2017 College Fair Catches Forced Leaders

A fair catch means the returner gave up the chance to run. Punters who kick high and coverage teams who arrive quickly force more of them.

A sign of good hang time and coverage. In 2017, Shane Tripucka (33) led college football punters in fair catches forced, ahead of Zach Feagles (33) and Arthur Hart (30). 162 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	FC	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Shane Tripucka	Texas A&M	33	76	46.1	43.3	26	34%	8%	43%	+25.4
2	Zach Feagles	Miami	33	68	38.1	37.1	27	40%	4%	49%	−3.9
3	Arthur Hart	Charlotte	30	85	43.5	39.5	24	28%	12%	36%	+2.4
4	Wade Lees	Maryland	30	64	39.2	37.4	17	27%	3%	48%	−12.7
5	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	30	63	42.5	40.1	27	43%	10%	50%	+11.2
6	Michael Dickson	Texas	28	73	48.4	44.8	35	49%	11%	39%	+36.8
7	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	27	70	45.2	42.5	28	40%	6%	40%	+13.0
8	Joe Schopper	Purdue	27	67	40.2	37.3	28	44%	5%	49%	+0.4
9	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	26	85	40.7	38.0	29	35%	6%	34%	+2.4
10	Billy Kinney	West Virginia	26	61	40.0	35.9	20	33%	7%	43%	−12.2
11	James Smith	Cincinnati	25	64	42.0	41.4	25	39%	0%	45%	+10.1
12	Sam Geraci	Louisiana	25	64	40.7	39.2	24	42%	7%	45%	+5.3
13	Cameron Nizialek	Georgia	25	49	44.5	41.8	23	47%	6%	51%	+9.3
14	Adam Nunez	TCU	24	61	39.3	36.5	31	50%	6%	40%	−2.4
15	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	24	57	43.2	41.4	22	39%	7%	46%	+8.4
16	Derek Adams	Kent State	23	79	43.6	40.5	22	28%	11%	29%	+8.8
17	Will Spiers	Clemson	23	60	40.8	36.7	28	47%	7%	38%	−1.6
18	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	23	48	39.6	36.6	9	18%	2%	53%	−12.6
19	JK Scott	Alabama	23	42	43.4	40.9	24	56%	7%	55%	+12.9
20	Nick Gasser	Akron	22	78	41.9	36.8	26	33%	4%	31%	−14.2
21	Tim Zaleski	Wyoming	22	81	39.4	37.4	28	35%	5%	30%	−0.6
22	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	22	67	41.7	38.5	21	31%	12%	38%	+2.1
23	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	22	66	40.5	38.0	22	33%	5%	35%	−5.8
24	Matt Flynn	Georgia Southern	22	66	40.2	36.6	15	23%	9%	35%	−11.8
25	Colin Downing	Iowa State	22	62	40.3	38.7	27	46%	5%	38%	+3.8
26	Blake Johnson	Arkansas	22	59	38.6	37.6	18	31%	5%	40%	−4.1
27	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	22	57	38.4	34.5	19	33%	5%	42%	−12.7
28	Dominic Panazzolo	Texas Tech	22	55	42.0	39.6	14	25%	4%	43%	+0.7
29	Will Gleeson	Ole Miss	22	51	41.5	40.2	23	45%	2%	46%	+7.1
30	Ryan Winslow	Pittsburgh	21	57	44.5	38.7	20	35%	9%	40%	−5.2
31	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	21	53	39.2	37.5	12	23%	9%	41%	−9.6
32	Stefan Flintoft	UCLA	21	52	42.8	38.8	18	35%	2%	41%	−0.3
33	Mac Loudermilk	UCF	21	41	39.5	38.3	24	59%	0%	54%	+4.7
34	Cole Moos	Kansas	20	83	39.6	35.3	24	29%	4%	26%	−29.9
35	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	20	67	42.0	38.3	29	43%	16%	30%	+7.2
36	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	20	54	43.7	40.0	23	43%	11%	38%	+10.2
37	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	19	73	45.6	41.3	31	42%	7%	28%	+10.0
38	Mike Knoll	Boston College	19	73	40.2	37.4	36	49%	5%	26%	−0.8
39	Corey Bojorquez	New Mexico	19	67	47.3	42.1	33	49%	18%	31%	+17.3
40	Alex Kinney	Colorado	19	56	43.8	41.1	28	50%	4%	35%	+10.4
41	Dane Roy	Houston	19	53	41.6	38.8	23	44%	10%	40%	+2.2
42	Ryan Rickel	Florida Atlantic	19	46	42.6	41.0	16	36%	2%	42%	+8.0
43	Cody Grace	Arkansas State	19	44	40.9	40.8	25	57%	0%	49%	+8.0
44	Alan Luna	UTEP	18	79	44.1	39.3	28	36%	9%	23%	+3.1
45	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	18	66	43.0	38.5	19	29%	14%	29%	+6.1
46	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	18	64	40.5	38.8	28	44%	8%	30%	−5.4
47	Brett Graham	UConn	18	63	38.8	37.3	23	37%	3%	31%	−2.1
48	Logan Tyler	Florida State	18	65	43.2	39.1	21	34%	6%	29%	+3.4
49	Brad Robbins	Michigan	18	58	40.9	36.9	24	42%	7%	35%	−5.6
50	Evan Rabon	Coastal Carolina	18	56	43.3	39.9	20	36%	5%	33%	+5.4
51	Adam Stack	Oregon	18	54	38.0	35.7	18	33%	6%	37%	−10.0
52	Jake Bailey	Stanford	18	53	45.1	42.5	25	48%	6%	35%	+14.4
53	Nick Porebski	Oregon State	18	49	38.5	37.5	12	24%	2%	37%	−7.9
54	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	18	48	42.8	40.5	21	44%	8%	39%	+8.2
55	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	17	64	43.9	38.2	21	33%	9%	27%	−2.3
56	Hunter Niswander	Northwestern	17	63	42.9	39.9	21	33%	5%	28%	+5.5
57	Sam Loy	Vanderbilt	17	64	40.2	36.5	17	27%	6%	27%	−11.5
58	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	17	64	42.4	37.2	20	32%	13%	35%	+1.0
59	Jonathan Hernandez	South Florida	17	58	43.2	36.9	14	23%	17%	29%	−2.9
60	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	17	59	43.5	37.9	16	27%	7%	29%	−1.7
61	Jack Fox	Rice	17	57	44.2	37.2	17	30%	13%	31%	−5.0
62	Kyle DeWeen	Buffalo	17	56	40.6	37.9	21	38%	5%	32%	−1.0
63	Xavier Subotsch	App State	17	52	39.8	35.9	19	37%	10%	35%	−6.2
64	Michael Farkas	Ohio	17	54	40.4	37.9	17	35%	4%	36%	+2.4
65	Drue Chrisman	Ohio State	17	44	44.0	41.4	18	41%	7%	40%	+7.6
66	Marcus Ripley	Texas State	16	81	42.4	38.5	27	38%	7%	23%	+0.3
67	Austin Parker	Duke	16	61	42.0	36.6	11	18%	15%	26%	−2.9
68	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	16	59	42.1	39.7	24	41%	7%	32%	+3.9
69	Aidan Marshall	Auburn	16	38	39.4	34.1	9	24%	8%	43%	−5.2
70	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	15	78	41.2	38.1	31	40%	10%	21%	−0.8
71	Corey Fatony	Missouri	15	50	44.5	41.8	23	46%	8%	31%	+13.7
72	Reid Budrovich	USC	15	49	42.5	37.5	19	38%	6%	31%	−2.6
73	Stone Wilson	Florida International	15	50	41.8	37.9	20	40%	12%	33%	−2.3
74	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	15	46	44.2	42.6	18	39%	7%	35%	+11.7
75	Bailey Flint	Toledo	15	39	37.1	35.6	17	44%	8%	41%	−1.8
76	Blake Hayes	Illinois	14	77	42.0	40.2	31	40%	3%	19%	+8.3
77	Lester Coleman	Virginia	14	71	44.0	38.1	31	43%	11%	20%	−7.8
78	Trevor Daniel	Tennessee	14	70	47.5	43.3	31	44%	7%	21%	+20.6
79	Joel Dixon	UAB	14	60	41.3	35.7	14	23%	8%	25%	−9.7
80	Zac Everett	Southern Miss	14	60	40.5	38.6	21	35%	5%	26%	+2.6
81	Jonny Linehan	BYU	14	59	42.9	41.9	28	47%	3%	26%	+11.9
82	Matt Panton	Kentucky	14	57	42.7	40.5	20	35%	5%	27%	+4.8
83	A.J. Cole III	NC State	14	53	43.8	37.9	23	43%	8%	26%	−5.8
84	Kaare Vedvik	Marshall	14	53	44.4	40.8	24	45%	13%	27%	+14.4
85	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	14	51	40.3	37.4	25	48%	4%	28%	+2.6
86	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	14	50	43.2	40.0	27	53%	6%	29%	+9.6
87	Tom Sheldon	North Carolina	14	45	45.8	42.5	15	34%	5%	36%	+6.4
88	Zach Sinor	Oklahoma State	14	36	43.0	38.1	8	22%	14%	39%	0.0
89	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	14	36	42.6	37.8	11	31%	8%	40%	−4.5
90	Zach Von Rosenberg	LSU	14	33	43.3	42.1	12	36%	3%	45%	+7.6
91	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	13	69	41.5	38.5	18	26%	6%	19%	−1.3
92	Harrison Heim	UL Monroe	13	58	41.9	37.4	23	40%	9%	26%	−1.0
93	Joseph Davidson	Bowling Green	13	60	44.0	42.4	27	47%	3%	25%	+16.9
94	Stan Gaudion	Hawai'i	13	58	42.1	38.8	20	34%	2%	25%	−9.8
95	Alex Starzyk	Temple	13	52	40.3	34.9	21	39%	13%	26%	−4.1
96	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	13	50	44.1	39.7	21	42%	2%	27%	+5.3
97	Austin Barnes	East Carolina	13	50	44.0	39.4	17	35%	12%	29%	+0.8
98	Quinn Skillin	Boise State	13	36	40.6	38.2	18	47%	8%	35%	+7.4
99	Michael Sleep-Dalton	Arizona State	12	59	39.8	36.3	18	30%	2%	21%	−10.3
100	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	12	50	37.3	31.6	14	29%	6%	25%	−32.0
101	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	12	47	41.6	39.6	29	62%	9%	27%	+6.4
102	Zachary Block	Tulane	12	52	39.6	36.6	15	33%	9%	29%	−2.3
103	Johnny Townsend	Florida	11	64	47.5	41.5	29	45%	8%	18%	+11.2
104	Tyler Sumpter	Troy	11	53	40.2	36.0	16	32%	6%	23%	−12.9
105	Joseph Charlton	South Carolina	11	47	44.3	41.1	11	23%	9%	24%	+7.0
106	Brady Farlow	Louisiana Tech	11	36	37.6	35.5	7	19%	3%	34%	−10.6
107	Ryan Anderson	Rutgers	10	79	44.4	38.9	21	27%	13%	13%	+0.3
108	Jake Collins	Western Kentucky	10	52	39.9	36.8	19	37%	8%	20%	−3.4
109	Joel Whitford	Washington	10	37	41.4	39.2	15	41%	5%	27%	+1.4
110	Josh Growden	LSU	10	21	36.1	33.8	12	57%	0%	50%	−4.4
111	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	9	65	42.6	34.3	19	30%	9%	14%	−15.4
112	Charlie Scott	Air Force	9	41	42.1	39.1	14	34%	0%	24%	−1.8
113	Mason King	Louisville	9	39	44.1	39.9	8	20%	5%	24%	+0.6
114	Connor Martin	Baylor	9	39	40.3	39.1	12	31%	3%	24%	−2.0
115	Blake Patterson	TCU	9	30	41.3	39.6	10	33%	7%	31%	+0.6
116	Nick Jacobs	Memphis	9	24	41.7	40.0	13	57%	4%	39%	+3.8
117	Ivan Oraha	Eastern Michigan	9	22	33.7	30.8	12	55%	5%	45%	−4.5
118	Cade Coffey	Idaho	8	66	44.6	36.7	27	41%	11%	13%	−12.2
119	Thomas Bennett	Tulsa	8	61	42.3	36.8	17	28%	8%	14%	−8.9
120	Jamie Sackville	SMU	8	53	40.8	38.6	21	40%	6%	16%	+1.1
121	Dylan Klumph	California	8	46	43.0	38.5	12	26%	7%	20%	−0.2
122	Owen White	Navy	8	39	41.2	38.6	13	38%	6%	24%	+1.1
123	Drew Galitz	Baylor	8	21	45.2	45.7	6	29%	0%	40%	+7.1
124	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	7	65	42.4	39.6	32	49%	6%	11%	+5.4
125	Colten Rastetter	Iowa	7	49	38.4	37.5	10	20%	0%	14%	−10.0
126	Spencer Smith	Memphis	7	21	40.8	40.2	9	41%	5%	32%	−1.3
127	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	7	21	40.1	39.6	2	11%	0%	39%	−2.4
128	Alvin Kenworthy	North Texas	7	18	36.8	35.9	6	33%	0%	39%	−3.1
129	Hunter Lent	North Carolina	6	25	44.9	41.0	8	32%	0%	24%	+3.3
130	Evan Pantels	UNLV	6	22	40.9	34.3	6	26%	17%	27%	−4.8
131	Davan Dyer	Louisiana Tech	6	16	38.7	37.6	5	31%	0%	40%	−0.8
132	Ian Shannon	Auburn	6	14	39.8	38.6	5	36%	0%	43%	−4.3
133	Jack Sheldon	Central Michigan	5	72	43.6	38.5	26	36%	10%	7%	+1.7
134	Kyle Sweet	Washington State	5	32	38.4	36.6	6	19%	6%	16%	−9.4
135	Riley Erickson	UNLV	5	24	36.6	28.0	6	26%	9%	23%	−12.7
136	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	4	38	46.8	41.3	19	49%	16%	11%	+5.0
137	Will Hart	Michigan	4	12	37.9	35.8	6	50%	8%	33%	−3.2
138	Alex Bland	Oregon State	4	11	35.9	35.4	4	36%	0%	57%	−1.2
139	Mitchell Cox	Washington State	4	8	28.0	28.0	6	75%	0%	50%	−2.9
140	Nick Schrage	Army	3	25	42.9	39.6	7	28%	4%	12%	+0.6
141	Oliver Holdenson	Georgia State	3	29	38.2	34.2	13	52%	4%	13%	−4.3
142	Jake Glatting	Arizona	3	22	35.7	29.7	6	27%	5%	14%	−11.0
143	Kyle Thompson	Kansas	3	4	36.8	35.7	1	33%	0%	100%	−0.4
144	Josh Pollack	Arizona	2	15	34.6	35.1	6	43%	0%	14%	−4.8
145	Ryan Gersonde	Iowa	2	13	42.5	38.2	2	15%	8%	18%	−0.2
146	Steven Coutts	California	2	5	40.8	35.4	2	40%	0%	40%	−1.3
147	Connor Allen	Wisconsin	2	4	40.0	37.3	2	67%	0%	67%	+0.6
148	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	1	33	42.3	39.6	9	26%	6%	3%	+1.3
149	Erik Powell	Washington State	1	19	42.5	39.6	5	26%	5%	6%	−0.9
150	Bryce Crawford	San José State	1	10	39.7	33.9	3	30%	10%	11%	−2.7
151	Damon Foncham	Arkansas State	1	6	35.5	35.5	4	67%	0%	17%	+0.3
152	Michael Julian	Toledo	1	6	38.5	38.5	1	17%	0%	17%	−0.5
153	Andrew David	TCU	1	5	44.6	44.6	2	40%	0%	33%	+1.7
154	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	1	5	42.2	32.8	0	0%	0%	20%	−3.6
155	Briggs Bourgeois	Southern Miss	1	3	30.0	30.0	1	33%	0%	33%	−1.8
156	Carson King	Clemson	1	3	39.3	35.7	1	33%	0%	33%	−0.5
157	Daniel Kubiuk	Northwestern	1	2	36.0	36.0	0	0%	0%	50%	−1.1
158	Jonn Young	West Virginia	1	2	36.0	36.0	1	50%	0%	50%	−0.3
159	Mitch Lochbihler	Kansas State	1	2	49.5	49.5	1	50%	0%	50%	+1.1
160	Zach Potter	Army	1	2	34.5	34.5	2	100%	0%	50%	+0.2
161	Kristian Cotton	UAB	1	1	34.0	34.0	1	100%	0%	100%	0.0
162	Zach Lee	Utah State	1	1	36.0	36.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.2

All 2017 College punter rankings

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

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Other 2017 College rankings

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