2017 College Gross Punting Average Leaders

Gross average is total punt yards divided by punts that were not blocked. It measures distance only and ignores returns and touchbacks.

Net average is a better measure of field position; use both. In 2017, Michael Dickson (48.4) led college football punters in gross punting average, ahead of Johnny Townsend (47.5) and Trevor Daniel (47.5). 125 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 42.0.

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

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

All 2017 College punter rankings

Gross Punting Average in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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