2019 College Fair Catches Forced Leaders

A fair catch means the returner gave up the chance to run. Punters who kick high and coverage teams who arrive quickly force more of them.

A sign of good hang time and coverage. In 2019, James Smith (32) led college football punters in fair catches forced, ahead of Tommy Martin (32) and Josh Growden (30). 173 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	FC	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	James Smith	Cincinnati	32	68	42.7	41.4	27	42%	2%	51%	+14.0
2	Tommy Martin	Florida State	32	64	39.0	37.3	18	28%	2%	51%	−9.5
3	Josh Growden	West Virginia	30	68	42.1	40.1	18	26%	4%	45%	+4.1
4	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	30	69	43.9	43.2	30	44%	3%	48%	+18.2
5	Sam Loy	Arkansas	27	56	39.5	37.6	20	36%	7%	52%	−3.0
6	Joseph Charlton	South Carolina	26	68	47.7	43.4	30	44%	7%	39%	+18.1
7	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	25	76	43.8	41.5	33	43%	3%	37%	+9.1
8	Ben Griffiths	USC	25	48	41.4	39.5	23	48%	6%	53%	+5.4
9	Issac Power	Baylor	24	64	39.6	38.6	18	29%	2%	41%	−5.1
10	Matt Hayball	Florida Atlantic	24	63	43.1	40.0	22	35%	6%	41%	+1.7
11	Arryn Siposs	Auburn	24	57	43.8	38.9	19	35%	4%	44%	−3.0
12	Alex Kinney	Colorado	23	59	44.4	39.6	29	49%	7%	42%	+2.6
13	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	23	59	39.6	38.1	21	36%	2%	39%	−3.0
14	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	22	59	41.6	39.0	18	31%	5%	39%	−1.7
15	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	22	58	42.7	38.6	18	31%	3%	39%	−4.9
16	Andrew Osteen	UCF	22	53	42.5	38.7	11	21%	10%	42%	+0.2
17	Wade Lees	UCLA	22	49	42.9	40.0	23	48%	2%	49%	+7.1
18	Jonah Wieland	Akron	21	79	37.7	35.8	18	23%	1%	29%	−18.9
19	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	21	67	42.2	40.1	23	35%	0%	34%	+2.0
20	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	21	59	45.0	42.5	20	34%	8%	39%	+10.6
21	Jared Porter	UL Monroe	21	54	43.8	39.0	21	39%	11%	41%	−1.2
22	Michael Sleep-Dalton	Iowa	21	54	42.0	39.2	26	48%	7%	39%	+4.2
23	Steven Coutts	California	21	44	38.5	37.0	12	27%	0%	49%	−5.1
24	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	20	77	43.0	39.8	32	43%	5%	27%	+5.6
25	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	20	63	42.0	39.0	22	34%	8%	34%	−0.7
26	Jordy Sandy	TCU	20	61	38.4	36.1	24	39%	8%	36%	−6.5
27	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	19	80	44.8	40.0	21	27%	8%	25%	+0.2
28	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	19	72	43.2	38.3	31	43%	8%	27%	−2.4
29	Austin Parker	Duke	19	66	45.7	40.7	25	38%	9%	30%	+4.7
30	Xavier Subotsch	App State	19	64	42.5	40.0	27	42%	9%	31%	+4.9
31	Cody Grace	Arkansas State	19	62	44.4	41.5	26	42%	8%	32%	+11.8
32	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	19	60	41.3	37.9	13	22%	7%	34%	−4.1
33	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	19	46	41.4	36.9	11	23%	7%	41%	−8.8
34	Colton Spangler	Maryland	19	45	40.1	39.1	13	29%	4%	43%	−1.8
35	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	18	71	40.4	37.6	25	36%	4%	26%	−7.4
36	Luke Magliozzi	UConn	18	63	42.4	39.4	23	37%	8%	29%	+3.1
37	Ryan Galovich	Wyoming	18	61	42.2	39.6	16	26%	8%	31%	+5.6
38	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	18	65	38.3	36.2	17	28%	5%	33%	−15.6
39	Jonn Young	East Carolina	18	60	40.6	36.6	18	31%	8%	32%	−3.4
40	Michael Turk	Arizona State	18	59	46.0	42.3	33	56%	10%	32%	+16.7
41	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	18	52	42.7	36.8	21	40%	8%	35%	−3.2
42	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	18	52	40.5	37.8	23	43%	4%	36%	+0.4
43	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	18	53	38.3	37.7	22	42%	2%	40%	−1.7
44	Tyler Sumpter	Troy	18	42	41.4	39.1	15	35%	9%	46%	−0.6
45	Joel Whitford	Washington	18	41	44.8	43.7	16	39%	5%	46%	+10.0
46	Tommy Townsend	Florida	18	40	44.5	42.3	19	48%	10%	46%	+7.0
47	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	17	67	45.4	41.1	33	49%	9%	26%	+10.6
48	Lucas Dean	UTSA	17	65	40.8	38.6	16	25%	0%	31%	−8.7
49	Derek Adams	Kent State	17	57	43.3	41.7	21	38%	5%	31%	+9.7
50	Brady Farlow	Louisiana Tech	17	48	37.3	34.8	14	29%	4%	41%	−9.4
51	Will Spiers	Clemson	17	38	42.3	40.5	9	24%	5%	46%	+4.7
52	Zach Von Rosenberg	LSU	17	39	42.7	40.4	18	49%	8%	46%	+5.4
53	Reeves Mundschau	Oklahoma	17	33	42.2	40.2	12	36%	3%	52%	+1.2
54	Andrew David	Northwestern	17	29	36.4	35.6	5	17%	3%	63%	−10.3
55	Tucker McCann	Missouri	16	68	43.2	39.7	27	40%	4%	24%	+3.2
56	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	16	66	39.9	36.9	23	35%	3%	26%	−8.0
57	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	16	57	44.3	38.2	18	32%	11%	28%	−4.1
58	Trenton Gill	NC State	16	56	47.6	42.1	17	30%	13%	29%	+6.0
59	Nash Griffin	Virginia	16	51	41.2	37.5	23	45%	8%	33%	−1.7
60	Aidan Alves	Liberty	16	48	42.2	38.5	13	27%	8%	35%	−2.9
61	Michael Farkas	Ohio	16	47	41.7	38.9	22	47%	9%	37%	+3.4
62	Thomas Bennett	Tulsa	15	61	43.0	38.2	22	37%	10%	25%	−2.0
63	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	15	51	46.7	41.9	21	41%	12%	33%	+9.2
64	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	15	44	39.7	35.5	17	40%	7%	35%	−5.9
65	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	15	41	44.1	41.1	14	34%	7%	37%	+6.4
66	Benjamin Lennon	Utah	15	37	39.7	37.5	18	49%	3%	50%	+1.3
67	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	14	65	43.0	40.8	23	35%	5%	23%	+6.2
68	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	14	52	42.5	40.0	20	38%	8%	31%	+5.6
69	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	14	47	41.9	36.9	8	17%	11%	30%	−5.3
70	Drue Chrisman	Ohio State	14	40	44.1	39.7	17	45%	21%	37%	+9.6
71	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	13	79	39.4	36.6	21	27%	4%	17%	−18.7
72	Mitchell Crawford	UTEP	13	62	39.5	38.3	16	26%	3%	21%	−2.5
73	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	13	51	39.5	36.8	15	29%	6%	29%	−8.5
74	Alvin Kenworthy	North Texas	13	50	43.7	39.2	23	46%	10%	27%	+1.8
75	Jacob Herbers	Minnesota	13	38	38.0	37.3	20	54%	3%	36%	−1.0
76	Oscar Draguicevich III	Washington State	13	29	45.0	40.3	13	45%	3%	48%	+1.4
77	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	12	68	46.8	39.0	30	45%	16%	18%	+5.5
78	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	12	63	42.1	38.9	18	29%	2%	21%	−0.5
79	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	12	61	40.9	38.2	24	39%	8%	21%	−0.4
80	Tyson Dyer	New Mexico	12	59	46.1	42.5	35	59%	7%	22%	+10.4
81	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	12	59	42.0	40.0	28	49%	7%	22%	+5.7
82	Lou Hedley	Miami	12	55	44.3	41.1	19	35%	7%	22%	+9.5
83	Mason King	Louisville	12	54	42.5	38.9	19	35%	9%	24%	+1.3
84	Devin Anctil	Kansas State	12	53	45.0	39.7	15	28%	15%	25%	+6.8
85	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	12	48	41.7	34.0	19	37%	6%	27%	−18.0
86	Tommy Heatherly	Florida International	12	51	42.6	41.1	18	35%	6%	28%	+2.5
87	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	12	47	42.1	39.1	22	47%	11%	30%	+2.9
88	Myles Prosser	Coastal Carolina	12	42	39.3	36.8	15	36%	2%	29%	−2.7
89	Ryan Bujcevski	Texas	12	30	41.4	38.4	10	33%	10%	40%	+0.3
90	Will Hart	Michigan	11	46	45.1	39.4	11	24%	15%	24%	+2.7
91	Adam Nunez	Rice	11	32	40.4	38.2	18	56%	6%	34%	+2.6
92	Anthony Pecorella	Maryland	11	30	40.7	38.4	9	36%	4%	44%	−2.6
93	Grant Carlson	Boston College	10	58	42.8	39.5	19	33%	5%	18%	−0.5
94	Blake Maimone	Oregon	10	55	43.9	38.2	19	35%	13%	18%	+0.8
95	Kyle Thompson	Kansas	10	57	44.5	39.6	19	35%	4%	19%	+0.3
96	Alex Galland	San José State	10	47	39.7	35.7	20	43%	6%	21%	−6.6
97	Zac Everett	Southern Miss	10	46	39.8	38.5	17	37%	7%	24%	−2.7
98	Connor Bowler	Charlotte	10	41	41.5	35.7	10	23%	7%	24%	−18.9
99	Owen White	Navy	10	36	43.1	41.4	18	50%	3%	29%	+7.4
100	Charlie Scott	Air Force	10	28	40.7	39.1	13	46%	7%	40%	+2.1
101	Chris Naggar	Texas	10	25	39.3	39.3	12	48%	0%	56%	+0.8
102	Hayes Hicken	UNLV	9	66	43.3	34.8	15	23%	8%	14%	−20.5
103	Adam Barry	Temple	9	59	38.0	35.9	17	29%	3%	16%	−11.6
104	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	9	59	43.1	38.6	19	33%	10%	16%	+3.6
105	Jake Camarda	Georgia	9	54	47.4	42.8	24	45%	17%	17%	+12.4
106	Tucker Day	Mississippi State	9	46	42.5	37.9	13	28%	7%	20%	+0.8
107	Daniel Kubiuk	Northwestern	9	42	38.3	36.7	13	31%	2%	22%	−10.0
108	Chris Barnes	Rice	9	34	45.0	44.2	11	32%	0%	26%	+7.5
109	Joe Doyle	Tennessee	9	22	41.5	37.4	7	32%	9%	47%	−2.0
110	Trent Schneider	South Florida	8	71	46.0	40.2	20	28%	11%	11%	−2.7
111	Isaac Armstrong	Nebraska	8	59	40.9	39.4	23	39%	5%	15%	+3.2
112	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	8	53	47.7	41.4	24	46%	8%	16%	+5.1
113	Joe Rivera	Iowa State	8	49	40.0	37.2	24	49%	6%	17%	−3.2
114	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	8	49	46.4	42.6	15	31%	10%	17%	+12.7
115	Brady Buell	Central Michigan	8	47	42.2	37.7	13	28%	9%	17%	−6.9
116	Jake Oldroyd	BYU	8	38	43.4	37.6	12	32%	5%	22%	−8.2
117	Matt Aragon	Arizona	8	37	39.4	35.8	10	27%	8%	22%	−9.7
118	Stan Gaudion	Hawai'i	8	20	39.0	37.0	5	25%	5%	42%	−5.1
119	Pierce Callister	Utah State	8	18	38.2	33.6	9	47%	6%	47%	−5.4
120	Blake Hayes	Illinois	7	72	44.8	42.8	30	42%	3%	11%	+9.1
121	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	7	45	43.0	39.0	16	36%	9%	17%	+3.0
122	Christopher Bartolic	Utah State	7	41	42.0	37.4	15	37%	5%	18%	−6.4
123	Zac Collins	Purdue	7	33	39.0	38.3	7	21%	3%	24%	−2.3
124	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	6	57	42.9	37.6	15	25%	5%	11%	−8.2
125	Dane Roy	Houston	6	54	46.9	44.0	31	61%	4%	12%	+12.4
126	Max Duffy	Kentucky	6	47	48.6	45.6	28	60%	9%	14%	+22.0
127	Ryan Wright	Tulane	6	46	40.6	37.1	16	35%	11%	15%	−5.0
128	John Haggerty	Western Kentucky	6	42	46.2	43.0	18	43%	5%	15%	+15.7
129	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	6	40	42.5	38.8	12	32%	5%	16%	−6.8
130	Adam Williams	Memphis	6	41	45.7	41.0	15	41%	11%	17%	+7.9
131	Matthew Stephenson	Middle Tennessee	6	11	35.7	32.2	6	55%	18%	55%	+0.3
132	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	6	7	39.0	38.9	1	14%	0%	86%	−0.8
133	Brooks Cormier	Purdue	5	28	40.3	38.0	6	21%	0%	20%	−6.2
134	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	5	21	39.7	34.5	6	29%	10%	24%	−5.6
135	Kyle Vantrease	Buffalo	5	16	34.6	29.7	1	6%	0%	31%	−14.8
136	Danny Jones	BYU	5	11	36.0	36.0	7	64%	0%	50%	+0.1
137	Skyler DeLong	Alabama	5	10	33.0	32.5	3	27%	0%	45%	−3.9
138	Trevor Denbow	SMU	4	36	38.7	36.1	8	22%	8%	11%	−6.0
139	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	4	33	42.1	37.1	7	21%	6%	12%	−3.8
140	Jackson Baltar	Buffalo	4	27	36.6	32.3	8	30%	19%	15%	−3.5
141	Bailey Flint	Toledo	4	20	47.3	43.2	11	55%	10%	22%	+4.9
142	Ben Scruton	Hawai'i	4	16	44.4	40.0	6	38%	13%	31%	+1.2
143	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	3	25	42.6	38.3	12	46%	8%	13%	−1.0
144	Zach Harding	Army	3	20	48.6	46.9	8	40%	5%	15%	+9.5
145	Dario Longhetto	California	3	18	40.9	34.1	5	29%	0%	18%	−5.1
146	Logan Tyler	Florida State	3	7	44.0	41.6	1	14%	14%	43%	+1.7
147	Oliver Holdenson	Georgia State	3	6	35.3	35.3	3	50%	0%	50%	−0.5
148	Brandon Gaddy	Maryland	3	5	42.8	36.8	2	40%	0%	60%	−1.0
149	Ty Perine	Alabama	2	13	44.7	36.4	2	15%	8%	15%	−3.4
150	Warren Scott	SMU	2	8	40.9	40.8	2	25%	0%	25%	−0.2
151	Matt Bromell	Southern Miss	2	7	32.7	22.7	1	14%	0%	29%	−9.0
152	Evan Finegan	Buffalo	2	5	31.2	27.8	4	67%	0%	50%	−3.7
153	Danny Longman	Boston College	2	2	33.5	33.5	1	50%	0%	100%	−0.6
154	Zach Potter	Army	1	16	40.5	36.9	7	44%	13%	6%	+1.4
155	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	1	9	43.2	39.3	5	56%	0%	11%	−0.6
156	John Parker Romo	Virginia Tech	1	8	44.3	38.8	2	25%	13%	13%	+0.1
157	Jake Verity	East Carolina	1	5	43.0	39.0	2	40%	20%	25%	+1.7
158	Brad Robbins	Michigan	1	4	42.8	42.8	2	50%	0%	25%	+1.5
159	Kyle Corbett	Charlotte	1	4	50.8	44.0	2	50%	25%	25%	+1.2
160	Alex Gracey	Stanford	1	3	38.3	38.3	2	67%	0%	33%	+0.8
161	Danny Carollo	Purdue	1	5	28.6	22.7	2	67%	0%	33%	−1.0
162	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	1	3	36.7	36.7	0	0%	0%	33%	−1.0
163	Tim Zaleski	Wyoming	1	3	44.7	39.0	1	33%	0%	33%	−0.5
164	Will Reichard	Alabama	1	4	38.0	36.7	1	33%	0%	33%	−1.0
165	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	1	2	29.0	29.0	1	50%	0%	50%	−0.4
166	Craig Walker	UL Monroe	1	2	38.0	38.0	0	0%	0%	50%	−0.8
167	Ashtyn Davis	California	1	1	32.0	32.0	1	100%	0%	100%	0.0
168	Connor Allen	Wisconsin	1	1	37.0	37.0	1	100%	0%	100%	+0.1
169	David Cooper	Army	1	1	40.0	40.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.1
170	Donovan Gagen	Kansas	1	1	42.0	42.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.3
171	Jacob Swartz	Miami (OH)	1	1	39.0	39.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−1.2
172	Jake McClure	Oklahoma State	1	1	41.0	41.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.3
173	Thomas Leo	Florida International	1	2	46.5	56.0	1	100%	0%	100%	+1.3

All 2019 College punter rankings

Fair Catches Forced in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

More 2019 College punter leaderboards

Other 2019 College rankings

Loading the interactive stats…