2017 College Net Average in Opponent Territory Leaders

Net average counting only punts that started on the opponent's side of the 50-yard line. There is little room to work with, and every touchback costs 20 net yards, so this is the hardest place to punt well.

Only punters with enough such punts are ranked. In 2017, Tyler Newsome (35.4) led college football punters in net average in opponent territory, ahead of Logan Tyler (34.4) and Blake Gillikin (34.1). 46 punters qualify (minimum 12 punts from the opponent's 50 or closer). The median qualified punter had 31.1.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Net (opp. 50)	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	35.4	59	43.5	37.9	16	27%	7%	29%	−1.7
2	Logan Tyler	Florida State	34.4	65	43.2	39.1	21	34%	6%	29%	+3.4
3	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	34.1	50	43.2	40.0	27	53%	6%	29%	+9.6
4	Zac Everett	Southern Miss	33.9	60	40.5	38.6	21	35%	5%	26%	+2.6
5	Cody Grace	Arkansas State	33.7	44	40.9	40.8	25	57%	0%	49%	+8.0
6	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	33.7	67	41.7	38.5	21	31%	12%	38%	+2.1
7	Dane Roy	Houston	32.6	53	41.6	38.8	23	44%	10%	40%	+2.2
8	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	32.6	54	43.7	40.0	23	43%	11%	38%	+10.2
9	Mike Knoll	Boston College	32.5	73	40.2	37.4	36	49%	5%	26%	−0.8
10	A.J. Cole III	NC State	32.4	53	43.8	37.9	23	43%	8%	26%	−5.8
11	Jake Collins	Western Kentucky	32.2	52	39.9	36.8	19	37%	8%	20%	−3.4
12	Jonathan Hernandez	South Florida	32.0	58	43.2	36.9	14	23%	17%	29%	−2.9
13	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	31.9	65	42.4	39.6	32	49%	6%	11%	+5.4
14	Xavier Subotsch	App State	31.8	52	39.8	35.9	19	37%	10%	35%	−6.2
15	Michael Dickson	Texas	31.8	73	48.4	44.8	35	49%	11%	39%	+36.8
16	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	31.7	85	40.7	38.0	29	35%	6%	34%	+2.4
17	Sam Geraci	Louisiana	31.7	64	40.7	39.2	24	42%	7%	45%	+5.3
18	Corey Bojorquez	New Mexico	31.6	67	47.3	42.1	33	49%	18%	31%	+17.3
19	Reid Budrovich	USC	31.5	49	42.5	37.5	19	38%	6%	31%	−2.6
20	Zach Feagles	Miami	31.5	68	38.1	37.1	27	40%	4%	49%	−3.9
21	Mac Loudermilk	UCF	31.4	41	39.5	38.3	24	59%	0%	54%	+4.7
22	Arthur Hart	Charlotte	31.2	85	43.5	39.5	24	28%	12%	36%	+2.4
23	Blake Hayes	Illinois	31.1	77	42.0	40.2	31	40%	3%	19%	+8.3
24	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	31.1	66	43.0	38.5	19	29%	14%	29%	+6.1
25	Ivan Oraha	Eastern Michigan	31.0	22	33.7	30.8	12	55%	5%	45%	−4.5
26	Bailey Flint	Toledo	30.9	39	37.1	35.6	17	44%	8%	41%	−1.8
27	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	30.8	63	42.5	40.1	27	43%	10%	50%	+11.2
28	Colin Downing	Iowa State	30.8	62	40.3	38.7	27	46%	5%	38%	+3.8
29	Brad Robbins	Michigan	30.7	58	40.9	36.9	24	42%	7%	35%	−5.6
30	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	30.6	64	40.5	38.8	28	44%	8%	30%	−5.4
31	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	30.6	64	42.4	37.2	20	32%	13%	35%	+1.0
32	Lester Coleman	Virginia	30.6	71	44.0	38.1	31	43%	11%	20%	−7.8
33	Adam Nunez	TCU	30.4	61	39.3	36.5	31	50%	6%	40%	−2.4
34	Will Spiers	Clemson	30.2	60	40.8	36.7	28	47%	7%	38%	−1.6
35	Brett Graham	UConn	30.2	63	38.8	37.3	23	37%	3%	31%	−2.1
36	Tim Zaleski	Wyoming	29.9	81	39.4	37.4	28	35%	5%	30%	−0.6
37	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	29.8	67	42.0	38.3	29	43%	16%	30%	+7.2
38	Quinn Skillin	Boise State	29.6	36	40.6	38.2	18	47%	8%	35%	+7.4
39	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	29.6	47	41.6	39.6	29	62%	9%	27%	+6.4
40	Joe Schopper	Purdue	29.4	67	40.2	37.3	28	44%	5%	49%	+0.4
41	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	29.0	51	40.3	37.4	25	48%	4%	28%	+2.6
42	Marcus Ripley	Texas State	28.8	81	42.4	38.5	27	38%	7%	23%	+0.3
43	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	28.6	78	41.2	38.1	31	40%	10%	21%	−0.8
44	Jack Fox	Rice	28.5	57	44.2	37.2	17	30%	13%	31%	−5.0
45	Alex Starzyk	Temple	28.1	52	40.3	34.9	21	39%	13%	26%	−4.1
46	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	27.7	57	38.4	34.5	19	33%	5%	42%	−12.7

All 2017 College punter rankings

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

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