2021 College Fair Catch Percentage Leaders

The share of a punter's punts that the returner fair caught instead of running back. Public play-by-play does not record hang time, so the fair-catch rate is the best available stand-in: a punt that hangs long enough for the coverage team to arrive leaves the returner no choice but to wave for a fair catch.

Higher usually means better hang time, though a returner who is no threat also calls for more fair catches. College punts whose play text does not say how they ended are left out of the count. In 2021, Paxton Brooks (65.7%) led college football punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Nathan Snyder (62.9%) and Alex Mastromanno (62.7%). 119 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 37.8%.

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

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	65.7%	39	44.2	42.2	17	44%	8%	+2.2
2	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	62.9%	52	42.7	41.7	23	45%	4%	+5.0
3	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	62.7%	61	42.7	40.9	18	30%	0%	−1.5
4	Jordy Sandy	TCU	60.5%	43	43.3	41.8	12	28%	7%	+2.0
5	Jamieson Sheahan	California	60.0%	53	43.1	41.6	14	26%	4%	−2.5
6	Matthew Shipley	Hawai'i	55.3%	55	41.5	37.5	18	33%	8%	−8.2
7	Jonn Young	East Carolina	55.0%	48	43.0	40.5	19	40%	4%	+3.9
8	Ben Griffiths	USC	55.0%	44	45.0	41.1	17	40%	12%	+5.9
9	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	54.3%	38	48.4	43.9	17	45%	13%	+15.0
10	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	53.3%	60	38.4	37.1	20	33%	2%	−8.8
11	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	51.7%	66	42.2	40.4	27	41%	9%	+6.5
12	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	51.0%	51	44.8	42.6	22	43%	8%	+10.9
13	Derek Adams	Northwestern	50.9%	58	41.5	38.0	17	29%	0%	−13.6
14	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	50.0%	46	45.9	43.6	14	30%	11%	+6.4
15	Mark Vassett	Louisville	50.0%	47	41.6	39.7	19	41%	2%	+2.9
16	Nick Haberer	Washington State	50.0%	45	42.7	38.3	15	33%	7%	−4.3
17	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	49.0%	70	45.9	45.3	38	54%	0%	+21.5
18	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	48.9%	45	42.7	41.3	17	38%	4%	+8.7
19	Ryan Wright	Tulane	48.8%	51	47.5	44.8	16	33%	10%	+15.0
20	Bailey Rice	Charlotte	48.5%	40	42.2	40.6	15	38%	5%	+1.8
21	Jack Ansell	Purdue	48.4%	39	37.9	34.9	11	28%	0%	−11.4
22	Mason Hunt	Southern Miss	48.3%	71	43.6	39.7	22	33%	6%	+4.9
23	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	47.9%	57	43.0	39.1	17	30%	11%	−1.4
24	Xavier Subotsch	App State	47.8%	48	40.8	39.4	26	55%	2%	+1.6
25	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	47.2%	53	41.1	38.5	24	45%	9%	+1.7
26	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	46.9%	64	45.0	42.0	26	41%	3%	+10.7
27	Evan Silva	UNLV	46.2%	52	40.2	37.0	16	33%	4%	−10.1
28	Avery Atkins	LSU	45.5%	59	42.4	38.7	20	34%	5%	−4.5
29	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	45.0%	46	44.0	39.8	20	43%	13%	+5.2
30	Trenton Gill	NC State	44.4%	65	44.4	41.7	36	55%	8%	+7.4
31	Adam Barry	Temple	44.4%	63	42.0	37.2	16	25%	2%	−15.6
32	Cameron Dicker	Texas	44.4%	47	46.8	44.1	13	27%	6%	+13.4
33	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	44.1%	53	40.3	38.7	18	34%	4%	−2.5
34	Laine Wilkins	Houston	44.0%	55	42.3	39.9	22	40%	7%	−0.3
35	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	44.0%	53	43.2	39.7	13	24%	6%	−3.6
36	Dom Dzioban	Miami (OH)	43.9%	49	39.0	36.8	17	35%	0%	−3.8
37	Brendan Hall	SMU	43.8%	36	41.7	36.2	10	28%	3%	−6.6
38	Ryan Hanson	Arkansas State	43.4%	68	44.0	42.1	23	35%	2%	+6.3
39	Will Spiers	Clemson	43.1%	58	42.1	39.4	28	47%	3%	+2.8
40	Andrew Osteen	UCF	42.9%	66	41.1	38.7	19	29%	2%	−6.1
41	Brad Robbins	Michigan	42.9%	43	46.4	44.1	16	38%	7%	+11.9
42	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	42.6%	57	42.8	39.8	25	44%	4%	+1.9
43	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	42.5%	60	40.2	37.2	23	40%	7%	−8.2
44	Jordan Stout	Penn State	42.4%	62	46.5	45.0	35	57%	5%	+22.6
45	Charles Ouverson	Coastal Carolina	41.9%	38	37.2	36.2	13	34%	5%	−5.1
46	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	41.7%	51	43.1	39.7	19	38%	6%	+6.8
47	Issac Power	Baylor	41.5%	44	46.2	42.9	18	41%	14%	+15.0
48	Cesar Barajas	Louisiana Tech	41.0%	54	41.5	37.9	25	47%	4%	−3.5
49	Grant McKinniss	Missouri	41.0%	48	41.4	38.7	28	62%	0%	−4.0
50	Bailey Flint	Toledo	40.9%	57	40.0	36.4	20	36%	9%	−15.3
51	Luke Magliozzi	Troy	40.8%	61	42.5	37.4	17	28%	8%	−8.2
52	James Burnip	Alabama	40.5%	42	39.1	36.8	16	37%	0%	−7.2
53	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	40.0%	81	42.8	39.3	18	23%	9%	−1.0
54	Will Hart	San José State	40.0%	67	44.4	41.6	31	46%	10%	+7.3
55	Josh Carlson	New Mexico State	39.6%	71	41.5	38.2	20	29%	4%	−6.4
56	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	39.2%	51	46.6	43.3	23	44%	4%	+15.0
57	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	38.9%	59	45.1	40.3	24	41%	10%	+2.4
58	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	38.3%	54	46.2	44.0	25	47%	6%	+11.4
59	Josh Smith	Kent State	37.8%	51	36.4	35.0	15	29%	6%	−12.3
60	Lou Hedley	Miami	37.8%	49	44.7	43.0	21	44%	2%	+9.0
61	Ralph Fawaz	Wyoming	37.5%	55	42.4	39.6	21	38%	2%	−3.6
62	Reis Vernon	Kansas	37.5%	49	40.4	35.4	11	22%	4%	−22.4
63	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	37.5%	40	43.3	37.3	12	29%	5%	−11.0
64	Devyn McCormick	UL Monroe	37.3%	69	41.2	37.8	25	38%	6%	−2.7
65	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	37.3%	51	44.1	41.3	16	31%	6%	+2.6
66	Carson King	Fresno State	37.0%	52	41.6	39.3	24	46%	6%	−0.9
67	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	36.8%	49	42.6	40.3	18	38%	4%	+2.5
68	Matthew Hayball	Florida Atlantic	36.1%	61	45.7	42.1	31	53%	10%	+4.4
69	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	35.9%	44	41.6	40.6	21	48%	2%	+6.3
70	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	35.7%	47	43.7	40.6	17	37%	4%	+2.7
71	Luke Akers	UCLA	35.5%	34	43.1	37.1	6	19%	23%	−1.2
72	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	35.1%	38	44.0	39.4	15	39%	16%	+6.2
73	Blake Hayes	Illinois	33.3%	68	45.1	43.3	35	53%	3%	+12.8
74	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	33.3%	59	46.0	40.0	23	40%	14%	+3.4
75	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	33.3%	53	43.2	39.3	12	29%	5%	−0.5
76	Joe McFadden	UConn	32.7%	61	39.8	38.1	13	21%	2%	−13.2
77	Luke Elzinga	Central Michigan	32.5%	50	41.1	37.7	20	40%	8%	−4.9
78	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	32.4%	54	39.6	37.0	17	33%	4%	−8.3
79	Joe Doyle	Memphis	32.4%	41	46.0	40.9	18	43%	10%	+7.7
80	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	31.6%	42	43.3	40.1	19	45%	7%	+8.1
81	James Williams	Syracuse	31.3%	40	38.4	35.1	9	23%	0%	−11.8
82	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	31.0%	39	44.3	40.5	19	49%	10%	+4.0
83	Zach Harding	Army	31.0%	35	44.1	40.5	16	46%	11%	+5.9
84	Tyler Sumpter	West Virginia	30.8%	45	43.6	39.8	14	31%	13%	+1.1
85	Lucas Dean	UTSA	30.8%	44	45.4	43.1	21	48%	5%	+7.7
86	Tory Taylor	Iowa	30.4%	76	45.9	41.6	36	47%	15%	+13.1
87	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	30.2%	62	44.5	39.6	25	42%	8%	+0.9
88	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	30.0%	73	42.5	38.6	17	23%	4%	−7.4
89	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	29.6%	61	41.5	35.6	19	31%	13%	−14.1
90	Julian Diaz	Nevada	29.6%	45	44.3	41.2	11	26%	7%	+1.2
91	Andy Vujnovich	Wisconsin	29.5%	46	45.8	41.3	17	36%	6%	+3.4
92	Porter Wilson	Duke	29.4%	61	44.8	41.0	23	38%	5%	+3.9
93	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	28.6%	56	42.0	38.4	15	28%	9%	−4.0
94	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	28.6%	45	44.4	37.0	9	20%	13%	−8.7
95	Jacob Finn	Virginia	28.6%	41	44.2	40.4	12	29%	7%	+0.4
96	Colin Goodfellow	Kentucky	28.6%	31	46.0	41.3	11	35%	16%	+2.1
97	James Evans	Indiana	27.9%	69	41.9	38.4	15	22%	6%	−8.8
98	Ethan Slike	Akron	27.6%	49	43.0	39.7	12	28%	2%	−6.6
99	Jake Camarda	Georgia	27.5%	40	47.1	41.4	14	35%	15%	+0.5
100	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	26.8%	60	43.3	37.3	21	36%	7%	−2.6
101	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	26.7%	56	39.0	36.3	18	33%	4%	−20.9
102	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	26.3%	39	48.7	42.7	16	41%	15%	+6.4
103	Grant Carlson	Boston College	26.1%	52	44.2	39.3	22	42%	8%	+1.5
104	William Przystup	Nebraska	25.9%	31	43.4	39.1	6	19%	10%	−6.3
105	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	25.7%	44	42.5	36.6	14	33%	10%	−6.7
106	Tom Snee	Oregon	25.6%	41	42.8	38.7	17	41%	8%	+3.1
107	Race Porter	Washington	23.4%	53	48.5	42.8	20	42%	6%	+9.6
108	Josh Watts	Colorado	23.3%	66	47.8	38.5	20	31%	11%	+0.9
109	Michael Turk	Oklahoma	22.6%	33	51.3	44.9	14	41%	12%	+5.6
110	Bryce Baringer	Michigan State	22.2%	56	48.6	43.8	19	34%	14%	+8.5
111	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	19.2%	58	49.2	44.0	19	33%	19%	+18.6
112	Riley Riethman	Navy	19.0%	44	42.7	37.7	12	27%	5%	−8.5
113	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	17.2%	76	51.4	44.6	38	48%	19%	+26.2
114	Tommy Heatherly	Florida International	15.7%	75	46.9	39.8	26	38%	18%	+0.1
115	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	13.6%	64	44.8	41.6	20	38%	2%	0.0
116	Charlie Mendes	Rice	11.8%	59	42.7	36.9	17	27%	8%	−12.7
117	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	11.1%	58	50.9	41.8	25	45%	20%	+5.5
118	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	9.1%	56	42.9	37.2	16	30%	9%	−7.8
119	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	4.8%	65	41.6	38.1	21	32%	6%	−9.9

All 2021 College punter rankings

Fair Catch Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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