2018 College Average Punt Return Allowed Leaders

Return yards allowed divided by punts returned. It shows how well a punter and his coverage team contain returners.

Lower is better. Only punters with enough returns are ranked. In 2018, Magill Bauerle (0.1) topped college football punters in average punt return allowed, ahead of Matt Naranjo (0.8) and Lester Coleman (0.9). 97 punters qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified punter had 7.3.

Final 2018 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg ret	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Magill Bauerle	Georgia Southern	0.1	44	38.9	37.5	16	30%	4%	40%	+0.3
2	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	0.8	31	41.2	40.3	9	29%	3%	13%	+2.3
3	Lester Coleman	Virginia	0.9	47	42.1	39.7	20	43%	11%	24%	+7.9
4	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	2.1	53	40.2	37.7	19	35%	9%	43%	+2.5
5	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	2.1	62	42.1	40.5	32	52%	6%	29%	+11.7
6	Tim Zaleski	Wyoming	2.4	36	38.8	36.4	12	33%	8%	20%	−0.1
7	Hunter Lent	North Carolina	2.9	50	39.9	39.1	17	34%	0%	27%	+3.3
8	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	3.1	53	43.2	41.1	17	32%	6%	15%	+2.6
9	Will Spiers	Clemson	3.3	55	39.6	36.9	15	28%	7%	39%	−7.5
10	A.J. Cole III	NC State	3.4	40	41.3	38.8	20	47%	9%	34%	−0.3
11	Drue Chrisman	Ohio State	3.5	53	43.3	42.6	27	53%	2%	41%	+12.3
12	Rhett Almond	BYU	3.5	54	40.3	39.4	20	38%	2%	24%	+2.2
13	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	3.7	75	43.0	39.9	30	39%	5%	22%	+5.7
14	Stan Gaudion	Hawai'i	3.7	42	40.6	38.9	12	29%	0%	18%	−5.1
15	Jake Bailey	Stanford	3.7	59	44.0	39.9	26	44%	17%	30%	+17.1
16	Jamie Sackville	SMU	3.9	67	39.7	37.9	22	33%	5%	30%	+0.2
17	Clayton Howell	App State	3.9	46	43.2	41.5	14	30%	2%	42%	+4.1
18	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	4.1	51	40.0	37.0	19	37%	6%	40%	+0.4
19	Colten Rastetter	Iowa	4.2	46	39.6	36.5	20	43%	4%	9%	−7.0
20	Joseph Charlton	South Carolina	4.7	43	44.8	41.8	16	36%	5%	44%	+9.9
21	James Smith	Cincinnati	4.8	54	47.0	45.1	26	48%	2%	35%	+26.0
22	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	4.8	54	45.1	41.3	21	38%	7%	39%	+10.8
23	Nick Gasser	Akron	4.8	75	39.4	36.9	20	27%	5%	14%	−13.0
24	Zach Von Rosenberg	LSU	5.1	50	45.6	44.0	17	35%	2%	49%	+11.1
25	Mitchell Crawford	UTEP	5.1	72	39.8	37.3	20	28%	4%	31%	−2.4
26	Dane Roy	Houston	5.1	55	42.3	40.4	24	44%	2%	42%	+5.2
27	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	5.2	78	42.7	40.5	24	31%	4%	19%	+7.2
28	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	5.3	83	40.1	37.6	35	42%	8%	23%	+3.5
29	Grant Carlson	Boston College	5.4	68	40.0	37.0	27	41%	3%	25%	−0.3
30	Davis Price	Colorado	5.6	48	38.4	37.2	22	47%	0%	48%	−3.5
31	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	5.7	60	43.1	37.7	20	33%	15%	21%	+5.1
32	Kyle Thompson	Kansas	5.7	69	43.3	39.4	26	37%	10%	17%	+5.2
33	Michael Farkas	Ohio	5.8	42	43.1	40.0	16	39%	7%	43%	−0.2
34	Joe Schopper	Purdue	5.9	56	43.1	40.7	24	44%	4%	46%	+9.1
35	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	5.9	47	51.1	44.9	21	45%	19%	22%	+26.2
36	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	5.9	56	38.9	36.9	13	23%	2%	39%	−6.7
37	Steven Coutts	California	6.0	63	41.8	39.1	32	51%	3%	29%	+7.7
38	Tyler Hunt	Michigan State	6.0	36	40.1	37.0	15	42%	6%	28%	−1.1
39	Evan Finegan	Buffalo	6.6	50	42.1	37.4	13	25%	8%	26%	−3.9
40	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	6.6	31	44.3	40.8	12	39%	6%	17%	+5.4
41	Tyler Sumpter	Troy	6.7	51	44.8	41.9	15	29%	8%	30%	+14.1
42	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	6.8	63	42.1	39.6	28	44%	2%	30%	+10.2
43	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	6.9	55	41.9	39.9	12	22%	0%	51%	+2.6
44	Jack Fox	Rice	7.0	80	45.5	40.6	30	37%	16%	23%	+11.1
45	Tyson Dyer	New Mexico	7.0	74	44.3	40.2	24	32%	8%	13%	+11.7
46	Bryce Crawford	San José State	7.1	65	44.2	40.0	20	31%	9%	15%	−1.0
47	Austin Parker	Duke	7.2	65	41.4	37.7	25	38%	6%	39%	−5.2
48	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	7.2	71	41.4	38.8	26	37%	4%	39%	−0.6
49	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	7.3	59	40.8	37.6	24	41%	7%	26%	+3.0
50	Wade Lees	Maryland	7.3	67	40.9	39.2	29	43%	3%	41%	+5.6
51	Hayes Hicken	UNLV	7.3	65	43.8	39.1	20	30%	5%	17%	+1.6
52	Jake Collins	Northwestern	7.4	72	40.7	38.0	28	39%	6%	36%	+5.8
53	Jack Sheldon	Central Michigan	7.6	89	40.4	35.5	20	22%	3%	17%	−23.5
54	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	7.7	68	41.6	37.8	20	29%	4%	17%	−6.4
55	Dylan Klumph	Arizona	7.9	44	42.2	39.1	16	36%	5%	32%	+2.0
56	Parker Thome	Vanderbilt	7.9	49	45.1	40.0	19	39%	12%	28%	+10.7
57	Owen White	Navy	8.0	53	41.6	38.5	20	38%	0%	15%	+1.0
58	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	8.0	65	41.9	38.5	36	55%	9%	32%	+4.0
59	Davan Dyer	Louisiana Tech	8.0	58	41.1	38.2	22	38%	7%	33%	−2.3
60	Clayton Stewart	Texas State	8.1	69	37.9	34.4	23	33%	6%	22%	−6.1
61	Will Hart	Michigan	8.1	39	47.6	39.9	17	44%	23%	8%	+7.5
62	Zach Sinor	Oklahoma State	8.2	26	45.5	40.5	7	27%	8%	23%	+2.4
63	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	8.3	45	44.4	38.6	16	36%	16%	24%	−1.8
64	Tommy Townsend	Florida	8.3	50	45.1	42.0	23	47%	6%	45%	+12.7
65	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	8.3	51	48.2	42.7	22	45%	8%	4%	+9.5
66	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	8.5	65	42.2	39.2	23	35%	6%	44%	+5.8
67	Connor Bowler	Temple	8.6	52	42.4	36.9	20	38%	12%	23%	−3.9
68	Drew Galitz	Baylor	8.6	50	42.5	39.4	19	37%	6%	45%	+4.8
69	Ryan Bujcevski	Texas	8.7	58	40.2	37.4	18	32%	2%	28%	−5.5
70	Corey Fatony	Missouri	8.7	47	44.0	40.5	24	51%	6%	14%	+3.7
71	Joel Whitford	Washington	9.0	28	41.6	36.6	10	36%	7%	29%	−1.7
72	Blake Hayes	Illinois	9.6	62	43.6	36.6	25	39%	8%	13%	−4.6
73	Mason King	Louisville	9.6	64	40.6	36.5	22	32%	3%	36%	−9.4
74	Thomas Bennett	Tulsa	9.6	53	46.6	40.0	13	25%	11%	12%	−5.7
75	Adam Williams	Memphis	9.6	50	42.9	37.3	19	37%	10%	30%	−3.0
76	Aidan Alves	Liberty	9.6	66	37.0	33.7	25	37%	6%	35%	−11.9
77	Trent Schneider	South Florida	9.8	68	42.6	37.5	15	24%	14%	24%	−0.8
78	Oscar Draguicevich III	Washington State	9.9	40	46.0	41.3	12	32%	14%	25%	+3.6
79	Luke Magliozzi	UConn	10.0	63	42.9	39.3	26	41%	3%	29%	+5.6
80	Reid Budrovich	USC	10.0	58	39.4	35.5	18	32%	4%	33%	−10.2
81	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	10.3	67	41.7	38.1	16	25%	5%	40%	−4.8
82	Jonn Young	East Carolina	10.6	71	40.1	36.9	16	23%	3%	35%	−9.0
83	Logan Tyler	Florida State	10.6	82	43.2	38.3	17	21%	6%	28%	0.0
84	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	10.6	61	43.3	39.3	28	46%	7%	36%	+4.7
85	Stone Wilson	Florida International	11.1	37	43.9	38.6	15	38%	8%	44%	+1.9
86	Mac Loudermilk	UCF	11.2	41	42.6	37.9	15	38%	8%	21%	+0.2
87	Michael Sleep-Dalton	Arizona State	11.6	53	43.7	37.5	20	38%	11%	31%	−0.9
88	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	11.7	66	43.6	38.1	23	35%	9%	16%	+4.1
89	Jared Porter	UL Monroe	11.8	50	42.6	37.1	12	24%	6%	36%	−7.1
90	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	12.3	39	39.1	36.2	7	18%	0%	18%	−10.0
91	Derek Adams	Kent State	12.4	31	40.2	33.9	9	29%	3%	13%	−17.5
92	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	12.8	74	40.5	34.3	18	24%	10%	21%	−20.3
93	Max Duffy	Kentucky	12.9	51	44.8	40.2	26	51%	4%	25%	+5.1
94	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	15.4	65	48.3	38.3	16	25%	13%	11%	+1.0
95	Kyle Corbett	Charlotte	15.6	55	41.0	34.8	8	16%	4%	17%	−19.4
96	Caleb Lightbourn	Nebraska	16.4	24	41.6	33.3	2	8%	4%	17%	−16.7
97	Stefan Flintoft	UCLA	16.7	56	45.8	37.9	17	30%	11%	29%	−1.8

All 2018 College punter rankings

Average Punt Return Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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