2019 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 2019, Colton Spangler (0.4) topped college football punters in average punt return allowed, ahead of Blake Gillikin (1.9) and Derek Adams (2.2). 92 punters qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified punter had 7.4.

Final 2019 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg ret	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Colton Spangler	Maryland	0.4	45	40.1	39.1	13	29%	4%	43%	−1.8
2	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	1.9	59	42.0	40.0	28	49%	7%	22%	+5.7
3	Derek Adams	Kent State	2.2	57	43.3	41.7	21	38%	5%	31%	+9.7
4	Isaac Armstrong	Nebraska	2.3	59	40.9	39.4	23	39%	5%	15%	+3.2
5	Xavier Subotsch	App State	2.6	64	42.5	40.0	27	42%	9%	31%	+4.9
6	Mitchell Crawford	UTEP	2.7	62	39.5	38.3	16	26%	3%	21%	−2.5
7	Zac Everett	Southern Miss	3.0	46	39.8	38.5	17	37%	7%	24%	−2.7
8	Daniel Kubiuk	Northwestern	3.1	42	38.3	36.7	13	31%	2%	22%	−10.0
9	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	3.4	63	42.0	39.0	22	34%	8%	34%	−0.7
10	Owen White	Navy	3.5	36	43.1	41.4	18	50%	3%	29%	+7.4
11	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	4.2	59	39.6	38.1	21	36%	2%	39%	−3.0
12	Ryan Galovich	Wyoming	4.2	61	42.2	39.6	16	26%	8%	31%	+5.6
13	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	4.3	52	42.5	40.0	20	38%	8%	31%	+5.6
14	Adam Williams	Memphis	4.5	41	45.7	41.0	15	41%	11%	17%	+7.9
15	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	4.6	59	41.6	39.0	18	31%	5%	39%	−1.7
16	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	4.6	61	40.9	38.2	24	39%	8%	21%	−0.4
17	Lou Hedley	Miami	4.8	55	44.3	41.1	19	35%	7%	22%	+9.5
18	Michael Farkas	Ohio	4.9	47	41.7	38.9	22	47%	9%	37%	+3.4
19	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	5.2	65	43.0	40.8	23	35%	5%	23%	+6.2
20	James Smith	Cincinnati	5.2	68	42.7	41.4	27	42%	2%	51%	+14.0
21	Grant Carlson	Boston College	5.3	58	42.8	39.5	19	33%	5%	18%	−0.5
22	Luke Magliozzi	UConn	5.3	63	42.4	39.4	23	37%	8%	29%	+3.1
23	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	5.4	49	46.4	42.6	15	31%	10%	17%	+12.7
24	Matt Aragon	Arizona	5.5	37	39.4	35.8	10	27%	8%	22%	−9.7
25	Jonah Wieland	Akron	5.6	79	37.7	35.8	18	23%	1%	29%	−18.9
26	Mason King	Louisville	5.7	54	42.5	38.9	19	35%	9%	24%	+1.3
27	Joe Rivera	Iowa State	5.8	49	40.0	37.2	24	49%	6%	17%	−3.2
28	Blake Hayes	Illinois	6.0	72	44.8	42.8	30	42%	3%	11%	+9.1
29	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	6.0	77	43.0	39.8	32	43%	5%	27%	+5.6
30	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	6.0	46	41.4	36.9	11	23%	7%	41%	−8.8
31	Tommy Martin	Florida State	6.0	64	39.0	37.3	18	28%	2%	51%	−9.5
32	Dane Roy	Houston	6.1	54	46.9	44.0	31	61%	4%	12%	+12.4
33	Josh Growden	West Virginia	6.2	68	42.1	40.1	18	26%	4%	45%	+4.1
34	Trenton Gill	NC State	6.3	56	47.6	42.1	17	30%	13%	29%	+6.0
35	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	6.4	66	39.9	36.9	23	35%	3%	26%	−8.0
36	Adam Barry	Temple	6.5	59	38.0	35.9	17	29%	3%	16%	−11.6
37	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	6.5	65	38.3	36.2	17	28%	5%	33%	−15.6
38	Michael Turk	Arizona State	6.5	59	46.0	42.3	33	56%	10%	32%	+16.7
39	Myles Prosser	Coastal Carolina	6.5	42	39.3	36.8	15	36%	2%	29%	−2.7
40	Michael Sleep-Dalton	Iowa	6.6	54	42.0	39.2	26	48%	7%	39%	+4.2
41	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	6.7	76	43.8	41.5	33	43%	3%	37%	+9.1
42	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	6.8	51	39.5	36.8	15	29%	6%	29%	−8.5
43	John Haggerty	Western Kentucky	6.9	42	46.2	43.0	18	43%	5%	15%	+15.7
44	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	7.0	57	42.9	37.6	15	25%	5%	11%	−8.2
45	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	7.1	44	39.7	35.5	17	40%	7%	35%	−5.9
46	Brady Farlow	Louisiana Tech	7.4	48	37.3	34.8	14	29%	4%	41%	−9.4
47	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	7.4	33	42.1	37.1	7	21%	6%	12%	−3.8
48	Tyson Dyer	New Mexico	7.5	59	46.1	42.5	35	59%	7%	22%	+10.4
49	Will Hart	Michigan	7.6	46	45.1	39.4	11	24%	15%	24%	+2.7
50	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	7.8	59	43.1	38.6	19	33%	10%	16%	+3.6
51	Blake Maimone	Oregon	7.9	55	43.9	38.2	19	35%	13%	18%	+0.8
52	Trent Schneider	South Florida	7.9	71	46.0	40.2	20	28%	11%	11%	−2.7
53	Aidan Alves	Liberty	8.0	48	42.2	38.5	13	27%	8%	35%	−2.9
54	Jake Camarda	Georgia	8.0	54	47.4	42.8	24	45%	17%	17%	+12.4
55	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	8.2	67	42.2	40.1	23	35%	0%	34%	+2.0
56	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	8.2	67	45.4	41.1	33	49%	9%	26%	+10.6
57	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	8.5	60	41.3	37.9	13	22%	7%	34%	−4.1
58	Brady Buell	Central Michigan	8.5	47	42.2	37.7	13	28%	9%	17%	−6.9
59	Tucker McCann	Missouri	8.7	68	43.2	39.7	27	40%	4%	24%	+3.2
60	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	8.7	40	42.5	38.8	12	32%	5%	16%	−6.8
61	Thomas Bennett	Tulsa	8.7	61	43.0	38.2	22	37%	10%	25%	−2.0
62	Connor Bowler	Charlotte	8.8	41	41.5	35.7	10	23%	7%	24%	−18.9
63	Tucker Day	Mississippi State	8.9	46	42.5	37.9	13	28%	7%	20%	+0.8
64	Matt Hayball	Florida Atlantic	9.2	63	43.1	40.0	22	35%	6%	41%	+1.7
65	Jared Porter	UL Monroe	9.3	54	43.8	39.0	21	39%	11%	41%	−1.2
66	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	9.3	80	44.8	40.0	21	27%	8%	25%	+0.2
67	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	9.5	63	42.1	38.9	18	29%	2%	21%	−0.5
68	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	9.5	47	41.9	36.9	8	17%	11%	30%	−5.3
69	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	9.5	58	42.7	38.6	18	31%	3%	39%	−4.9
70	Wade Lees	UCLA	9.8	49	42.9	40.0	23	48%	2%	49%	+7.1
71	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	9.8	51	46.7	41.9	21	41%	12%	33%	+9.2
72	Kyle Thompson	Kansas	9.8	57	44.5	39.6	19	35%	4%	19%	+0.3
73	Dario Longhetto	California	9.9	18	40.9	34.1	5	29%	0%	18%	−5.1
74	Alvin Kenworthy	North Texas	10.1	50	43.7	39.2	23	46%	10%	27%	+1.8
75	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	10.7	71	40.4	37.6	25	36%	4%	26%	−7.4
76	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	10.7	72	43.2	38.3	31	43%	8%	27%	−2.4
77	Austin Parker	Duke	10.9	66	45.7	40.7	25	38%	9%	30%	+4.7
78	Hayes Hicken	UNLV	11.2	66	43.3	34.8	15	23%	8%	14%	−20.5
79	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	11.3	57	44.3	38.2	18	32%	11%	28%	−4.1
80	Jonn Young	East Carolina	11.4	60	40.6	36.6	18	31%	8%	32%	−3.4
81	Lucas Dean	UTSA	11.6	65	40.8	38.6	16	25%	0%	31%	−8.7
82	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	11.8	52	42.7	36.8	21	40%	8%	35%	−3.2
83	Joseph Charlton	South Carolina	11.9	68	47.7	43.4	30	44%	7%	39%	+18.1
84	Jake Oldroyd	BYU	12.1	38	43.4	37.6	12	32%	5%	22%	−8.2
85	Christopher Bartolic	Utah State	12.4	41	42.0	37.4	15	37%	5%	18%	−6.4
86	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	12.5	79	39.4	36.6	21	27%	4%	17%	−18.7
87	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	12.9	48	41.7	34.0	19	37%	6%	27%	−18.0
88	Alex Galland	San José State	13.0	47	39.7	35.7	20	43%	6%	21%	−6.6
89	Alex Kinney	Colorado	14.3	59	44.4	39.6	29	49%	7%	42%	+2.6
90	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	16.8	53	47.7	41.4	24	46%	8%	16%	+5.1
91	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	17.8	68	46.8	39.0	30	45%	16%	18%	+5.5
92	Arryn Siposs	Auburn	18.8	57	43.8	38.9	19	35%	4%	44%	−3.0

All 2019 College punter rankings

Average Punt Return Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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Other 2019 College rankings

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