2021 College Gross Punting Average Leaders

Gross average is total punt yards divided by punts that were not blocked. It measures distance only and ignores returns and touchbacks.

Net average is a better measure of field position; use both. In 2021, Matt Araiza (51.4) led college football punters in gross punting average, ahead of Michael Turk (51.3) and Ryan Stonehouse (50.9). 120 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 43.1.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Avg	Punts	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	51.4	76	44.6	38	48%	19%	17%	+26.2
2	Michael Turk	Oklahoma	51.3	33	44.9	14	41%	12%	23%	+5.6
3	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	50.9	58	41.8	25	45%	20%	11%	+5.5
4	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	49.2	58	44.0	19	33%	19%	19%	+18.6
5	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	48.7	39	42.7	16	41%	15%	26%	+6.4
6	Bryce Baringer	Michigan State	48.6	56	43.8	19	34%	14%	22%	+8.5
7	Race Porter	Washington	48.5	53	42.8	20	42%	6%	23%	+9.6
8	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	48.4	38	43.9	17	45%	13%	54%	+15.0
9	John Haggerty	Western Kentucky	48.3	30	40.4	14	50%	4%	30%	+1.3
10	Josh Watts	Colorado	47.8	66	38.5	20	31%	11%	23%	+0.9
11	Ryan Wright	Tulane	47.5	51	44.8	16	33%	10%	49%	+15.0
12	Jake Camarda	Georgia	47.1	40	41.4	14	35%	15%	28%	+0.5
13	Tommy Heatherly	Florida International	46.9	75	39.8	26	38%	18%	16%	+0.1
14	Cameron Dicker	Texas	46.8	47	44.1	13	27%	6%	44%	+13.4
15	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	46.6	51	43.3	23	44%	4%	39%	+15.0
16	Jordan Stout	Penn State	46.5	62	45.0	35	57%	5%	42%	+22.6
17	Brad Robbins	Michigan	46.4	43	44.1	16	38%	7%	43%	+11.9
18	Issac Power	Baylor	46.2	44	42.9	18	41%	14%	41%	+15.0
19	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	46.2	54	44.0	25	47%	6%	38%	+11.4
20	Joe Doyle	Memphis	46.0	41	40.9	18	43%	10%	32%	+7.7
21	Colin Goodfellow	Kentucky	46.0	31	41.3	11	35%	16%	29%	+2.1
22	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	46.0	59	40.0	23	40%	14%	33%	+3.4
23	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	45.9	70	45.3	38	54%	0%	49%	+21.5
24	Tory Taylor	Iowa	45.9	76	41.6	36	47%	15%	30%	+13.1
25	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	45.9	46	43.6	14	30%	11%	50%	+6.4
26	Andy Vujnovich	Wisconsin	45.8	46	41.3	17	36%	6%	30%	+3.4
27	Matthew Hayball	Florida Atlantic	45.7	61	42.1	31	53%	10%	36%	+4.4
28	Lucas Dean	UTSA	45.4	44	43.1	21	48%	5%	31%	+7.7
29	Blake Hayes	Illinois	45.1	68	43.3	35	53%	3%	33%	+12.8
30	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	45.1	59	40.3	24	41%	10%	39%	+2.4
31	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	45.0	64	42.0	26	41%	3%	47%	+10.7
32	Ben Griffiths	USC	45.0	44	41.1	17	40%	12%	55%	+5.9
33	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	44.8	51	42.6	22	43%	8%	51%	+10.9
34	Porter Wilson	Duke	44.8	61	41.0	23	38%	5%	29%	+3.9
35	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	44.8	64	41.6	20	38%	2%	14%	0.0
36	Lou Hedley	Miami	44.7	49	43.0	21	44%	2%	38%	+9.0
37	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	44.5	62	39.6	25	42%	8%	30%	+0.9
38	Will Hart	San José State	44.4	67	41.6	31	46%	10%	40%	+7.3
39	Trenton Gill	NC State	44.4	65	41.7	36	55%	8%	44%	+7.4
40	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	44.4	45	37.0	9	20%	13%	29%	−8.7
41	Julian Diaz	Nevada	44.3	45	41.2	11	26%	7%	30%	+1.2
42	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	44.3	39	40.5	19	49%	10%	31%	+4.0
43	Jacob Finn	Virginia	44.2	41	40.4	12	29%	7%	29%	+0.4
44	Grant Carlson	Boston College	44.2	52	39.3	22	42%	8%	26%	+1.5
45	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	44.2	39	42.2	17	44%	8%	66%	+2.2
46	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	44.1	51	41.3	16	31%	6%	37%	+2.6
47	Zach Harding	Army	44.1	35	40.5	16	46%	11%	31%	+5.9
48	Ryan Hanson	Arkansas State	44.0	68	42.1	23	35%	2%	43%	+6.3
49	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	44.0	46	39.8	20	43%	13%	45%	+5.2
50	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	44.0	38	39.4	15	39%	16%	35%	+6.2
51	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	43.7	47	40.6	17	37%	4%	36%	+2.7
52	Mason Hunt	Southern Miss	43.6	71	39.7	22	33%	6%	48%	+4.9
53	Tyler Sumpter	West Virginia	43.6	45	39.8	14	31%	13%	31%	+1.1
54	William Przystup	Nebraska	43.4	31	39.1	6	19%	10%	26%	−6.3
55	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	43.3	60	37.3	21	36%	7%	27%	−2.6
56	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	43.3	40	37.3	12	29%	5%	38%	−11.0
57	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	43.3	42	40.1	19	45%	7%	32%	+8.1
58	Jordy Sandy	TCU	43.3	43	41.8	12	28%	7%	61%	+2.0
59	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	43.2	53	39.3	12	29%	5%	33%	−0.5
60	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	43.2	53	39.7	13	24%	6%	44%	−3.6
61	Jamieson Sheahan	California	43.1	53	41.6	14	26%	4%	60%	−2.5
62	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	43.1	51	39.7	19	38%	6%	42%	+6.8
63	Luke Akers	UCLA	43.1	34	37.1	6	19%	23%	35%	−1.2
64	Ethan Slike	Akron	43.0	49	39.7	12	28%	2%	28%	−6.6
65	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	43.0	57	39.1	17	30%	11%	48%	−1.4
66	Jonn Young	East Carolina	43.0	48	40.5	19	40%	4%	55%	+3.9
67	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	42.9	56	37.2	16	30%	9%	9%	−7.8
68	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	42.8	57	39.8	25	44%	4%	43%	+1.9
69	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	42.8	81	39.3	18	23%	9%	40%	−1.0
70	Tom Snee	Oregon	42.8	41	38.7	17	41%	8%	26%	+3.1
71	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	42.7	61	40.9	18	30%	0%	63%	−1.5
72	Charlie Mendes	Rice	42.7	59	36.9	17	27%	8%	12%	−12.7
73	Nick Haberer	Washington State	42.7	45	38.3	15	33%	7%	50%	−4.3
74	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	42.7	45	41.3	17	38%	4%	49%	+8.7
75	Riley Riethman	Navy	42.7	44	37.7	12	27%	5%	19%	−8.5
76	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	42.7	52	41.7	23	45%	4%	63%	+5.0
77	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	42.6	49	40.3	18	38%	4%	37%	+2.5
78	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	42.5	73	38.6	17	23%	4%	30%	−7.4
79	Luke Magliozzi	Troy	42.5	61	37.4	17	28%	8%	41%	−8.2
80	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	42.5	44	36.6	14	33%	10%	26%	−6.7
81	Avery Atkins	LSU	42.4	59	38.7	20	34%	5%	45%	−4.5
82	Ralph Fawaz	Wyoming	42.4	55	39.6	21	38%	2%	38%	−3.6
83	Laine Wilkins	Houston	42.3	55	39.9	22	40%	7%	44%	−0.3
84	Bailey Rice	Charlotte	42.2	40	40.6	15	38%	5%	48%	+1.8
85	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	42.2	66	40.4	27	41%	9%	52%	+6.5
86	Will Spiers	Clemson	42.1	58	39.4	28	47%	3%	43%	+2.8
87	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	42.0	56	38.4	15	28%	9%	29%	−4.0
88	Adam Barry	Temple	42.0	63	37.2	16	25%	2%	44%	−15.6
89	James Evans	Indiana	41.9	69	38.4	15	22%	6%	28%	−8.8
90	Brendan Hall	SMU	41.7	36	36.2	10	28%	3%	44%	−6.6
91	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	41.6	65	38.1	21	32%	6%	5%	−9.9
92	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	41.6	44	40.6	21	48%	2%	36%	+6.3
93	Mark Vassett	Louisville	41.6	47	39.7	19	41%	2%	50%	+2.9
94	Carson King	Fresno State	41.6	52	39.3	24	46%	6%	37%	−0.9
95	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	41.5	61	35.6	19	31%	13%	30%	−14.1
96	Cesar Barajas	Louisiana Tech	41.5	54	37.9	25	47%	4%	41%	−3.5
97	Derek Adams	Northwestern	41.5	58	38.0	17	29%	0%	51%	−13.6
98	Josh Carlson	New Mexico State	41.5	71	38.2	20	29%	4%	40%	−6.4
99	Matthew Shipley	Hawai'i	41.5	55	37.5	18	33%	8%	55%	−8.2
100	Grant McKinniss	Missouri	41.4	48	38.7	28	62%	0%	41%	−4.0
101	Devyn McCormick	UL Monroe	41.2	69	37.8	25	38%	6%	37%	−2.7
102	Luke Elzinga	Central Michigan	41.1	50	37.7	20	40%	8%	33%	−4.9
103	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	41.1	53	38.5	24	45%	9%	47%	+1.7
104	Andrew Osteen	UCF	41.1	66	38.7	19	29%	2%	43%	−6.1
105	Xavier Subotsch	App State	40.8	48	39.4	26	55%	2%	48%	+1.6
106	Reis Vernon	Kansas	40.4	49	35.4	11	22%	4%	38%	−22.4
107	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	40.3	53	38.7	18	34%	4%	44%	−2.5
108	Evan Silva	UNLV	40.2	52	37.0	16	33%	4%	46%	−10.1
109	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	40.2	60	37.2	23	40%	7%	43%	−8.2
110	Bailey Flint	Toledo	40.0	57	36.4	20	36%	9%	41%	−15.3
111	Joe McFadden	UConn	39.8	61	38.1	13	21%	2%	33%	−13.2
112	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	39.6	54	37.0	17	33%	4%	32%	−8.3
113	James Burnip	Alabama	39.1	42	36.8	16	37%	0%	40%	−7.2
114	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	39.0	56	36.3	18	33%	4%	27%	−20.9
115	Dom Dzioban	Miami (OH)	39.0	49	36.8	17	35%	0%	44%	−3.8
116	James Williams	Syracuse	38.4	40	35.1	9	23%	0%	31%	−11.8
117	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	38.4	60	37.1	20	33%	2%	53%	−8.8
118	Jack Ansell	Purdue	37.9	39	34.9	11	28%	0%	48%	−11.4
119	Charles Ouverson	Coastal Carolina	37.2	38	36.2	13	34%	5%	42%	−5.1
120	Josh Smith	Kent State	36.4	51	35.0	15	29%	6%	38%	−12.3

All 2021 College punter rankings

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

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