2021 College Opponent Starting Field Position Leaders

The average yard line, counted from the receiving team's own goal line, where it took over after a punt, including the return. A touchback counts as the 20. Blocked punts are left out.

Lowest comes first: a 24.0 means opponents began, on average, at their own 24. It folds distance, placement and returns into one number. In 2021, Zach Harding (18.0) topped college football punters in opponent starting field position, ahead of Tory Taylor (19.7) and Matt Araiza (19.8). 119 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 25.4.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Opp start	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Zach Harding	Army	18.0	35	44.1	40.5	16	46%	11%	31%	+5.9
2	Tory Taylor	Iowa	19.7	76	45.9	41.6	36	47%	15%	30%	+13.1
3	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	19.8	76	51.4	44.6	38	48%	19%	17%	+26.2
4	Jordan Stout	Penn State	20.2	62	46.5	45.0	35	57%	5%	42%	+22.6
5	Trenton Gill	NC State	20.5	65	44.4	41.7	36	55%	8%	44%	+7.4
6	Jonn Young	East Carolina	21.0	48	43.0	40.5	19	40%	4%	55%	+3.9
7	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	21.3	38	44.0	39.4	15	39%	16%	35%	+6.2
8	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	21.4	39	48.7	42.7	16	41%	15%	26%	+6.4
9	Matthew Hayball	Florida Atlantic	21.5	61	45.7	42.1	31	53%	10%	36%	+4.4
10	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	21.6	58	50.9	41.8	25	45%	20%	11%	+5.5
11	Lucas Dean	UTSA	21.8	44	45.4	43.1	21	48%	5%	31%	+7.7
12	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	22.0	51	44.8	42.6	22	43%	8%	51%	+10.9
13	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	22.2	42	43.3	40.1	19	45%	7%	32%	+8.1
14	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	22.2	44	41.6	40.6	21	48%	2%	36%	+6.3
15	Blake Hayes	Illinois	22.2	68	45.1	43.3	35	53%	3%	33%	+12.8
16	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	22.4	70	45.9	45.3	38	54%	0%	49%	+21.5
17	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	22.4	39	44.3	40.5	19	49%	10%	31%	+4.0
18	Issac Power	Baylor	22.5	44	46.2	42.9	18	41%	14%	41%	+15.0
19	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	22.6	58	49.2	44.0	19	33%	19%	19%	+18.6
20	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	22.9	59	46.0	40.0	23	40%	14%	33%	+3.4
21	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	22.9	52	42.7	41.7	23	45%	4%	63%	+5.0
22	Grant McKinniss	Missouri	22.9	48	41.4	38.7	28	62%	0%	41%	−4.0
23	Carson King	Fresno State	23.0	52	41.6	39.3	24	46%	6%	37%	−0.9
24	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	23.0	66	42.2	40.4	27	41%	9%	52%	+6.5
25	Jordy Sandy	TCU	23.0	43	43.3	41.8	12	28%	7%	61%	+2.0
26	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	23.0	38	48.4	43.9	17	45%	13%	54%	+15.0
27	Will Hart	San José State	23.0	67	44.4	41.6	31	46%	10%	40%	+7.3
28	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	23.1	51	46.6	43.3	23	44%	4%	39%	+15.0
29	Xavier Subotsch	App State	23.1	48	40.8	39.4	26	55%	2%	48%	+1.6
30	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	23.2	39	44.2	42.2	17	44%	8%	66%	+2.2
31	Joe Doyle	Memphis	23.3	41	46.0	40.9	18	43%	10%	32%	+7.7
32	Ben Griffiths	USC	23.4	44	45.0	41.1	17	40%	12%	55%	+5.9
33	Tom Snee	Oregon	23.4	41	42.8	38.7	17	41%	8%	26%	+3.1
34	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	23.6	54	46.2	44.0	25	47%	6%	38%	+11.4
35	Ryan Wright	Tulane	23.6	51	47.5	44.8	16	33%	10%	49%	+15.0
36	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	23.6	59	45.1	40.3	24	41%	10%	39%	+2.4
37	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	23.7	46	45.9	43.6	14	30%	11%	50%	+6.4
38	Laine Wilkins	Houston	23.9	55	42.3	39.9	22	40%	7%	44%	−0.3
39	Luke Elzinga	Central Michigan	24.1	50	41.1	37.7	20	40%	8%	33%	−4.9
40	Bryce Baringer	Michigan State	24.1	56	48.6	43.8	19	34%	14%	22%	+8.5
41	Brad Robbins	Michigan	24.1	43	46.4	44.1	16	38%	7%	43%	+11.9
42	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	24.3	46	44.0	39.8	20	43%	13%	45%	+5.2
43	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	24.4	51	43.1	39.7	19	38%	6%	42%	+6.8
44	Michael Turk	Oklahoma	24.4	33	51.3	44.9	14	41%	12%	23%	+5.6
45	Colin Goodfellow	Kentucky	24.5	31	46.0	41.3	11	35%	16%	29%	+2.1
46	Devyn McCormick	UL Monroe	24.5	69	41.2	37.8	25	38%	6%	37%	−2.7
47	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	24.5	64	44.8	41.6	20	38%	2%	14%	0.0
48	Lou Hedley	Miami	24.6	49	44.7	43.0	21	44%	2%	38%	+9.0
49	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	24.6	62	44.5	39.6	25	42%	8%	30%	+0.9
50	Cesar Barajas	Louisiana Tech	24.7	54	41.5	37.9	25	47%	4%	41%	−3.5
51	Jake Camarda	Georgia	24.8	40	47.1	41.4	14	35%	15%	28%	+0.5
52	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	25.0	57	42.8	39.8	25	44%	4%	43%	+1.9
53	Porter Wilson	Duke	25.0	61	44.8	41.0	23	38%	5%	29%	+3.9
54	Bailey Rice	Charlotte	25.1	40	42.2	40.6	15	38%	5%	48%	+1.8
55	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	25.1	53	41.1	38.5	24	45%	9%	47%	+1.7
56	Luke Akers	UCLA	25.1	34	43.1	37.1	6	19%	23%	35%	−1.2
57	Charles Ouverson	Coastal Carolina	25.3	38	37.2	36.2	13	34%	5%	42%	−5.1
58	Will Spiers	Clemson	25.3	58	42.1	39.4	28	47%	3%	43%	+2.8
59	Race Porter	Washington	25.4	53	48.5	42.8	20	42%	6%	23%	+9.6
60	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	25.4	60	43.3	37.3	21	36%	7%	27%	−2.6
61	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	25.5	47	43.7	40.6	17	37%	4%	36%	+2.7
62	Mark Vassett	Louisville	25.6	47	41.6	39.7	19	41%	2%	50%	+2.9
63	Tommy Heatherly	Florida International	25.7	75	46.9	39.8	26	38%	18%	16%	+0.1
64	James Burnip	Alabama	25.7	42	39.1	36.8	16	37%	0%	40%	−7.2
65	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	25.8	64	45.0	42.0	26	41%	3%	47%	+10.7
66	Julian Diaz	Nevada	25.8	45	44.3	41.2	11	26%	7%	30%	+1.2
67	Grant Carlson	Boston College	25.9	52	44.2	39.3	22	42%	8%	26%	+1.5
68	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	25.9	49	42.6	40.3	18	38%	4%	37%	+2.5
69	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	26.0	45	42.7	41.3	17	38%	4%	49%	+8.7
70	Andy Vujnovich	Wisconsin	26.0	46	45.8	41.3	17	36%	6%	30%	+3.4
71	Ralph Fawaz	Wyoming	26.1	55	42.4	39.6	21	38%	2%	38%	−3.6
72	Ryan Hanson	Arkansas State	26.5	68	44.0	42.1	23	35%	2%	43%	+6.3
73	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	26.5	56	42.0	38.4	15	28%	9%	29%	−4.0
74	Luke Magliozzi	Troy	26.6	61	42.5	37.4	17	28%	8%	41%	−8.2
75	Jacob Finn	Virginia	26.6	41	44.2	40.4	12	29%	7%	29%	+0.4
76	Josh Smith	Kent State	26.8	51	36.4	35.0	15	29%	6%	38%	−12.3
77	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	26.9	53	40.3	38.7	18	34%	4%	44%	−2.5
78	Nick Haberer	Washington State	26.9	45	42.7	38.3	15	33%	7%	50%	−4.3
79	Charlie Mendes	Rice	27.0	59	42.7	36.9	17	27%	8%	12%	−12.7
80	Mason Hunt	Southern Miss	27.1	71	43.6	39.7	22	33%	6%	48%	+4.9
81	Dom Dzioban	Miami (OH)	27.2	49	39.0	36.8	17	35%	0%	44%	−3.8
82	Avery Atkins	LSU	27.2	59	42.4	38.7	20	34%	5%	45%	−4.5
83	Jamieson Sheahan	California	27.2	53	43.1	41.6	14	26%	4%	60%	−2.5
84	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	27.2	61	42.7	40.9	18	30%	0%	63%	−1.5
85	Tyler Sumpter	West Virginia	27.2	45	43.6	39.8	14	31%	13%	31%	+1.1
86	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	27.5	60	40.2	37.2	23	40%	7%	43%	−8.2
87	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	27.5	40	43.3	37.3	12	29%	5%	38%	−11.0
88	Ethan Slike	Akron	27.6	49	43.0	39.7	12	28%	2%	28%	−6.6
89	Cameron Dicker	Texas	27.6	47	46.8	44.1	13	27%	6%	44%	+13.4
90	Matthew Shipley	Hawai'i	27.7	55	41.5	37.5	18	33%	8%	55%	−8.2
91	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	27.8	53	43.2	39.7	13	24%	6%	44%	−3.6
92	Andrew Osteen	UCF	28.1	66	41.1	38.7	19	29%	2%	43%	−6.1
93	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	28.1	61	41.5	35.6	19	31%	13%	30%	−14.1
94	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	28.2	51	44.1	41.3	16	31%	6%	37%	+2.6
95	Bailey Flint	Toledo	28.5	57	40.0	36.4	20	36%	9%	41%	−15.3
96	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	28.5	56	39.0	36.3	18	33%	4%	27%	−20.9
97	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	28.5	44	42.5	36.6	14	33%	10%	26%	−6.7
98	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	28.6	57	43.0	39.1	17	30%	11%	48%	−1.4
99	Josh Watts	Colorado	28.7	66	47.8	38.5	20	31%	11%	23%	+0.9
100	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	28.8	60	38.4	37.1	20	33%	2%	53%	−8.8
101	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	28.8	65	41.6	38.1	21	32%	6%	5%	−9.9
102	Brendan Hall	SMU	29.0	36	41.7	36.2	10	28%	3%	44%	−6.6
103	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	29.0	81	42.8	39.3	18	23%	9%	40%	−1.0
104	Riley Riethman	Navy	29.1	44	42.7	37.7	12	27%	5%	19%	−8.5
105	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	29.3	53	43.2	39.3	12	29%	5%	33%	−0.5
106	Josh Carlson	New Mexico State	29.3	71	41.5	38.2	20	29%	4%	40%	−6.4
107	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	29.4	54	39.6	37.0	17	33%	4%	32%	−8.3
108	Evan Silva	UNLV	29.6	52	40.2	37.0	16	33%	4%	46%	−10.1
109	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	29.6	45	44.4	37.0	9	20%	13%	29%	−8.7
110	Reis Vernon	Kansas	29.7	49	40.4	35.4	11	22%	4%	38%	−22.4
111	Derek Adams	Northwestern	30.4	58	41.5	38.0	17	29%	0%	51%	−13.6
112	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	30.8	73	42.5	38.6	17	23%	4%	30%	−7.4
113	James Evans	Indiana	30.8	69	41.9	38.4	15	22%	6%	28%	−8.8
114	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	30.8	56	42.9	37.2	16	30%	9%	9%	−7.8
115	William Przystup	Nebraska	31.5	31	43.4	39.1	6	19%	10%	26%	−6.3
116	Joe McFadden	UConn	31.6	61	39.8	38.1	13	21%	2%	33%	−13.2
117	Jack Ansell	Purdue	32.4	39	37.9	34.9	11	28%	0%	48%	−11.4
118	Adam Barry	Temple	32.8	63	42.0	37.2	16	25%	2%	44%	−15.6
119	James Williams	Syracuse	33.0	40	38.4	35.1	9	23%	0%	31%	−11.8

All 2021 College punter rankings

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