2018 College Fair Catch Percentage Leaders

The share of a punter's punts that the returner fair caught instead of running back. Public play-by-play does not record hang time, so the fair-catch rate is the best available stand-in: a punt that hangs long enough for the coverage team to arrive leaves the returner no choice but to wave for a fair catch.

Higher usually means better hang time, though a returner who is no threat also calls for more fair catches. College punts whose play text does not say how they ended are left out of the count. In 2018, Cody Grace (51.8%) led college football punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Jacob Herbers (51.2%) and Daniel Rodriguez (50.9%). 123 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 30.0%.

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

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Cody Grace	Arkansas State	51.8%	58	40.3	40.0	22	38%	2%	+4.2
2	Jacob Herbers	Minnesota	51.2%	51	41.2	41.0	20	39%	0%	+7.4
3	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	50.9%	55	41.9	39.9	12	22%	0%	+2.6
4	Zach Von Rosenberg	LSU	49.0%	50	45.6	44.0	17	35%	2%	+11.1
5	Davis Price	Colorado	47.8%	48	38.4	37.2	22	47%	0%	−3.5
6	Joe Schopper	Purdue	46.2%	56	43.1	40.7	24	44%	4%	+9.1
7	Drew Galitz	Baylor	44.7%	50	42.5	39.4	19	37%	6%	+4.8
8	Tommy Townsend	Florida	44.7%	50	45.1	42.0	23	47%	6%	+12.7
9	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	44.6%	63	38.2	35.2	25	37%	6%	−13.5
10	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	44.3%	65	42.2	39.2	23	35%	6%	+5.8
11	Joseph Charlton	South Carolina	44.1%	43	44.8	41.8	16	36%	5%	+9.9
12	Stone Wilson	Florida International	44.1%	37	43.9	38.6	15	38%	8%	+1.9
13	Tucker Day	Mississippi State	43.9%	41	38.2	37.0	14	34%	0%	−6.5
14	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	43.5%	56	40.3	37.7	17	30%	7%	−1.0
15	Ryan Wright	Tulane	43.2%	43	44.1	39.4	12	32%	13%	+0.3
16	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	43.2%	46	40.1	37.0	19	40%	2%	−7.0
17	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	42.9%	53	40.2	37.7	19	35%	9%	+2.5
18	Michael Farkas	Ohio	42.5%	42	43.1	40.0	16	39%	7%	−0.2
19	Clayton Howell	App State	41.9%	46	43.2	41.5	14	30%	2%	+4.1
20	Arryn Siposs	Auburn	41.8%	47	44.1	42.2	20	36%	7%	+14.3
21	Dane Roy	Houston	41.8%	55	42.3	40.4	24	44%	2%	+5.2
22	Alvin Kenworthy	North Texas	41.3%	50	42.4	38.5	22	43%	10%	+0.4
23	Drue Chrisman	Ohio State	41.2%	53	43.3	42.6	27	53%	2%	+12.3
24	Wade Lees	Maryland	40.9%	67	40.9	39.2	29	43%	3%	+5.6
25	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	40.4%	51	40.0	37.0	19	37%	6%	+0.4
26	Magill Bauerle	Georgia Southern	40.4%	44	38.9	37.5	16	30%	4%	+0.3
27	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	40.0%	52	41.5	38.8	23	46%	6%	+2.9
28	Corliss Waitman	South Alabama	39.7%	67	41.7	38.1	16	25%	5%	−4.8
29	Blake Maimone	Oregon	39.5%	39	42.7	40.5	17	44%	8%	+6.6
30	Mitch Wishnowsky	Utah	39.2%	54	45.1	41.3	21	38%	7%	+10.8
31	Austin Parker	Duke	39.1%	65	41.4	37.7	25	38%	6%	−5.2
32	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	38.9%	56	38.9	36.9	13	23%	2%	−6.7
33	Will Spiers	Clemson	38.9%	55	39.6	36.9	15	28%	7%	−7.5
34	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	38.6%	71	41.4	38.8	26	37%	4%	−0.6
35	Joe Doyle	Tennessee	37.7%	66	41.0	39.1	25	38%	9%	+7.1
36	Mason King	Louisville	36.4%	64	40.6	36.5	22	32%	3%	−9.4
37	Quinn Skillin	Boise State	36.4%	45	39.0	32.9	20	43%	13%	−6.8
38	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	36.2%	61	43.3	39.3	28	46%	7%	+4.7
39	Charles Ouverson	Coastal Carolina	36.2%	49	43.2	40.3	13	27%	8%	+3.6
40	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	36.2%	48	41.3	37.0	15	31%	8%	−3.0
41	Billy Kinney	West Virginia	36.1%	36	41.1	38.1	13	36%	6%	+0.8
42	Jake Collins	Northwestern	35.8%	72	40.7	38.0	28	39%	6%	+5.8
43	Jared Porter	UL Monroe	35.6%	50	42.6	37.1	12	24%	6%	−7.1
44	Bailey Flint	Toledo	35.4%	56	40.5	38.5	25	44%	4%	−1.1
45	Jonn Young	East Carolina	35.4%	71	40.1	36.9	16	23%	3%	−9.0
46	Matthew Trickett	Kent State	35.3%	35	38.7	35.6	13	37%	3%	−10.5
47	James Smith	Cincinnati	35.2%	54	47.0	45.1	26	48%	2%	+26.0
48	Jake Camarda	Georgia	35.1%	38	43.2	37.4	11	30%	22%	−0.5
49	Aidan Alves	Liberty	34.9%	66	37.0	33.7	25	37%	6%	−11.9
50	A.J. Cole III	NC State	34.1%	40	41.3	38.8	20	47%	9%	−0.3
51	Dominic Panazzolo	Texas Tech	34.0%	52	42.1	40.1	23	44%	8%	+9.8
52	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	33.3%	50	37.9	34.3	11	22%	10%	−16.4
53	Davan Dyer	Louisiana Tech	32.7%	58	41.1	38.2	22	38%	7%	−2.3
54	Reid Budrovich	USC	32.7%	58	39.4	35.5	18	32%	4%	−10.2
55	Dylan Klumph	Arizona	31.8%	44	42.2	39.1	16	36%	5%	+2.0
56	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	31.7%	65	41.9	38.5	36	55%	9%	+4.0
57	Sebastian Riella	Florida Atlantic	31.4%	38	38.1	34.8	5	14%	0%	−14.2
58	Michael Sleep-Dalton	Arizona State	31.4%	53	43.7	37.5	20	38%	11%	−0.9
59	Mitchell Crawford	UTEP	30.8%	72	39.8	37.3	20	28%	4%	−2.4
60	Tyler Sumpter	Troy	30.4%	51	44.8	41.9	15	29%	8%	+14.1
61	Jamie Sackville	SMU	30.2%	67	39.7	37.9	22	33%	5%	+0.2
62	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	30.0%	63	42.1	39.6	28	44%	2%	+10.2
63	Adam Williams	Memphis	30.0%	50	42.9	37.3	19	37%	10%	−3.0
64	Jake Bailey	Stanford	29.8%	59	44.0	39.9	26	44%	17%	+17.1
65	Taylor Hintze	Utah State	29.7%	40	39.6	38.5	9	23%	5%	+0.6
66	Steven Coutts	California	29.3%	63	41.8	39.1	32	51%	3%	+7.7
67	Stefan Flintoft	UCLA	29.1%	56	45.8	37.9	17	30%	11%	−1.8
68	Luke Magliozzi	UConn	29.0%	63	42.9	39.3	26	41%	3%	+5.6
69	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	28.8%	62	42.1	40.5	32	52%	6%	+11.7
70	Ryan Bujcevski	Texas	27.8%	58	40.2	37.4	18	32%	2%	−5.5
71	Tyler Hunt	Michigan State	27.8%	36	40.1	37.0	15	42%	6%	−1.1
72	Parker Thome	Vanderbilt	27.7%	49	45.1	40.0	19	39%	12%	+10.7
73	Logan Tyler	Florida State	27.5%	82	43.2	38.3	17	21%	6%	0.0
74	Hunter Lent	North Carolina	26.7%	50	39.9	39.1	17	34%	0%	+3.3
75	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	26.3%	59	40.8	37.6	24	41%	7%	+3.0
76	Evan Finegan	Buffalo	25.5%	50	42.1	37.4	13	25%	8%	−3.9
77	Max Duffy	Kentucky	25.5%	51	44.8	40.2	26	51%	4%	+5.1
78	Corey Dunn	Iowa State	25.0%	50	40.0	37.9	20	40%	2%	−0.9
79	Patrick LeCorre	Ball State	25.0%	39	39.7	37.5	12	31%	5%	−1.3
80	Oscar Draguicevich III	Washington State	25.0%	40	46.0	41.3	12	32%	14%	+3.6
81	Grant Carlson	Boston College	24.6%	68	40.0	37.0	27	41%	3%	−0.3
82	Lester Coleman	Virginia	24.4%	47	42.1	39.7	20	43%	11%	+7.9
83	Tyler Newsome	Notre Dame	24.4%	45	44.4	38.6	16	36%	16%	−1.8
84	Trent Schneider	South Florida	24.2%	68	42.6	37.5	15	24%	14%	−0.8
85	Rhett Almond	BYU	24.0%	54	40.3	39.4	20	38%	2%	+2.2
86	Connor Bowler	Temple	23.1%	52	42.4	36.9	20	38%	12%	−3.9
87	Adam Nunez	TCU	22.6%	35	38.6	35.9	16	46%	11%	+0.3
88	Isaac Armstrong	Nebraska	22.6%	32	43.6	39.9	9	27%	9%	+3.9
89	Jack Fox	Rice	22.5%	80	45.5	40.6	30	37%	16%	+11.1
90	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	22.5%	83	40.1	37.6	35	42%	8%	+3.5
91	Zac Everett	Southern Miss	22.2%	33	38.8	37.3	14	35%	8%	−0.1
92	Yannis Routsas	UTSA	21.7%	75	43.0	39.9	30	39%	5%	+5.7
93	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	21.7%	47	51.1	44.9	21	45%	19%	+26.2
94	Clayton Stewart	Texas State	21.5%	69	37.9	34.4	23	33%	6%	−6.1
95	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	21.1%	74	40.5	34.3	18	24%	10%	−20.3
96	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	21.1%	60	43.1	37.7	20	33%	15%	+5.1
97	Mac Loudermilk	UCF	20.5%	41	42.6	37.9	15	38%	8%	+0.2
98	Tim Zaleski	Wyoming	20.0%	36	38.8	36.4	12	33%	8%	−0.1
99	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	18.6%	78	42.7	40.5	24	31%	4%	+7.2
100	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	18.4%	39	39.1	36.2	7	18%	0%	−10.0
101	Stan Gaudion	Hawai'i	17.5%	42	40.6	38.9	12	29%	0%	−5.1
102	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	17.2%	31	44.3	40.8	12	39%	6%	+5.4
103	Kyle Thompson	Kansas	16.9%	69	43.3	39.4	26	37%	10%	+5.2
104	Jack Sheldon	Central Michigan	16.9%	89	40.4	35.5	20	22%	3%	−23.5
105	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	16.7%	68	41.6	37.8	20	29%	4%	−6.4
106	Hayes Hicken	UNLV	16.7%	65	43.8	39.1	20	30%	5%	+1.6
107	Kyle Corbett	Charlotte	16.7%	55	41.0	34.8	8	16%	4%	−19.4
108	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	16.1%	66	43.6	38.1	23	35%	9%	+4.1
109	Bryce Crawford	San José State	15.4%	65	44.2	40.0	20	31%	9%	−1.0
110	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	15.4%	53	43.2	41.1	17	32%	6%	+2.6
111	Owen White	Navy	14.6%	53	41.6	38.5	20	38%	0%	+1.0
112	Grant Tinnerman	Bowling Green	14.3%	35	37.0	36.8	6	17%	0%	−4.4
113	Nick Gasser	Akron	13.7%	75	39.4	36.9	20	27%	5%	−13.0
114	Corey Fatony	Missouri	13.6%	47	44.0	40.5	24	51%	6%	+3.7
115	Blake Hayes	Illinois	13.3%	62	43.6	36.6	25	39%	8%	−4.6
116	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	13.3%	31	41.2	40.3	9	29%	3%	+2.3
117	Derek Adams	Kent State	12.9%	31	40.2	33.9	9	29%	3%	−17.5
118	Tyson Dyer	New Mexico	12.9%	74	44.3	40.2	24	32%	8%	+11.7
119	Thomas Bennett	Tulsa	11.5%	53	46.6	40.0	13	25%	11%	−5.7
120	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	11.3%	65	48.3	38.3	16	25%	13%	+1.0
121	Colten Rastetter	Iowa	9.3%	46	39.6	36.5	20	43%	4%	−7.0
122	Will Hart	Michigan	7.7%	39	47.6	39.9	17	44%	23%	+7.5
123	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	4.1%	51	48.2	42.7	22	45%	8%	+9.5

All 2018 College punter rankings

Fair Catch Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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