2018 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 2018, Drue Chrisman (37.3) led college football punters in net average in opponent territory, ahead of Blake Cusick (35.3) and Davan Dyer (35.2). 41 punters qualify (minimum 12 punts from the opponent's 50 or closer). The median qualified punter had 31.5.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Net (opp. 50)	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Drue Chrisman	Ohio State	37.3	53	43.3	42.6	27	53%	2%	41%	+12.3
2	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	35.3	62	42.1	40.5	32	52%	6%	29%	+11.7
3	Davan Dyer	Louisiana Tech	35.2	58	41.1	38.2	22	38%	7%	33%	−2.3
4	Wade Lees	Maryland	35.1	67	40.9	39.2	29	43%	3%	41%	+5.6
5	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	34.8	66	43.6	38.1	23	35%	9%	16%	+4.1
6	Dominic Panazzolo	Texas Tech	34.7	52	42.1	40.1	23	44%	8%	34%	+9.8
7	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	34.4	63	42.1	39.6	28	44%	2%	30%	+10.2
8	Mason King	Louisville	33.7	64	40.6	36.5	22	32%	3%	36%	−9.4
9	Adam Williams	Memphis	33.5	50	42.9	37.3	19	37%	10%	30%	−3.0
10	Jack Fox	Rice	33.0	80	45.5	40.6	30	37%	16%	23%	+11.1
11	Owen White	Navy	32.9	53	41.6	38.5	20	38%	0%	15%	+1.0
12	Hayes Hicken	UNLV	32.8	65	43.8	39.1	20	30%	5%	17%	+1.6
13	Lester Coleman	Virginia	32.8	47	42.1	39.7	20	43%	11%	24%	+7.9
14	Jake Collins	Northwestern	32.6	72	40.7	38.0	28	39%	6%	36%	+5.8
15	Cody Grace	Arkansas State	32.6	58	40.3	40.0	22	38%	2%	52%	+4.2
16	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	32.2	51	40.0	37.0	19	37%	6%	40%	+0.4
17	Josh Growden	LSU	32.2	14	35.6	32.2	9	75%	8%	42%	+0.4
18	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	32.0	65	41.9	38.5	36	55%	9%	32%	+4.0
19	Adam Nunez	TCU	31.9	35	38.6	35.9	16	46%	11%	23%	+0.3
20	Brian Papazian	San José State	31.6	15	38.1	32.7	11	73%	27%	29%	+1.5
21	Matt Bonadies	Middle Tennessee	31.5	52	41.5	38.8	23	46%	6%	40%	+2.9
22	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	31.3	59	40.8	37.6	24	41%	7%	26%	+3.0
23	Alvin Kenworthy	North Texas	31.2	50	42.4	38.5	22	43%	10%	41%	+0.4
24	Michael Sleep-Dalton	Arizona State	31.1	53	43.7	37.5	20	38%	11%	31%	−0.9
25	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	31.1	65	42.2	39.2	23	35%	6%	44%	+5.8
26	Steven Coutts	California	30.9	63	41.8	39.1	32	51%	3%	29%	+7.7
27	Tyson Dyer	New Mexico	30.5	74	44.3	40.2	24	32%	8%	13%	+11.7
28	Joe Doyle	Tennessee	30.4	66	41.0	39.1	25	38%	9%	38%	+7.1
29	Jake Bailey	Stanford	30.2	59	44.0	39.9	26	44%	17%	30%	+17.1
30	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	30.1	28	39.1	34.0	12	43%	14%	29%	−5.1
31	Quinn Skillin	Boise State	29.9	45	39.0	32.9	20	43%	13%	36%	−6.8
32	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	29.6	53	40.2	37.7	19	35%	9%	43%	+2.5
33	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	29.4	83	40.1	37.6	35	42%	8%	23%	+3.5
34	Alex Rinella	Western Kentucky	29.3	63	38.2	35.2	25	37%	6%	45%	−13.5
35	Connor Bowler	Temple	29.1	52	42.4	36.9	20	38%	12%	23%	−3.9
36	Zachary Block	Tulane	29.0	29	38.4	34.0	13	48%	15%	27%	+4.0
37	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	28.3	60	43.1	37.7	20	33%	15%	21%	+5.1
38	Aidan Alves	Liberty	27.3	66	37.0	33.7	25	37%	6%	35%	−11.9
39	Clayton Stewart	Texas State	27.0	69	37.9	34.4	23	33%	6%	22%	−6.1
40	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	26.7	74	40.5	34.3	18	24%	10%	21%	−20.3
41	Reid Budrovich	USC	25.0	58	39.4	35.5	18	32%	4%	33%	−10.2

All 2018 College punter rankings

Net Average in Opponent Territory in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

More 2018 College punter leaderboards

Other 2018 College rankings

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