2019 College Punts Returned Leaders

Punts the receiving team fielded and ran back, including muffs. Fewer returns mean the punter and coverage team gave the returner less to work with.

Compare with return yards allowed. In 2019, Hayes Hicken (38) led college football punters in punts returned, ahead of Trent Schneider (32) and Quinton Conaway (26). 164 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Returns	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Hayes Hicken	UNLV	38	66	43.3	34.8	15	23%	8%	14%	−20.5
2	Trent Schneider	South Florida	32	71	46.0	40.2	20	28%	11%	11%	−2.7
3	Quinton Conaway	Nevada	26	57	42.9	37.6	15	25%	5%	11%	−8.2
4	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	24	80	44.8	40.0	21	27%	8%	25%	+0.2
5	Grant Carlson	Boston College	24	58	42.8	39.5	19	33%	5%	18%	−0.5
6	Jonah Wieland	Akron	23	79	37.7	35.8	18	23%	1%	29%	−18.9
7	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	23	77	43.0	39.8	32	43%	5%	27%	+5.6
8	Kyle Kramer	Miami (OH)	22	72	43.2	38.3	31	43%	8%	27%	−2.4
9	Blake Maimone	Oregon	22	55	43.9	38.2	19	35%	13%	18%	+0.8
10	Blake Hayes	Illinois	21	72	44.8	42.8	30	42%	3%	11%	+9.1
11	Tucker McCann	Missouri	21	68	43.2	39.7	27	40%	4%	24%	+3.2
12	Brandon Heicklen	San Diego State	21	67	45.4	41.1	33	49%	9%	26%	+10.6
13	Daniel Rodriguez	Oregon State	21	58	42.7	38.6	18	31%	3%	39%	−4.9
14	Jake Hartbarger	Michigan State	21	59	43.1	38.6	19	33%	10%	16%	+3.6
15	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	20	76	43.8	41.5	33	43%	3%	37%	+9.1
16	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	20	59	41.6	39.0	18	31%	5%	39%	−1.7
17	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	20	57	44.3	38.2	18	32%	11%	28%	−4.1
18	Trenton Gill	NC State	20	56	47.6	42.1	17	30%	13%	29%	+6.0
19	Lou Hedley	Miami	20	55	44.3	41.1	19	35%	7%	22%	+9.5
20	Payton Theisler	New Mexico State	19	63	42.1	38.9	18	29%	2%	21%	−0.5
21	Thomas Bennett	Tulsa	19	61	43.0	38.2	22	37%	10%	25%	−2.0
22	Blake Gillikin	Penn State	18	59	42.0	40.0	28	49%	7%	22%	+5.7
23	Kyle Thompson	Kansas	18	57	44.5	39.6	19	35%	4%	19%	+0.3
24	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	18	46	41.4	36.9	11	23%	7%	41%	−8.8
25	James Smith	Cincinnati	17	68	42.7	41.4	27	42%	2%	51%	+14.0
26	Luke Magliozzi	UConn	17	63	42.4	39.4	23	37%	8%	29%	+3.1
27	Tyson Dyer	New Mexico	17	59	46.1	42.5	35	59%	7%	22%	+10.4
28	Mason King	Louisville	17	54	42.5	38.9	19	35%	9%	24%	+1.3
29	Dane Roy	Houston	17	54	46.9	44.0	31	61%	4%	12%	+12.4
30	Tucker Day	Mississippi State	17	46	42.5	37.9	13	28%	7%	20%	+0.8
31	Joseph Charlton	South Carolina	16	68	47.7	43.4	30	44%	7%	39%	+18.1
32	Dom Maggio	Wake Forest	16	68	46.8	39.0	30	45%	16%	18%	+5.5
33	Austin Parker	Duke	16	66	45.7	40.7	25	38%	9%	30%	+4.7
34	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	16	67	42.2	40.1	23	35%	0%	34%	+2.0
35	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	16	65	43.0	40.8	23	35%	5%	23%	+6.2
36	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	16	59	39.6	38.1	21	36%	2%	39%	−3.0
37	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	16	52	42.7	36.8	21	40%	8%	35%	−3.2
38	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	16	48	41.7	34.0	19	37%	6%	27%	−18.0
39	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	16	49	46.4	42.6	15	31%	10%	17%	+12.7
40	Will Hart	Michigan	16	46	45.1	39.4	11	24%	15%	24%	+2.7
41	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	15	71	40.4	37.6	25	36%	4%	26%	−7.4
42	Bailey Cate	Old Dominion	15	66	39.9	36.9	23	35%	3%	26%	−8.0
43	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	15	63	42.0	39.0	22	34%	8%	34%	−0.7
44	Tommy Martin	Florida State	15	64	39.0	37.3	18	28%	2%	51%	−9.5
45	Xavier Subotsch	App State	15	64	42.5	40.0	27	42%	9%	31%	+4.9
46	Ryan Galovich	Wyoming	15	61	42.2	39.6	16	26%	8%	31%	+5.6
47	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	15	60	41.3	37.9	13	22%	7%	34%	−4.1
48	Michael Turk	Arizona State	15	59	46.0	42.3	33	56%	10%	32%	+16.7
49	Jared Porter	UL Monroe	15	54	43.8	39.0	21	39%	11%	41%	−1.2
50	Braden Mann	Texas A&M	15	53	47.7	41.4	24	46%	8%	16%	+5.1
51	Brady Buell	Central Michigan	15	47	42.2	37.7	13	28%	9%	17%	−6.9
52	Daniel Kubiuk	Northwestern	15	42	38.3	36.7	13	31%	2%	22%	−10.0
53	Jake Oldroyd	BYU	15	38	43.4	37.6	12	32%	5%	22%	−8.2
54	Alex Kinney	Colorado	14	59	44.4	39.6	29	49%	7%	42%	+2.6
55	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	14	47	41.9	36.9	8	17%	11%	30%	−5.3
56	Anthony Lotti	Wisconsin	14	44	39.7	35.5	17	40%	7%	35%	−5.9
57	John Haggerty	Western Kentucky	14	42	46.2	43.0	18	43%	5%	15%	+15.7
58	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	13	79	39.4	36.6	21	27%	4%	17%	−18.7
59	Josh Growden	West Virginia	13	68	42.1	40.1	18	26%	4%	45%	+4.1
60	Matt Hayball	Florida Atlantic	13	63	43.1	40.0	22	35%	6%	41%	+1.7
61	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	13	61	40.9	38.2	24	39%	8%	21%	−0.4
62	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	13	65	38.3	36.2	17	28%	5%	33%	−15.6
63	Adam Barry	Temple	13	59	38.0	35.9	17	29%	3%	16%	−11.6
64	Arryn Siposs	Auburn	13	57	43.8	38.9	19	35%	4%	44%	−3.0
65	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	13	51	46.7	41.9	21	41%	12%	33%	+9.2
66	Joe Rivera	Iowa State	13	49	40.0	37.2	24	49%	6%	17%	−3.2
67	Myles Prosser	Coastal Carolina	13	42	39.3	36.8	15	36%	2%	29%	−2.7
68	Matt Aragon	Arizona	13	37	39.4	35.8	10	27%	8%	22%	−9.7
69	Lucas Dean	UTSA	12	65	40.8	38.6	16	25%	0%	31%	−8.7
70	Mitchell Crawford	UTEP	12	62	39.5	38.3	16	26%	3%	21%	−2.5
71	Jonn Young	East Carolina	12	60	40.6	36.6	18	31%	8%	32%	−3.4
72	Blake Cusick	Fresno State	12	52	42.5	40.0	20	38%	8%	31%	+5.6
73	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	12	51	39.5	36.8	15	29%	6%	29%	−8.5
74	Alvin Kenworthy	North Texas	12	50	43.7	39.2	23	46%	10%	27%	+1.8
75	Aidan Alves	Liberty	12	48	42.2	38.5	13	27%	8%	35%	−2.9
76	Wade Lees	UCLA	12	49	42.9	40.0	23	48%	2%	49%	+7.1
77	Connor Bowler	Charlotte	12	41	41.5	35.7	10	23%	7%	24%	−18.9
78	Christopher Bartolic	Utah State	12	41	42.0	37.4	15	37%	5%	18%	−6.4
79	Brandon Wright	Georgia State	12	40	42.5	38.8	12	32%	5%	16%	−6.8
80	Thomas Cluckey	Toledo	12	33	42.1	37.1	7	21%	6%	12%	−3.8
81	Isaac Armstrong	Nebraska	11	59	40.9	39.4	23	39%	5%	15%	+3.2
82	Michael Sleep-Dalton	Iowa	11	54	42.0	39.2	26	48%	7%	39%	+4.2
83	Brady Farlow	Louisiana Tech	11	48	37.3	34.8	14	29%	4%	41%	−9.4
84	Adam Williams	Memphis	11	41	45.7	41.0	15	41%	11%	17%	+7.9
85	Owen White	Navy	11	36	43.1	41.4	18	50%	3%	29%	+7.4
86	Dario Longhetto	California	11	18	40.9	34.1	5	29%	0%	18%	−5.1
87	Derek Adams	Kent State	10	57	43.3	41.7	21	38%	5%	31%	+9.7
88	Jake Camarda	Georgia	10	54	47.4	42.8	24	45%	17%	17%	+12.4
89	Alex Galland	San José State	10	47	39.7	35.7	20	43%	6%	21%	−6.6
90	Michael Farkas	Ohio	10	47	41.7	38.9	22	47%	9%	37%	+3.4
91	Zac Everett	Southern Miss	10	46	39.8	38.5	17	37%	7%	24%	−2.7
92	Colton Spangler	Maryland	10	45	40.1	39.1	13	29%	4%	43%	−1.8
93	Sterling Hofrichter	Syracuse	9	69	43.9	43.2	30	44%	3%	48%	+18.2
94	Cody Grace	Arkansas State	9	62	44.4	41.5	26	42%	8%	32%	+11.8
95	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	9	59	45.0	42.5	20	34%	8%	39%	+10.6
96	Devin Anctil	Kansas State	9	53	45.0	39.7	15	28%	15%	25%	+6.8
97	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	9	53	38.3	37.7	22	42%	2%	40%	−1.7
98	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	9	41	44.1	41.1	14	34%	7%	37%	+6.4
99	Chris Barnes	Rice	9	34	45.0	44.2	11	32%	0%	26%	+7.5
100	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	8	52	40.5	37.8	23	43%	4%	36%	+0.4
101	Nash Griffin	Virginia	8	51	41.2	37.5	23	45%	8%	33%	−1.7
102	Tommy Heatherly	Florida International	8	51	42.6	41.1	18	35%	6%	28%	+2.5
103	Max Duffy	Kentucky	8	47	48.6	45.6	28	60%	9%	14%	+22.0
104	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	8	45	43.0	39.0	16	36%	9%	17%	+3.0
105	Steven Coutts	California	8	44	38.5	37.0	12	27%	0%	49%	−5.1
106	Drue Chrisman	Ohio State	8	40	44.1	39.7	17	45%	21%	37%	+9.6
107	Zac Collins	Purdue	8	33	39.0	38.3	7	21%	3%	24%	−2.3
108	Ryan Bujcevski	Texas	8	30	41.4	38.4	10	33%	10%	40%	+0.3
109	Oscar Draguicevich III	Washington State	8	29	45.0	40.3	13	45%	3%	48%	+1.4
110	Issac Power	Baylor	7	64	39.6	38.6	18	29%	2%	41%	−5.1
111	Jordy Sandy	TCU	7	61	38.4	36.1	24	39%	8%	36%	−6.5
112	Ben Griffiths	USC	7	48	41.4	39.5	23	48%	6%	53%	+5.4
113	Ryan Wright	Tulane	7	46	40.6	37.1	16	35%	11%	15%	−5.0
114	Joel Whitford	Washington	7	41	44.8	43.7	16	39%	5%	46%	+10.0
115	Trevor Denbow	SMU	7	36	38.7	36.1	8	22%	8%	11%	−6.0
116	Adam Nunez	Rice	7	32	40.4	38.2	18	56%	6%	34%	+2.6
117	Sam Loy	Arkansas	6	56	39.5	37.6	20	36%	7%	52%	−3.0
118	Andrew Osteen	UCF	6	53	42.5	38.7	11	21%	10%	42%	+0.2
119	Tyler Sumpter	Troy	6	42	41.4	39.1	15	35%	9%	46%	−0.6
120	Tommy Townsend	Florida	6	40	44.5	42.3	19	48%	10%	46%	+7.0
121	Benjamin Lennon	Utah	6	37	39.7	37.5	18	49%	3%	50%	+1.3
122	Zach Von Rosenberg	LSU	6	39	42.7	40.4	18	49%	8%	46%	+5.4
123	Brooks Cormier	Purdue	6	28	40.3	38.0	6	21%	0%	20%	−6.2
124	Jackson Baltar	Buffalo	6	27	36.6	32.3	8	30%	19%	15%	−3.5
125	Ty Perine	Alabama	6	13	44.7	36.4	2	15%	8%	15%	−3.4
126	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	5	47	42.1	39.1	22	47%	11%	30%	+2.9
127	Reeves Mundschau	Oklahoma	5	33	42.2	40.2	12	36%	3%	52%	+1.2
128	Charlie Scott	Air Force	5	28	40.7	39.1	13	46%	7%	40%	+2.1
129	Joe Doyle	Tennessee	5	22	41.5	37.4	7	32%	9%	47%	−2.0
130	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	5	21	39.7	34.5	6	29%	10%	24%	−5.6
131	Ben Scruton	Hawai'i	5	16	44.4	40.0	6	38%	13%	31%	+1.2
132	Kyle Vantrease	Buffalo	5	16	34.6	29.7	1	6%	0%	31%	−14.8
133	Alex Kessman	Pittsburgh	5	9	43.2	39.3	5	56%	0%	11%	−0.6
134	Jacob Herbers	Minnesota	4	38	38.0	37.3	20	54%	3%	36%	−1.0
135	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	4	25	42.6	38.3	12	46%	8%	13%	−1.0
136	Anthony Pecorella	Maryland	4	30	40.7	38.4	9	36%	4%	44%	−2.6
137	Bailey Flint	Toledo	4	20	47.3	43.2	11	55%	10%	22%	+4.9
138	Zach Harding	Army	4	20	48.6	46.9	8	40%	5%	15%	+9.5
139	Pierce Callister	Utah State	4	18	38.2	33.6	9	47%	6%	47%	−5.4
140	John Parker Romo	Virginia Tech	4	8	44.3	38.8	2	25%	13%	13%	+0.1
141	Will Spiers	Clemson	3	38	42.3	40.5	9	24%	5%	46%	+4.7
142	Stan Gaudion	Hawai'i	3	20	39.0	37.0	5	25%	5%	42%	−5.1
143	Zach Potter	Army	3	16	40.5	36.9	7	44%	13%	6%	+1.4
144	Steven Sawicki	Clemson	3	5	45.4	37.6	1	20%	0%	0%	−0.5
145	Andrew David	Northwestern	2	29	36.4	35.6	5	17%	3%	63%	−10.3
146	Skyler DeLong	Alabama	2	10	33.0	32.5	3	27%	0%	45%	−3.9
147	Brandon Gaddy	Maryland	2	5	42.8	36.8	2	40%	0%	60%	−1.0
148	Dillon Jones	TCU	2	4	44.5	41.8	1	25%	0%	0%	−0.4
149	Jamie Sackville	SMU	2	4	40.8	38.3	2	50%	0%	0%	+0.2
150	Tim Zaleski	Wyoming	2	3	44.7	39.0	1	33%	0%	33%	−0.5
151	Matthew Stephenson	Middle Tennessee	1	11	35.7	32.2	6	55%	18%	55%	+0.3
152	Warren Scott	SMU	1	8	40.9	40.8	2	25%	0%	25%	−0.2
153	Aaron Dalton	Utah State	1	7	39.0	38.9	1	14%	0%	86%	−0.8
154	Logan Tyler	Florida State	1	7	44.0	41.6	1	14%	14%	43%	+1.7
155	Matt Bromell	Southern Miss	1	7	32.7	22.7	1	14%	0%	29%	−9.0
156	Shane Buechele	SMU	1	7	38.9	33.1	4	57%	29%	0%	+1.0
157	Evan Finegan	Buffalo	1	5	31.2	27.8	4	67%	0%	50%	−3.7
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	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	1	3	36.7	36.7	0	0%	0%	33%	−1.0
161	Will Reichard	Alabama	1	4	38.0	36.7	1	33%	0%	33%	−1.0
162	Luke Hogan	SMU	1	1	39.0	30.0	0	0%	0%	0%	+0.7
163	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	1	1	57.0	56.0	1	100%	0%	0%	+0.8
164	Zach Murphy	Wake Forest	1	1	46.0	43.0	1	100%	0%	0%	+0.2

All 2019 College punter rankings

Punts Returned in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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