2017 College Net Punting Average Leaders

Net average subtracts return yards and 20 yards for every touchback from each punt, then divides by punts. It is the yardage a punt really gains for its team, so it is the standard measure of punting.

Higher is better. Coverage teams affect it as well as the punter. In 2017, Michael Dickson (44.8) led college football punters in net punting average, ahead of Shane Tripucka (43.3) and Trevor Daniel (43.3). 125 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 38.5.

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

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

All 2017 College punter rankings

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

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