2017 College Punts Returned Leaders

Punts the receiving team fielded and ran back, including muffs. Fewer returns mean the punter and coverage team gave the returner less to work with.

Compare with return yards allowed. In 2017, Logan Laurent (30) led college football punters in punts returned, ahead of Alan Luna (28) and Mike Knoll (27). 165 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Returns	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Logan Laurent	Massachusetts	30	65	42.6	34.3	19	30%	9%	14%	−15.4
2	Alan Luna	UTEP	28	79	44.1	39.3	28	36%	9%	23%	+3.1
3	Mike Knoll	Boston College	27	73	40.2	37.4	36	49%	5%	26%	−0.8
4	Trevor Daniel	Tennessee	26	70	47.5	43.3	31	44%	7%	21%	+20.6
5	Michael Sleep-Dalton	Arizona State	26	59	39.8	36.3	18	30%	2%	21%	−10.3
6	Derek Adams	Kent State	25	79	43.6	40.5	22	28%	11%	29%	+8.8
7	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	25	69	41.5	38.5	18	26%	6%	19%	−1.3
8	Derrick Mitchell	Western Michigan	25	65	42.4	39.6	32	49%	6%	11%	+5.4
9	Johnny Townsend	Florida	25	64	47.5	41.5	29	45%	8%	18%	+11.2
10	Stan Gaudion	Hawai'i	25	58	42.1	38.8	20	34%	2%	25%	−9.8
11	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	24	85	40.7	38.0	29	35%	6%	34%	+2.4
12	Ryan Anderson	Rutgers	24	79	44.4	38.9	21	27%	13%	13%	+0.3
13	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	24	64	43.9	38.2	21	33%	9%	27%	−2.3
14	Austin Parker	Duke	24	61	42.0	36.6	11	18%	15%	26%	−2.9
15	Blake Hayes	Illinois	23	77	42.0	40.2	31	40%	3%	19%	+8.3
16	Jack Sheldon	Central Michigan	23	72	43.6	38.5	26	36%	10%	7%	+1.7
17	Marcus Ripley	Texas State	23	81	42.4	38.5	27	38%	7%	23%	+0.3
18	Cade Coffey	Idaho	23	66	44.6	36.7	27	41%	11%	13%	−12.2
19	Tim Zaleski	Wyoming	22	81	39.4	37.4	28	35%	5%	30%	−0.6
20	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	22	59	43.5	37.9	16	27%	7%	29%	−1.7
21	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	21	70	45.2	42.5	28	40%	6%	40%	+13.0
22	Joel Dixon	UAB	21	60	41.3	35.7	14	23%	8%	25%	−9.7
23	Jack Fox	Rice	21	57	44.2	37.2	17	30%	13%	31%	−5.0
24	Thomas Bennett	Tulsa	20	61	42.3	36.8	17	28%	8%	14%	−8.9
25	Evan Rabon	Coastal Carolina	20	56	43.3	39.9	20	36%	5%	33%	+5.4
26	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	20	50	44.1	39.7	21	42%	2%	27%	+5.3
27	Lester Coleman	Virginia	19	71	44.0	38.1	31	43%	11%	20%	−7.8
28	Ryan Santoso	Minnesota	19	66	43.0	38.5	19	29%	14%	29%	+6.1
29	Ryan Winslow	Pittsburgh	19	57	44.5	38.7	20	35%	9%	40%	−5.2
30	Cole Moos	Kansas	18	83	39.6	35.3	24	29%	4%	26%	−29.9
31	Nick Gasser	Akron	18	78	41.9	36.8	26	33%	4%	31%	−14.2
32	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	18	66	40.5	38.0	22	33%	5%	35%	−5.8
33	Harrison Heim	UL Monroe	18	58	41.9	37.4	23	40%	9%	26%	−1.0
34	Hunter Niswander	Northwestern	17	63	42.9	39.9	21	33%	5%	28%	+5.5
35	Will Spiers	Clemson	17	60	40.8	36.7	28	47%	7%	38%	−1.6
36	Jonny Linehan	BYU	17	59	42.9	41.9	28	47%	3%	26%	+11.9
37	Mason King	Louisville	17	39	44.1	39.9	8	20%	5%	24%	+0.6
38	Sam Loy	Vanderbilt	16	64	40.2	36.5	17	27%	6%	27%	−11.5
39	Logan Tyler	Florida State	16	65	43.2	39.1	21	34%	6%	29%	+3.4
40	Jonathan Hernandez	South Florida	16	58	43.2	36.9	14	23%	17%	29%	−2.9
41	Matt Panton	Kentucky	16	57	42.7	40.5	20	35%	5%	27%	+4.8
42	A.J. Cole III	NC State	16	53	43.8	37.9	23	43%	8%	26%	−5.8
43	Nick Walsh	Kansas State	16	54	43.7	40.0	23	43%	11%	38%	+10.2
44	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	16	51	40.3	37.4	25	48%	4%	28%	+2.6
45	Jake Bailey	Stanford	16	53	45.1	42.5	25	48%	6%	35%	+14.4
46	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	16	50	43.2	40.0	27	53%	6%	29%	+9.6
47	Reid Budrovich	USC	16	49	42.5	37.5	19	38%	6%	31%	−2.6
48	Arthur Hart	Charlotte	15	85	43.5	39.5	24	28%	12%	36%	+2.4
49	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	15	78	41.2	38.1	31	40%	10%	21%	−0.8
50	Michael Carrizosa	San José State	15	73	45.6	41.3	31	42%	7%	28%	+10.0
51	Michael Dickson	Texas	15	73	48.4	44.8	35	49%	11%	39%	+36.8
52	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	15	67	41.7	38.5	21	31%	12%	38%	+2.1
53	Brett Graham	UConn	15	63	38.8	37.3	23	37%	3%	31%	−2.1
54	Billy Kinney	West Virginia	15	61	40.0	35.9	20	33%	7%	43%	−12.2
55	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	15	57	38.4	34.5	19	33%	5%	42%	−12.7
56	Tyler Sumpter	Troy	15	53	40.2	36.0	16	32%	6%	23%	−12.9
57	Dylan Klumph	California	15	46	43.0	38.5	12	26%	7%	20%	−0.2
58	Colin Downing	Iowa State	14	62	40.3	38.7	27	46%	5%	38%	+3.8
59	Joseph Davidson	Bowling Green	14	60	44.0	42.4	27	47%	3%	25%	+16.9
60	Brad Robbins	Michigan	14	58	40.9	36.9	24	42%	7%	35%	−5.6
61	Stefan Flintoft	UCLA	14	52	42.8	38.8	18	35%	2%	41%	−0.3
62	Michael Farkas	Ohio	14	54	40.4	37.9	17	35%	4%	36%	+2.4
63	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	14	50	37.3	31.6	14	29%	6%	25%	−32.0
64	Shane Tripucka	Texas A&M	13	76	46.1	43.3	26	34%	8%	43%	+25.4
65	Matt Flynn	Georgia Southern	13	66	40.2	36.6	15	23%	9%	35%	−11.8
66	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	13	64	42.4	37.2	20	32%	13%	35%	+1.0
67	Alex Kinney	Colorado	13	56	43.8	41.1	28	50%	4%	35%	+10.4
68	Adam Stack	Oregon	13	54	38.0	35.7	18	33%	6%	37%	−10.0
69	Austin Barnes	East Carolina	13	50	44.0	39.4	17	35%	12%	29%	+0.8
70	Tom Sheldon	North Carolina	13	45	45.8	42.5	15	34%	5%	36%	+6.4
71	Connor Martin	Baylor	13	39	40.3	39.1	12	31%	3%	24%	−2.0
72	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	12	67	42.0	38.3	29	43%	16%	30%	+7.2
73	James Smith	Cincinnati	12	64	42.0	41.4	25	39%	0%	45%	+10.1
74	Zac Everett	Southern Miss	12	60	40.5	38.6	21	35%	5%	26%	+2.6
75	Kaare Vedvik	Marshall	12	53	44.4	40.8	24	45%	13%	27%	+14.4
76	Xavier Subotsch	App State	12	52	39.8	35.9	19	37%	10%	35%	−6.2
77	Colten Rastetter	Iowa	12	49	38.4	37.5	10	20%	0%	14%	−10.0
78	Kyle DeWeen	Buffalo	11	56	40.6	37.9	21	38%	5%	32%	−1.0
79	Stone Wilson	Florida International	11	50	41.8	37.9	20	40%	12%	33%	−2.3
80	Cameron Nizialek	Georgia	11	49	44.5	41.8	23	47%	6%	51%	+9.3
81	Ryan Rickel	Florida Atlantic	11	46	42.6	41.0	16	36%	2%	42%	+8.0
82	Owen White	Navy	11	39	41.2	38.6	13	38%	6%	24%	+1.1
83	Zach Feagles	Miami	10	68	38.1	37.1	27	40%	4%	49%	−3.9
84	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	10	64	40.5	38.8	28	44%	8%	30%	−5.4
85	Blake Johnson	Arkansas	10	59	38.6	37.6	18	31%	5%	40%	−4.1
86	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	10	59	42.1	39.7	24	41%	7%	32%	+3.9
87	Dominic Panazzolo	Texas Tech	10	55	42.0	39.6	14	25%	4%	43%	+0.7
88	Alex Starzyk	Temple	10	52	40.3	34.9	21	39%	13%	26%	−4.1
89	Jake Collins	Western Kentucky	10	52	39.9	36.8	19	37%	8%	20%	−3.4
90	Joseph Charlton	South Carolina	10	47	44.3	41.1	11	23%	9%	24%	+7.0
91	Quinn Skillin	Boise State	10	36	40.6	38.2	18	47%	8%	35%	+7.4
92	Corey Bojorquez	New Mexico	9	67	47.3	42.1	33	49%	18%	31%	+17.3
93	Joe Schopper	Purdue	9	67	40.2	37.3	28	44%	5%	49%	+0.4
94	Wade Lees	Maryland	9	64	39.2	37.4	17	27%	3%	48%	−12.7
95	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	9	63	42.5	40.1	27	43%	10%	50%	+11.2
96	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	9	57	43.2	41.4	22	39%	7%	46%	+8.4
97	Charlie Scott	Air Force	9	41	42.1	39.1	14	34%	0%	24%	−1.8
98	Aidan Marshall	Auburn	9	38	39.4	34.1	9	24%	8%	43%	−5.2
99	Zach Sinor	Oklahoma State	9	36	43.0	38.1	8	22%	14%	39%	0.0
100	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	9	33	42.3	39.6	9	26%	6%	3%	+1.3
101	Kyle Sweet	Washington State	9	32	38.4	36.6	6	19%	6%	16%	−9.4
102	Adam Nunez	TCU	8	61	39.3	36.5	31	50%	6%	40%	−2.4
103	Jamie Sackville	SMU	8	53	40.8	38.6	21	40%	6%	16%	+1.1
104	Corey Fatony	Missouri	8	50	44.5	41.8	23	46%	8%	31%	+13.7
105	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	8	38	46.8	41.3	19	49%	16%	11%	+5.0
106	Joel Whitford	Washington	8	37	41.4	39.2	15	41%	5%	27%	+1.4
107	Zach Von Rosenberg	LSU	8	33	43.3	42.1	12	36%	3%	45%	+7.6
108	Riley Erickson	UNLV	8	24	36.6	28.0	6	26%	9%	23%	−12.7
109	Jake Glatting	Arizona	8	22	35.7	29.7	6	27%	5%	14%	−11.0
110	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	8	27	44.4	33.9	7	33%	25%	0%	−5.6
111	Erik Powell	Washington State	8	19	42.5	39.6	5	26%	5%	6%	−0.9
112	Dane Roy	Houston	7	53	41.6	38.8	23	44%	10%	40%	+2.2
113	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	7	48	39.6	36.6	9	18%	2%	53%	−12.6
114	Logan Cooke	Mississippi State	7	48	42.8	40.5	21	44%	8%	39%	+8.2
115	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	7	47	41.6	39.6	29	62%	9%	27%	+6.4
116	Austin Seibert	Oklahoma	7	36	42.6	37.8	11	31%	8%	40%	−4.5
117	Brady Farlow	Louisiana Tech	7	36	37.6	35.5	7	19%	3%	34%	−10.6
118	Hunter Lent	North Carolina	7	25	44.9	41.0	8	32%	0%	24%	+3.3
119	Nick Schrage	Army	7	25	42.9	39.6	7	28%	4%	12%	+0.6
120	Oliver Holdenson	Georgia State	7	29	38.2	34.2	13	52%	4%	13%	−4.3
121	Evan Pantels	UNLV	7	22	40.9	34.3	6	26%	17%	27%	−4.8
122	Will Gleeson	Ole Miss	6	51	41.5	40.2	23	45%	2%	46%	+7.1
123	Nick Porebski	Oregon State	6	49	38.5	37.5	12	24%	2%	37%	−7.9
124	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	6	46	44.2	42.6	18	39%	7%	35%	+11.7
125	Zachary Block	Tulane	6	52	39.6	36.6	15	33%	9%	29%	−2.3
126	Blake Patterson	TCU	6	30	41.3	39.6	10	33%	7%	31%	+0.6
127	Sam Geraci	Louisiana	5	64	40.7	39.2	24	42%	7%	45%	+5.3
128	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	5	53	39.2	37.5	12	23%	9%	41%	−9.6
129	Drue Chrisman	Ohio State	5	44	44.0	41.4	18	41%	7%	40%	+7.6
130	Mac Loudermilk	UCF	5	41	39.5	38.3	24	59%	0%	54%	+4.7
131	Drew Galitz	Baylor	5	21	45.2	45.7	6	29%	0%	40%	+7.1
132	Josh Pollack	Arizona	5	15	34.6	35.1	6	43%	0%	14%	−4.8
133	Ivan Oraha	Eastern Michigan	4	22	33.7	30.8	12	55%	5%	45%	−4.5
134	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	4	21	40.1	39.6	2	11%	0%	39%	−2.4
135	Davan Dyer	Louisiana Tech	4	16	38.7	37.6	5	31%	0%	40%	−0.8
136	Ian Shannon	Auburn	4	14	39.8	38.6	5	36%	0%	43%	−4.3
137	Ryan Gersonde	Iowa	4	13	42.5	38.2	2	15%	8%	18%	−0.2
138	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	4	5	42.2	32.8	0	0%	0%	20%	−3.6
139	Cody Grace	Arkansas State	3	44	40.9	40.8	25	57%	0%	49%	+8.0
140	JK Scott	Alabama	3	42	43.4	40.9	24	56%	7%	55%	+12.9
141	Josh Growden	LSU	3	21	36.1	33.8	12	57%	0%	50%	−4.4
142	Morgan Hagee	Ball State	3	20	34.5	32.4	6	29%	0%	0%	−9.6
143	Will Hart	Michigan	3	12	37.9	35.8	6	50%	8%	33%	−3.2
144	Bailey Flint	Toledo	2	39	37.1	35.6	17	44%	8%	41%	−1.8
145	Spencer Smith	Memphis	2	21	40.8	40.2	9	41%	5%	32%	−1.3
146	Cooper Mojsiejenko	Central Michigan	2	6	31.7	29.5	2	33%	0%	0%	−2.4
147	Steven Coutts	California	2	5	40.8	35.4	2	40%	0%	40%	−1.3
148	Jake Verity	East Carolina	2	3	37.3	34.3	1	33%	0%	0%	−0.9
149	Nick Jacobs	Memphis	1	24	41.7	40.0	13	57%	4%	39%	+3.8
150	Alvin Kenworthy	North Texas	1	18	36.8	35.9	6	33%	0%	39%	−3.1
151	Alex Bland	Oregon State	1	11	35.9	35.4	4	36%	0%	57%	−1.2
152	Bryce Crawford	San José State	1	10	39.7	33.9	3	30%	10%	11%	−2.7
153	Mitchell Cox	Washington State	1	8	28.0	28.0	6	75%	0%	50%	−2.9
154	Zach Oakley	Central Michigan	1	7	44.4	39.0	3	38%	0%	0%	+0.8
155	Carson King	Clemson	1	3	39.3	35.7	1	33%	0%	33%	−0.5
156	John Urzua	Middle Tennessee	1	2	32.5	22.0	1	50%	0%	0%	−1.7
157	Kent Myers	Utah State	1	2	32.5	-5.0	1	50%	0%	0%	−3.7
158	Rylee Critcher	App State	1	2	24.5	21.5	0	0%	0%	0%	−1.6
159	Trevor Wood	Arizona	1	2	38.0	34.5	1	50%	0%	0%	0.0
160	Tyler Bass	Georgia Southern	1	2	49.5	49.5	2	100%	0%	0%	+1.4
161	Aston Walter	Rice	1	1	40.0	36.0	1	100%	0%	0%	0.0
162	Corey Edwards	BYU	1	1	39.0	47.0	1	100%	0%	0%	+0.4
163	Derambez Drinkard	Coastal Carolina	1	1	35.0	31.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.7
164	Devonte Boyd	UNLV	1	1	49.0	43.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−1.1
165	Nick Fitzgerald	Mississippi State	1	1	14.0	11.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.6

All 2017 College punter rankings

Punts Returned in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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