2021 College Punt Return Yards Allowed Leaders

Total yards the receiving team gained on returns of a punter's kicks. It combines the punter's placement and the coverage team's tackling.

Lower is better, but more returns means more yards. In 2021, Josh Watts (456) led college football punters in punt return yards allowed, ahead of Adam Barry (296) and Tommy Heatherly (291). 150 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Ret yds	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Josh Watts	Colorado	456	66	47.8	38.5	20	31%	11%	23%	+0.9
2	Adam Barry	Temple	296	63	42.0	37.2	16	25%	2%	44%	−15.6
3	Tommy Heatherly	Florida International	291	75	46.9	39.8	26	38%	18%	16%	+0.1
4	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	271	58	50.9	41.8	25	45%	20%	11%	+5.5
5	Race Porter	Washington	231	53	48.5	42.8	20	42%	6%	23%	+9.6
6	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	230	60	43.3	37.3	21	36%	7%	27%	−2.6
7	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	224	73	42.5	38.6	17	23%	4%	30%	−7.4
8	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	213	56	42.9	37.2	16	30%	9%	9%	−7.8
9	John Haggerty	Western Kentucky	207	30	48.3	40.4	14	50%	4%	30%	+1.3
10	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	193	45	44.4	37.0	9	20%	13%	29%	−8.7
11	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	186	76	51.4	44.6	38	48%	19%	17%	+26.2
12	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	185	61	41.5	35.6	19	31%	13%	30%	−14.1
13	Josh Carlson	New Mexico State	178	71	41.5	38.2	20	29%	4%	40%	−6.4
14	Riley Riethman	Navy	177	44	42.7	37.7	12	27%	5%	19%	−8.5
15	Grant Carlson	Boston College	174	52	44.2	39.3	22	42%	8%	26%	+1.5
16	Porter Wilson	Duke	171	61	44.8	41.0	23	38%	5%	29%	+3.9
17	Charlie Mendes	Rice	171	59	42.7	36.9	17	27%	8%	12%	−12.7
18	Reis Vernon	Kansas	170	49	40.4	35.4	11	22%	4%	38%	−22.4
19	Derek Adams	Northwestern	166	58	41.5	38.0	17	29%	0%	51%	−13.6
20	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	166	62	44.5	39.6	25	42%	8%	30%	+0.9
21	James Evans	Indiana	165	69	41.9	38.4	15	22%	6%	28%	−8.8
22	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	165	40	43.3	37.3	12	29%	5%	38%	−11.0
23	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	153	44	42.5	36.6	14	33%	10%	26%	−6.7
24	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	152	64	44.8	41.6	20	38%	2%	14%	0.0
25	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	151	59	45.1	40.3	24	41%	10%	39%	+2.4
26	Cesar Barajas	Louisiana Tech	148	54	41.5	37.9	25	47%	4%	41%	−3.5
27	Luke Magliozzi	Troy	145	61	42.5	37.4	17	28%	8%	41%	−8.2
28	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	138	81	42.8	39.3	18	23%	9%	40%	−1.0
29	Avery Atkins	LSU	138	59	42.4	38.7	20	34%	5%	45%	−4.5
30	Ralph Fawaz	Wyoming	135	55	42.4	39.6	21	38%	2%	38%	−3.6
31	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	135	57	42.8	39.8	25	44%	4%	43%	+1.9
32	James Williams	Syracuse	133	40	38.4	35.1	9	23%	0%	31%	−11.8
33	Andy Vujnovich	Wisconsin	132	46	45.8	41.3	17	36%	6%	30%	+3.4
34	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	128	59	46.0	40.0	23	40%	14%	33%	+3.4
35	Evan Silva	UNLV	127	52	40.2	37.0	16	33%	4%	46%	−10.1
36	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	119	53	43.2	39.3	12	29%	5%	33%	−0.5
37	Jack Ansell	Purdue	118	39	37.9	34.9	11	28%	0%	48%	−11.4
38	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	115	56	39.0	36.3	18	33%	4%	27%	−20.9
39	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	113	39	48.7	42.7	16	41%	15%	26%	+6.4
40	Ethan Slike	Akron	112	49	43.0	39.7	12	28%	2%	28%	−6.6
41	Brendan Hall	SMU	112	36	41.7	36.2	10	28%	3%	44%	−6.6
42	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	109	61	42.7	40.9	18	30%	0%	63%	−1.5
43	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	107	65	41.6	38.1	21	32%	6%	5%	−9.9
44	Bryce Baringer	Michigan State	107	56	48.6	43.8	19	34%	14%	22%	+8.5
45	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	107	64	45.0	42.0	26	41%	3%	47%	+10.7
46	Bailey Flint	Toledo	107	57	40.0	36.4	20	36%	9%	41%	−15.3
47	Jake Camarda	Georgia	106	40	47.1	41.4	14	35%	15%	28%	+0.5
48	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	104	54	39.6	37.0	17	33%	4%	32%	−8.3
49	Joe McFadden	UConn	102	61	39.8	38.1	13	21%	2%	33%	−13.2
50	Tucker Day	Mississippi State	101	17	39.7	32.6	2	12%	6%	36%	−14.1
51	Andrew Osteen	UCF	100	66	41.1	38.7	19	29%	2%	43%	−6.1
52	Ian Hawkins	Syracuse	99	26	37.2	32.6	5	19%	4%	29%	−11.4
53	Devyn McCormick	UL Monroe	98	69	41.2	37.8	25	38%	6%	37%	−2.7
54	Nick Haberer	Washington State	98	45	42.7	38.3	15	33%	7%	50%	−4.3
55	Jacob Finn	Virginia	97	41	44.2	40.4	12	29%	7%	29%	+0.4
56	Corey Dunn	Iowa State	95	20	40.6	33.8	8	38%	5%	24%	−5.6
57	Mason Hunt	Southern Miss	94	71	43.6	39.7	22	33%	6%	48%	+4.9
58	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	93	51	43.1	39.7	19	38%	6%	42%	+6.8
59	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	92	57	43.0	39.1	17	30%	11%	48%	−1.4
60	Dom Dzioban	Miami (OH)	92	49	39.0	36.8	17	35%	0%	44%	−3.8
61	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	88	47	43.7	40.6	17	37%	4%	36%	+2.7
62	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	84	53	43.2	39.7	13	24%	6%	44%	−3.6
63	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	83	51	46.6	43.3	23	44%	4%	39%	+15.0
64	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	82	58	49.2	44.0	19	33%	19%	19%	+18.6
65	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	82	51	44.1	41.3	16	31%	6%	37%	+2.6
66	Matthew Hayball	Florida Atlantic	82	61	45.7	42.1	31	53%	10%	36%	+4.4
67	Will Spiers	Clemson	76	58	42.1	39.4	28	47%	3%	43%	+2.8
68	Trenton Gill	NC State	75	65	44.4	41.7	36	55%	8%	44%	+7.4
69	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	75	56	42.0	38.4	15	28%	9%	29%	−4.0
70	Matthew Shipley	Hawai'i	75	55	41.5	37.5	18	33%	8%	55%	−8.2
71	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	75	46	44.0	39.8	20	43%	13%	45%	+5.2
72	Colton Spangler	Maryland	74	27	45.1	40.9	1	4%	7%	31%	+1.1
73	Julian Diaz	Nevada	74	45	44.3	41.2	11	26%	7%	30%	+1.2
74	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	73	42	43.3	40.1	19	45%	7%	32%	+8.1
75	Michael Turk	Oklahoma	73	33	51.3	44.9	14	41%	12%	23%	+5.6
76	Blake Hayes	Illinois	71	68	45.1	43.3	35	53%	3%	33%	+12.8
77	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	71	38	48.4	43.9	17	45%	13%	54%	+15.0
78	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	70	49	42.6	40.3	18	38%	4%	37%	+2.5
79	Joe Doyle	Memphis	70	41	46.0	40.9	18	43%	10%	32%	+7.7
80	Aidan Alves	Liberty	70	19	41.7	37.0	9	47%	5%	38%	+1.0
81	Daniel Cerni	Nebraska	69	16	36.9	27.6	4	25%	25%	36%	−9.6
82	Archer Trafford	Mississippi State	68	21	42.4	37.8	7	33%	5%	30%	−2.2
83	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	68	39	44.3	40.5	19	49%	10%	31%	+4.0
84	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	67	60	38.4	37.1	20	33%	2%	53%	−8.8
85	Mark Vassett	Louisville	65	47	41.6	39.7	19	41%	2%	50%	+2.9
86	Tom Snee	Oregon	62	41	42.8	38.7	17	41%	8%	26%	+3.1
87	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	61	54	46.2	44.0	25	47%	6%	38%	+11.4
88	James Burnip	Alabama	61	42	39.1	36.8	16	37%	0%	40%	−7.2
89	Lou Hedley	Miami	60	49	44.7	43.0	21	44%	2%	38%	+9.0
90	Anthony Pecorella	Maryland	60	28	44.0	37.1	12	41%	18%	30%	+1.9
91	Max Morgan	Liberty	60	25	42.9	39.7	8	32%	4%	35%	+2.2
92	Tory Taylor	Iowa	59	76	45.9	41.6	36	47%	15%	30%	+13.1
93	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	58	53	40.3	38.7	18	34%	4%	44%	−2.5
94	Lucas Dean	UTSA	58	44	45.4	43.1	21	48%	5%	31%	+7.7
95	Carson King	Fresno State	58	52	41.6	39.3	24	46%	6%	37%	−0.9
96	Grant McKinniss	Missouri	55	48	41.4	38.7	28	62%	0%	41%	−4.0
97	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	54	38	44.0	39.4	15	39%	16%	35%	+6.2
98	Luke Loecher	Oregon State	54	28	47.7	42.8	14	48%	7%	38%	+3.5
99	Tyler Sumpter	West Virginia	53	45	43.6	39.8	14	31%	13%	31%	+1.1
100	Xavier Subotsch	App State	52	48	40.8	39.4	26	55%	2%	48%	+1.6
101	Will Hart	San José State	52	67	44.4	41.6	31	46%	10%	40%	+7.3
102	Jonah Wieland	Ohio	52	28	42.0	39.0	16	64%	0%	41%	+0.8
103	Jackson Baltar	Buffalo	51	28	39.5	35.7	6	21%	4%	27%	−11.5
104	Ben Griffiths	USC	50	44	45.0	41.1	17	40%	12%	55%	+5.9
105	Laine Wilkins	Houston	50	55	42.3	39.9	22	40%	7%	44%	−0.3
106	Kyle Vantrease	Buffalo	50	2	65.0	30.0	0	0%	50%	0%	−1.3
107	Colin Goodfellow	Kentucky	47	31	46.0	41.3	11	35%	16%	29%	+2.1
108	Zach Harding	Army	46	35	44.1	40.5	16	46%	11%	31%	+5.9
109	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	44	70	45.9	45.3	38	54%	0%	49%	+21.5
110	Luke Elzinga	Central Michigan	43	50	41.1	37.7	20	40%	8%	33%	−4.9
111	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	42	60	40.2	37.2	23	40%	7%	43%	−8.2
112	Luke Akers	UCLA	42	34	43.1	37.1	6	19%	23%	35%	−1.2
113	Jesse Mirco	Ohio State	41	29	42.3	41.5	17	61%	0%	36%	+5.3
114	Jack Wilson	Ohio	40	19	39.6	39.2	4	18%	0%	36%	−3.6
115	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	37	53	41.1	38.5	24	45%	9%	47%	+1.7
116	William Przystup	Nebraska	36	31	43.4	39.1	6	19%	10%	26%	−6.3
117	Brad Robbins	Michigan	35	43	46.4	44.1	16	38%	7%	43%	+11.9
118	Jamieson Sheahan	California	35	53	43.1	41.6	14	26%	4%	60%	−2.5
119	Andrew Mevis	Iowa State	34	21	41.0	39.1	5	26%	0%	38%	−0.4
120	Jonn Young	East Carolina	34	48	43.0	40.5	19	40%	4%	55%	+3.9
121	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	32	51	44.8	42.6	22	43%	8%	51%	+10.9
122	Ryan Hanson	Arkansas State	30	68	44.0	42.1	23	35%	2%	43%	+6.3
123	Ryan Wright	Tulane	29	51	47.5	44.8	16	33%	10%	49%	+15.0
124	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	28	45	42.7	41.3	17	38%	4%	49%	+8.7
125	Jordan Stout	Penn State	27	62	46.5	45.0	35	57%	5%	42%	+22.6
126	Issac Power	Baylor	27	44	46.2	42.9	18	41%	14%	41%	+15.0
127	Charlton Butt	UNLV	27	6	38.0	33.5	1	17%	0%	0%	−4.1
128	Sean Koetting	Missouri	27	6	46.7	35.5	0	0%	33%	0%	−1.4
129	Bailey Rice	Charlotte	26	40	42.2	40.6	15	38%	5%	48%	+1.8
130	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	25	44	41.6	40.6	21	48%	2%	36%	+6.3
131	Cameron Peasley	Utah	25	24	41.1	39.3	7	29%	4%	32%	−3.2
132	Cameron Dicker	Texas	24	47	46.8	44.1	13	27%	6%	44%	+13.4
133	Cameron Shook	Iowa State	24	6	36.7	32.7	0	0%	0%	40%	−3.5
134	Josh Smith	Kent State	23	51	36.4	35.0	15	29%	6%	38%	−12.3
135	Charles Bein	Air Force	22	25	39.6	37.9	13	52%	4%	40%	−1.9
136	Camden Lewis	Oregon	20	1	71.0	51.0	0	0%	0%	0%	+1.0
137	Haydn Kerr	UConn	18	19	36.2	34.2	10	53%	5%	47%	−4.5
138	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	15	52	42.7	41.7	23	45%	4%	63%	+5.0
139	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	15	39	44.2	42.2	17	44%	8%	66%	+2.2
140	Michael Williams	Utah	14	8	44.3	42.5	3	38%	0%	43%	+0.6
141	Conor Schlichting	Wisconsin	11	6	29.8	24.4	3	60%	20%	33%	−0.3
142	Sam Loy	Arkansas	10	1	37.0	27.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−1.2
143	Brendan Cropsey	Purdue	7	5	38.4	37.5	3	50%	0%	33%	+0.2
144	Evan Finegan	Buffalo	6	9	40.4	35.4	3	38%	25%	50%	−1.9
145	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	5	46	45.9	43.6	14	30%	11%	50%	+6.4
146	Kade Loggins	Georgia State	5	1	47.0	42.0	0	0%	0%	0%	+0.1
147	Jordy Sandy	TCU	4	43	43.3	41.8	12	28%	7%	61%	+2.0
148	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	4	3	38.7	37.3	1	33%	0%	0%	−0.1
149	Duke Paane	Navy	4	5	35.8	29.2	1	17%	0%	60%	−4.8
150	Zac Collins	Purdue	1	2	38.5	38.0	1	50%	0%	50%	0.0

All 2021 College punter rankings

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

More 2021 College punter leaderboards

Other 2021 College rankings

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