2018 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 2018, James Smith (45.1) led college football punters in net punting average, ahead of Braden Mann (44.9) and Zach Von Rosenberg (44.0). 123 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 38.5.

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

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

All 2018 College punter rankings

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

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