2021 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 2021, Tom Hutton (-0.2) topped college football punters in average punt return allowed, ahead of Cameron Dicker (2.0) and Jordan Stout (2.1). 87 punters qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified punter had 7.5.

Final 2021 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg ret	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	-0.2	66	42.2	40.4	27	41%	9%	52%	+6.5
2	Cameron Dicker	Texas	2.0	47	46.8	44.1	13	27%	6%	44%	+13.4
3	Jordan Stout	Penn State	2.1	62	46.5	45.0	35	57%	5%	42%	+22.6
4	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	2.2	45	42.7	41.3	17	38%	4%	49%	+8.7
5	Ryan Hanson	Arkansas State	2.3	68	44.0	42.1	23	35%	2%	43%	+6.3
6	William Przystup	Nebraska	3.3	31	43.4	39.1	6	19%	10%	26%	−6.3
7	Tory Taylor	Iowa	3.3	76	45.9	41.6	36	47%	15%	30%	+13.1
8	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	3.8	54	46.2	44.0	25	47%	6%	38%	+11.4
9	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	3.8	60	40.2	37.2	23	40%	7%	43%	−8.2
10	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	3.9	38	44.0	39.4	15	39%	16%	35%	+6.2
11	Blake Hayes	Illinois	3.9	68	45.1	43.3	35	53%	3%	33%	+12.8
12	Will Spiers	Clemson	4.0	58	42.1	39.4	28	47%	3%	43%	+2.8
13	Lou Hedley	Miami	4.0	49	44.7	43.0	21	44%	2%	38%	+9.0
14	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	4.0	70	45.9	45.3	38	54%	0%	49%	+21.5
15	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	4.6	51	46.6	43.3	23	44%	4%	39%	+15.0
16	Xavier Subotsch	App State	4.7	48	40.8	39.4	26	55%	2%	48%	+1.6
17	Tom Snee	Oregon	4.8	41	42.8	38.7	17	41%	8%	26%	+3.1
18	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	4.8	58	49.2	44.0	19	33%	19%	19%	+18.6
19	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	4.8	53	40.3	38.7	18	34%	4%	44%	−2.5
20	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	5.0	49	42.6	40.3	18	38%	4%	37%	+2.5
21	Lucas Dean	UTSA	5.3	44	45.4	43.1	21	48%	5%	31%	+7.7
22	Tyler Sumpter	West Virginia	5.3	45	43.6	39.8	14	31%	13%	31%	+1.1
23	Grant McKinniss	Missouri	5.5	48	41.4	38.7	28	62%	0%	41%	−4.0
24	James Burnip	Alabama	5.5	42	39.1	36.8	16	37%	0%	40%	−7.2
25	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	5.6	65	41.6	38.1	21	32%	6%	5%	−9.9
26	Joe McFadden	UConn	5.7	61	39.8	38.1	13	21%	2%	33%	−13.2
27	Trenton Gill	NC State	5.8	65	44.4	41.7	36	55%	8%	44%	+7.4
28	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	5.9	51	44.1	41.3	16	31%	6%	37%	+2.6
29	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	6.0	53	43.2	39.7	13	24%	6%	44%	−3.6
30	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	6.1	60	38.4	37.1	20	33%	2%	53%	−8.8
31	Devyn McCormick	UL Monroe	6.1	69	41.2	37.8	25	38%	6%	37%	−2.7
32	Joe Doyle	Memphis	6.4	41	46.0	40.9	18	43%	10%	32%	+7.7
33	Mark Vassett	Louisville	6.5	47	41.6	39.7	19	41%	2%	50%	+2.9
34	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	6.6	42	43.3	40.1	19	45%	7%	32%	+8.1
35	Michael Turk	Oklahoma	6.6	33	51.3	44.9	14	41%	12%	23%	+5.6
36	Andrew Osteen	UCF	6.7	66	41.1	38.7	19	29%	2%	43%	−6.1
37	Bryce Baringer	Michigan State	6.7	56	48.6	43.8	19	34%	14%	22%	+8.5
38	Colton Spangler	Maryland	6.7	27	45.1	40.9	1	4%	7%	31%	+1.1
39	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	6.8	56	42.0	38.4	15	28%	9%	29%	−4.0
40	Ethan Slike	Akron	7.0	49	43.0	39.7	12	28%	2%	28%	−6.6
41	Porter Wilson	Duke	7.1	61	44.8	41.0	23	38%	5%	29%	+3.9
42	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	7.3	81	42.8	39.3	18	23%	9%	40%	−1.0
43	Andy Vujnovich	Wisconsin	7.3	46	45.8	41.3	17	36%	6%	30%	+3.4
44	Matthew Hayball	Florida Atlantic	7.5	61	45.7	42.1	31	53%	10%	36%	+4.4
45	Jacob Finn	Virginia	7.5	41	44.2	40.4	12	29%	7%	29%	+0.4
46	Luke Magliozzi	Troy	7.6	61	42.5	37.4	17	28%	8%	41%	−8.2
47	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	7.6	64	45.0	42.0	26	41%	3%	47%	+10.7
48	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	7.8	51	43.1	39.7	19	38%	6%	42%	+6.8
49	Charlie Mendes	Rice	7.8	59	42.7	36.9	17	27%	8%	12%	−12.7
50	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	8.1	39	48.7	42.7	16	41%	15%	26%	+6.4
51	Nick Haberer	Washington State	8.2	45	42.7	38.3	15	33%	7%	50%	−4.3
52	James Evans	Indiana	8.3	69	41.9	38.4	15	22%	6%	28%	−8.8
53	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	8.4	57	43.0	39.1	17	30%	11%	48%	−1.4
54	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	8.4	61	42.7	40.9	18	30%	0%	63%	−1.5
55	Ralph Fawaz	Wyoming	8.4	55	42.4	39.6	21	38%	2%	38%	−3.6
56	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	8.4	64	44.8	41.6	20	38%	2%	14%	0.0
57	Mason Hunt	Southern Miss	8.5	71	43.6	39.7	22	33%	6%	48%	+4.9
58	Avery Atkins	LSU	8.6	59	42.4	38.7	20	34%	5%	45%	−4.5
59	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	8.8	47	43.7	40.6	17	37%	4%	36%	+2.7
60	Dom Dzioban	Miami (OH)	9.2	49	39.0	36.8	17	35%	0%	44%	−3.8
61	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	9.7	56	42.9	37.2	16	30%	9%	9%	−7.8
62	Derek Adams	Northwestern	9.8	58	41.5	38.0	17	29%	0%	51%	−13.6
63	Evan Silva	UNLV	9.8	52	40.2	37.0	16	33%	4%	46%	−10.1
64	Riley Riethman	Navy	9.8	44	42.7	37.7	12	27%	5%	19%	−8.5
65	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	9.9	53	43.2	39.3	12	29%	5%	33%	−0.5
66	James Williams	Syracuse	10.2	40	38.4	35.1	9	23%	0%	31%	−11.8
67	Grant Carlson	Boston College	10.2	52	44.2	39.3	22	42%	8%	26%	+1.5
68	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	10.4	54	39.6	37.0	17	33%	4%	32%	−8.3
69	Race Porter	Washington	10.5	53	48.5	42.8	20	42%	6%	23%	+9.6
70	Jake Camarda	Georgia	10.6	40	47.1	41.4	14	35%	15%	28%	+0.5
71	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	10.8	59	45.1	40.3	24	41%	10%	39%	+2.4
72	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	10.9	76	51.4	44.6	38	48%	19%	17%	+26.2
73	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	11.0	40	43.3	37.3	12	29%	5%	38%	−11.0
74	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	11.6	61	41.5	35.6	19	31%	13%	30%	−14.1
75	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	11.9	62	44.5	39.6	25	42%	8%	30%	+0.9
76	Josh Carlson	New Mexico State	11.9	71	41.5	38.2	20	29%	4%	40%	−6.4
77	Josh Watts	Colorado	12.0	66	47.8	38.5	20	31%	11%	23%	+0.9
78	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	12.1	60	43.3	37.3	21	36%	7%	27%	−2.6
79	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	12.3	57	42.8	39.8	25	44%	4%	43%	+1.9
80	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	12.8	44	42.5	36.6	14	33%	10%	26%	−6.7
81	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	12.8	59	46.0	40.0	23	40%	14%	33%	+3.4
82	Tommy Heatherly	Florida International	13.2	75	46.9	39.8	26	38%	18%	16%	+0.1
83	Adam Barry	Temple	13.5	63	42.0	37.2	16	25%	2%	44%	−15.6
84	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	13.8	45	44.4	37.0	9	20%	13%	29%	−8.7
85	Cesar Barajas	Louisiana Tech	14.8	54	41.5	37.9	25	47%	4%	41%	−3.5
86	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	14.9	73	42.5	38.6	17	23%	4%	30%	−7.4
87	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	15.1	58	50.9	41.8	25	45%	20%	11%	+5.5

All 2021 College punter rankings

Average Punt Return Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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