2020 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 2020, Nolan Cooney (26) led college football punters in punts returned, ahead of Trenton Gill (18) and Ryan Wright (17). 166 punters qualify.

Final 2020 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Returns	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Nolan Cooney	Syracuse	26	74	44.8	41.5	25	34%	4%	26%	+12.0
2	Trenton Gill	NC State	18	49	44.8	39.8	18	37%	12%	31%	+7.4
3	Ryan Wright	Tulane	17	49	45.0	41.2	15	32%	6%	11%	+8.0
4	Ryan Bujcevski	Texas	17	39	43.3	37.1	16	39%	0%	23%	−8.1
5	John Haggerty	Western Kentucky	15	53	46.0	41.7	20	38%	8%	18%	+1.7
6	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	15	47	40.4	38.1	10	21%	2%	18%	−4.2
7	Adam Stack	Hawai'i	15	37	43.8	38.1	10	27%	0%	33%	−4.8
8	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	15	34	43.9	40.1	14	41%	6%	24%	+3.1
9	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	15	26	45.3	34.9	9	33%	4%	19%	−2.4
10	Kyle Romenick	Akron	15	25	40.5	34.9	8	32%	0%	16%	−9.3
11	Jacob Barnes	Louisiana Tech	14	44	37.2	35.3	10	23%	5%	26%	−8.5
12	Trent Schneider	South Florida	14	32	41.3	34.0	8	26%	6%	11%	−11.7
13	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	13	57	40.9	38.8	22	39%	2%	28%	+1.3
14	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	13	46	41.0	37.4	19	42%	2%	34%	−6.0
15	Joe Rivera	Iowa State	13	42	40.8	35.1	14	33%	10%	29%	−10.6
16	Will Spiers	Clemson	13	42	43.5	38.7	19	45%	7%	27%	0.0
17	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	13	39	43.5	38.0	13	34%	8%	24%	−2.3
18	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	13	35	43.5	40.5	10	29%	3%	46%	−0.4
19	Xavier Subotsch	App State	13	32	42.3	41.4	12	38%	3%	35%	+4.1
20	Issac Power	Baylor	12	54	40.6	36.6	16	29%	7%	41%	−7.3
21	Lucas Dean	UTSA	12	55	46.3	40.3	25	53%	4%	16%	+4.4
22	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	12	41	42.5	40.3	15	34%	2%	41%	+4.3
23	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	12	43	43.8	40.0	15	35%	12%	26%	+3.7
24	Blake Hayes	Illinois	12	42	43.8	40.6	16	38%	2%	29%	+2.2
25	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	12	39	43.1	36.5	14	36%	8%	33%	−4.0
26	Zach Harding	Army	12	37	42.8	40.3	16	43%	5%	21%	+5.7
27	Bryce Baringer	Michigan State	12	37	43.6	36.4	10	28%	8%	31%	−6.3
28	Porter Wilson	Duke	11	53	42.9	41.1	20	40%	4%	24%	+5.5
29	Adam Barry	Temple	11	40	44.0	40.0	18	45%	5%	23%	−4.5
30	Grant Carlson	Boston College	11	43	42.4	39.4	14	36%	8%	22%	−0.7
31	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	11	39	42.2	41.2	12	31%	3%	36%	+5.2
32	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	11	39	43.3	38.1	11	29%	5%	36%	−2.8
33	Reis Vernon	Kansas	11	38	37.8	31.6	7	18%	3%	29%	−23.4
34	Zach Von Rosenberg	LSU	10	59	43.9	42.0	29	49%	3%	39%	+10.6
35	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	10	54	40.5	39.2	27	51%	6%	62%	+5.3
36	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	10	44	42.0	37.9	14	32%	9%	47%	+1.2
37	Jordan Stout	Penn State	10	33	41.5	38.8	10	30%	3%	39%	−0.5
38	James Smith	Cincinnati	10	32	43.8	40.7	20	65%	3%	48%	+8.7
39	Tucker Day	Mississippi State	10	27	44.9	39.1	5	18%	11%	19%	−3.7
40	Jordy Sandy	TCU	9	57	41.0	38.9	27	47%	5%	63%	+6.1
41	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	9	48	42.9	42.6	23	48%	0%	43%	+10.6
42	Derek Adams	Northwestern	9	40	41.5	38.9	15	38%	10%	49%	+0.5
43	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	9	32	43.8	39.7	9	28%	13%	10%	+4.1
44	Luke Elzinga	Central Michigan	9	33	43.2	40.8	15	47%	6%	28%	+6.5
45	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	9	30	43.0	40.1	12	38%	3%	31%	−3.0
46	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	9	28	41.8	39.4	10	36%	4%	22%	+1.9
47	Tanner Kuljian	San Diego State	9	27	43.3	39.1	10	37%	7%	37%	+1.3
48	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	8	53	44.5	43.1	23	43%	2%	55%	+14.3
49	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	8	49	43.6	41.8	22	45%	8%	38%	+12.0
50	Pressley Harvin III	Georgia Tech	8	45	48.0	44.8	20	44%	7%	45%	+15.8
51	Daniel Davies	Navy	8	44	37.1	34.7	9	20%	5%	36%	−19.6
52	Nash Griffin	Virginia	8	42	42.4	39.7	12	29%	10%	31%	+1.3
53	Adam Williams	Memphis	8	41	42.6	40.0	13	32%	7%	36%	+2.6
54	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	8	41	46.3	40.0	13	32%	10%	41%	+5.9
55	Grant McKinniss	Missouri	8	39	43.1	40.3	14	37%	8%	43%	+4.7
56	Max Duffy	Kentucky	8	37	45.8	42.4	13	35%	3%	34%	+11.4
57	Reeves Mundschau	Oklahoma	8	36	38.9	36.4	11	30%	3%	43%	−8.4
58	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	8	37	40.7	40.4	18	49%	0%	36%	+2.3
59	Andrew Osteen	UCF	8	35	44.3	41.5	9	26%	6%	38%	+3.7
60	Tyler Sumpter	West Virginia	8	33	40.3	39.0	14	42%	6%	52%	−0.6
61	Daniel Sparks	UL Monroe	8	30	44.6	36.0	6	19%	7%	26%	−11.8
62	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	8	30	43.7	39.9	17	57%	0%	28%	+4.0
63	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	8	27	45.1	41.4	17	63%	4%	52%	+6.5
64	Kyle Thompson	Kansas	8	26	39.9	38.6	9	35%	0%	46%	+0.1
65	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	8	25	43.4	40.0	4	18%	14%	19%	+1.3
66	Tanner Brown	UNLV	8	12	45.5	36.9	2	15%	8%	17%	−4.0
67	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	7	43	41.7	37.8	11	25%	5%	48%	−4.6
68	Lou Hedley	Miami	7	46	47.3	45.4	15	34%	2%	55%	+17.4
69	Ryan Hanson	Arkansas State	7	41	40.6	38.7	12	30%	3%	29%	−3.9
70	Matthew Hayball	Florida Atlantic	7	40	44.5	39.8	17	49%	3%	35%	−1.9
71	Tyson Dyer	New Mexico	7	34	40.4	38.5	11	32%	0%	40%	−3.2
72	Charles Ouverson	Coastal Carolina	7	33	40.2	37.2	19	59%	3%	32%	−0.4
73	Chris Naggar	SMU	7	29	39.3	37.1	7	24%	0%	43%	−7.6
74	William Przystup	Nebraska	7	24	41.3	35.2	7	28%	4%	18%	−12.2
75	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	7	22	41.0	39.6	8	40%	10%	32%	+2.0
76	Tom Snee	Oregon	7	22	43.1	39.6	10	50%	5%	50%	−0.1
77	Oscar Draguicevich III	Washington State	7	19	46.7	41.6	9	47%	16%	5%	+3.8
78	George Caratan	Arkansas	7	17	45.1	34.2	6	38%	13%	27%	−1.3
79	Tory Taylor	Iowa	6	40	44.1	42.9	20	50%	3%	35%	+10.4
80	Tommy Heatherly	Florida International	6	32	44.4	42.3	11	34%	9%	34%	+5.2
81	Nickolas Null	Wyoming	6	29	38.7	36.1	6	20%	3%	26%	−8.1
82	Andy Vujnovich	Wisconsin	6	29	42.8	39.7	15	52%	10%	29%	+3.7
83	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	6	28	40.8	40.2	15	54%	0%	33%	+3.9
84	Aidan Alves	Liberty	6	25	42.2	39.0	8	32%	8%	32%	+1.2
85	Charlie Mendes	Rice	6	19	42.3	39.6	10	50%	5%	25%	+3.4
86	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	6	18	42.6	37.6	6	33%	17%	25%	−2.4
87	Griffin Fleming	Southern Miss	5	36	39.5	39.1	10	28%	0%	65%	−3.0
88	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	5	30	39.3	37.0	5	17%	3%	33%	−6.6
89	Jonn Young	East Carolina	5	28	41.8	39.2	10	38%	4%	48%	+0.9
90	Josh Watts	Colorado	5	27	40.9	38.0	13	50%	4%	31%	−4.3
91	Luke Akers	UCLA	5	24	43.1	39.7	12	48%	0%	38%	−1.2
92	Tyler Loop	Arizona	5	24	43.0	39.0	8	33%	8%	18%	−1.3
93	Brad Robbins	Michigan	5	23	45.3	43.0	10	43%	9%	33%	+7.8
94	Charlton Butt	UNLV	5	22	38.3	38.0	4	18%	0%	62%	−1.4
95	Julian Diaz	Nevada	5	21	47.7	45.2	11	52%	5%	14%	+7.9
96	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	5	23	39.0	37.8	11	52%	0%	30%	−0.2
97	Bailey Flint	Toledo	5	19	36.4	35.2	7	37%	5%	16%	−6.4
98	Cade Fuller	Fresno State	5	19	39.4	35.4	7	37%	5%	17%	−2.2
99	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	5	19	39.3	35.4	6	32%	11%	5%	−5.9
100	Ben Griffiths	USC	5	18	46.4	40.8	9	50%	11%	44%	+2.9
101	Aidan Marshall	Auburn	5	16	42.3	39.1	6	38%	6%	25%	+1.1
102	Anthony Pecorella	Maryland	5	15	42.1	39.3	8	53%	7%	33%	+2.0
103	Oscar Bradburn	Virginia Tech	4	37	43.0	39.8	11	30%	16%	39%	+5.8
104	Connor Bowler	Charlotte	4	28	44.4	40.7	8	28%	7%	11%	+2.9
105	Reed Bowman	Mississippi State	4	27	42.1	40.0	14	52%	4%	46%	+5.3
106	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	4	24	46.4	39.0	6	26%	26%	36%	+2.7
107	Jared Porter	UL Monroe	4	18	35.2	33.6	2	11%	6%	24%	−8.0
108	Caleb Lightbourn	Oregon State	4	14	38.6	33.0	2	14%	7%	29%	−7.2
109	Joseph Carlson	Air Force	4	14	39.6	37.1	3	21%	7%	43%	−0.2
110	Michael Turk	Arizona State	4	14	45.1	38.6	7	50%	29%	14%	+3.7
111	Luke Larsen	East Carolina	4	13	41.2	37.8	3	23%	8%	15%	−1.5
112	Colin Goodfellow	Kentucky	4	10	47.7	36.8	1	10%	20%	30%	−4.5
113	Kolton McGhee	West Virginia	4	9	39.7	37.2	4	44%	0%	43%	−1.0
114	Gavin Wale	Boise State	4	7	39.4	36.1	2	29%	0%	14%	−1.7
115	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	3	36	40.9	38.1	14	39%	11%	31%	+0.4
116	Laine Wilkins	Houston	3	31	41.2	40.0	15	48%	6%	31%	+0.2
117	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	3	31	40.3	39.2	14	45%	6%	55%	+6.0
118	Elijah Fischer	San José State	3	28	40.3	35.0	9	32%	14%	33%	−6.6
119	Jack Blumer	Kansas State	3	24	39.0	38.3	4	17%	4%	57%	0.0
120	Jacob Finn	Florida	3	24	46.0	43.9	12	50%	4%	41%	+6.8
121	Jamieson Sheahan	California	3	23	39.9	36.6	3	13%	0%	45%	−8.0
122	Kyle Coale	Troy	3	23	37.7	36.8	8	35%	4%	27%	−2.4
123	Drue Chrisman	Ohio State	3	18	45.2	42.8	10	56%	6%	33%	+6.8
124	Brooks Cormier	Purdue	3	15	39.7	36.5	4	27%	7%	14%	−6.0
125	Benjamin Lennon	Utah	3	14	38.9	31.6	6	43%	7%	36%	−6.2
126	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	3	15	43.9	42.3	7	50%	7%	46%	+2.7
127	Haydon Whitehead	Indiana	2	36	42.4	40.4	10	28%	8%	61%	+5.4
128	Jake Camarda	Georgia	2	31	47.9	44.6	16	52%	16%	47%	+11.8
129	Jack Martin	Troy	2	24	46.1	46.2	14	58%	0%	50%	+10.4
130	Charlie Scott	Alabama	2	17	38.8	35.4	7	41%	12%	65%	−0.9
131	Logan Lupo	Louisville	2	17	38.8	38.0	3	18%	0%	40%	−3.7
132	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	2	17	37.8	37.4	7	41%	0%	38%	−4.1
133	Evan Finegan	Buffalo	2	16	38.8	37.6	5	31%	6%	20%	−4.8
134	Luke Loecher	Oregon State	2	12	44.8	38.0	5	42%	8%	33%	−2.3
135	Race Porter	Washington	2	10	42.4	34.5	4	36%	20%	30%	−1.1
136	Sam Johnson	Alabama	2	10	35.4	33.2	3	30%	10%	50%	−3.3
137	Isaiah Richardson	San Diego State	2	7	53.9	50.0	2	29%	14%	14%	+1.2
138	Tyler Crawford	Nebraska	2	7	39.1	37.9	2	29%	0%	14%	−1.6
139	Matt Freem	Nevada	2	6	46.3	43.8	1	17%	0%	17%	+0.4
140	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	2	5	49.8	47.0	2	40%	0%	0%	+2.3
141	Matt Fraanje	SMU	2	5	32.4	31.8	2	40%	0%	40%	−1.7
142	Donovan Gagen	Kansas	2	3	36.7	5.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−7.8
143	Gamari Peterson	Akron	2	3	39.0	37.3	1	33%	0%	0%	−0.4
144	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	1	22	41.3	38.0	6	27%	5%	9%	−2.5
145	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	1	23	39.7	37.9	8	36%	9%	50%	+0.4
146	Ryan Harwell	Louisville	1	19	40.1	39.6	8	42%	0%	42%	+0.9
147	Colton Spangler	Maryland	1	9	40.0	37.9	7	58%	0%	33%	−0.2
148	Ben Fee	Navy	1	9	33.4	32.7	1	11%	0%	44%	−1.7
149	Dom Dzioban	Miami (OH)	1	14	42.9	42.7	5	56%	0%	14%	+2.2
150	Ian Henzi	Kent State	1	9	39.9	40.0	1	11%	0%	22%	−0.6
151	Zac Collins	Purdue	1	9	37.0	37.2	2	22%	0%	38%	−2.6
152	Mitchell Crawford	Michigan State	1	9	38.4	36.0	1	13%	13%	25%	−1.5
153	Jared March	Utah	1	6	41.0	39.3	2	33%	0%	17%	+0.5
154	Jonathan Garibay	Texas Tech	1	6	47.8	46.0	1	17%	0%	17%	+2.9
155	Carson King	Fresno State	1	4	41.0	31.0	2	40%	0%	50%	−2.5
156	Casey Glover	Tulane	1	5	44.6	40.8	2	40%	20%	0%	+0.8
157	Jonah Dalmas	Boise State	1	5	35.8	30.6	1	20%	20%	40%	−1.4
158	Mason Lawler	Bowling Green	1	3	26.3	19.8	1	25%	0%	0%	−3.0
159	Brady Farlow	Louisiana Tech	1	3	32.3	33.0	2	67%	0%	0%	−0.5
160	Jerry Fitschen	Akron	1	3	31.0	31.0	1	33%	0%	0%	−0.6
161	Tommy Martin	Florida State	1	3	45.0	45.3	1	33%	0%	0%	+1.1
162	Corey Dunn	Iowa State	1	2	44.0	39.0	1	50%	0%	0%	+0.7
163	Daton Montiel	Marshall	1	2	33.0	25.0	1	50%	0%	50%	−1.0
164	Bubba McAtee	Clemson	1	1	44.0	29.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−1.1
165	Cody Gronewold	Northwestern	1	1	43.0	38.0	1	100%	0%	0%	+0.9
166	Zac Thomas	App State	1	1	30.0	30.0	1	100%	0%	0%	+0.2

All 2020 College punter rankings

Punts Returned in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

More 2020 College punter leaderboards

Other 2020 College rankings

Loading the interactive stats…