	37.9	23	43%	8%	−5.8
89	Austin Parker	Duke	26.2%	61	42.0	36.6	11	18%	15%	−2.9
90	Mike Knoll	Boston College	26.0%	73	40.2	37.4	36	49%	5%	−0.8
91	Harrison Heim	UL Monroe	26.0%	58	41.9	37.4	23	40%	9%	−1.0
92	Alex Starzyk	Temple	26.0%	52	40.3	34.9	21	39%	13%	−4.1
93	Cole Moos	Kansas	25.6%	83	39.6	35.3	24	29%	4%	−29.9
94	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	25.0%	50	37.3	31.6	14	29%	6%	−32.0
95	Joel Dixon	UAB	24.6%	60	41.3	35.7	14	23%	8%	−9.7
96	Joseph Davidson	Bowling Green	24.5%	60	44.0	42.4	27	47%	3%	+16.9
97	Stan Gaudion	Hawai'i	24.5%	58	42.1	38.8	20	34%	2%	−9.8
98	Connor Martin	Baylor	24.3%	39	40.3	39.1	12	31%	3%	−2.0
99	Joseph Charlton	South Carolina	23.9%	47	44.3	41.1	11	23%	9%	+7.0
100	Charlie Scott	Air Force	23.7%	41	42.1	39.1	14	34%	0%	−1.8
101	Mason King	Louisville	23.7%	39	44.1	39.9	8	20%	5%	+0.6
102	Owen White	Navy	23.5%	39	41.2	38.6	13	38%	6%	+1.1
103	Tyler Sumpter	Troy	23.4%	53	40.2	36.0	16	32%	6%	−12.9
104	Marcus Ripley	Texas State	23.2%	81	42.4	38.5	27	38%	7%	+0.3
105	Alan Luna	UTEP	23.1%	79	44.1	39.3	28	36%	9%	+3.1
106	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	21.1%	78	41.2	38.1	31	40%	10%	−0.8
107	Michael Sleep-Dalton	Arizona State	20.7%	59	39.8	36.3	18	30%	2%	−10.3
108	Trevor Daniel	Tennessee	20.6%	70	47.5	43.3	31	44%	7%	+20.6
109	Jake Collins	Western Kentucky	20.4%	52	39.9	36.8	19	37%	8%	−3.4
110	Lester Coleman	Virginia	19.7%	71	44.0	38.1	31	43%	11%	−7.8
111	Dylan Klumph	California	19.5%	46	43.0	38.5	12	26%	7%	−0.2
112	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	18.8%	69	41.5	38.5	18	26%	6%	−1.3
113	Blake Hayes	Illinois	18.7%	77	42.0	40.2	31	40%	3%	+8.3
114	Johnny Townsend	Florida	17.7%	64	47.5	41.5	29	45%	8%	+11.2
115	Kyle Sweet	Washington State	16.1%	32	38.4	36.6	6	19%	6%	−9.4
116	Jamie Sackville	SMU	15.7%	53	40.8	38.6	21	40%	6%	+1.1
117	Colten Rastetter	Iowa	14.3%	49	38.4	37.5	10	20%	0%	−10.0
118	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	14.1%	65	42.6	34.3	19	30%	9%	−15.4
119	Thomas Bennett	Tulsa	13.6%	61	42.3	36.8	17	28%	8%	−8.9
120	Ryan Anderson	Rutgers	13.3%	79	44.4	38.9	21	27%	13%	+0.3
121	Cade Coffey	Idaho	12.5%	66	44.6	36.7	27	41%	11%	−12.2
122	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	11.4%	38	46.8	41.3	19	49%	16%	+5.0
123	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	11.1%	65	42.4	39.6	32	49%	6%	+5.4
124	Jack Sheldon	Central Michigan	7.1%	72	43.6	38.5	26	36%	10%	+1.7
125	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	3.0%	33	42.3	39.6	9	26%	6%	+1.3

All 2017 College punter rankings

Fair Catch Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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