2021 College Punts Returned Leaders

Punts the receiving team fielded and ran back, including muffs. Fewer returns mean the punter and coverage team gave the returner less to work with.

Compare with return yards allowed. In 2021, Josh Watts (38) led college football punters in punts returned, ahead of Porter Wilson (24) and Tommy Heatherly (22). 158 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Returns	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Josh Watts	Colorado	38	66	47.8	38.5	20	31%	11%	23%	+0.9
2	Porter Wilson	Duke	24	61	44.8	41.0	23	38%	5%	29%	+3.9
3	Tommy Heatherly	Florida International	22	75	46.9	39.8	26	38%	18%	16%	+0.1
4	Adam Barry	Temple	22	63	42.0	37.2	16	25%	2%	44%	−15.6
5	Charlie Mendes	Rice	22	59	42.7	36.9	17	27%	8%	12%	−12.7
6	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	22	56	42.9	37.2	16	30%	9%	9%	−7.8
7	Race Porter	Washington	22	53	48.5	42.8	20	42%	6%	23%	+9.6
8	James Evans	Indiana	20	69	41.9	38.4	15	22%	6%	28%	−8.8
9	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	19	81	42.8	39.3	18	23%	9%	40%	−1.0
10	Matt Naranjo	Bowling Green	19	65	41.6	38.1	21	32%	6%	5%	−9.9
11	Luke Magliozzi	Troy	19	61	42.5	37.4	17	28%	8%	41%	−8.2
12	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	19	60	43.3	37.3	21	36%	7%	27%	−2.6
13	Will Spiers	Clemson	19	58	42.1	39.4	28	47%	3%	43%	+2.8
14	Tory Taylor	Iowa	18	76	45.9	41.6	36	47%	15%	30%	+13.1
15	Blake Hayes	Illinois	18	68	45.1	43.3	35	53%	3%	33%	+12.8
16	Joe McFadden	UConn	18	61	39.8	38.1	13	21%	2%	33%	−13.2
17	Ryan Stonehouse	Colorado State	18	58	50.9	41.8	25	45%	20%	11%	+5.5
18	George Georgopoulos	Massachusetts	18	64	44.8	41.6	20	38%	2%	14%	0.0
19	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	18	51	46.6	43.3	23	44%	4%	39%	+15.0
20	Andy Vujnovich	Wisconsin	18	46	45.8	41.3	17	36%	6%	30%	+3.4
21	Riley Riethman	Navy	18	44	42.7	37.7	12	27%	5%	19%	−8.5
22	Matt Araiza	San Diego State	17	76	51.4	44.6	38	48%	19%	17%	+26.2
23	Derek Adams	Northwestern	17	58	41.5	38.0	17	29%	0%	51%	−13.6
24	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	17	58	49.2	44.0	19	33%	19%	19%	+18.6
25	Grant Carlson	Boston College	17	52	44.2	39.3	22	42%	8%	26%	+1.5
26	Devyn McCormick	UL Monroe	16	69	41.2	37.8	25	38%	6%	37%	−2.7
27	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	16	61	41.5	35.6	19	31%	13%	30%	−14.1
28	Avery Atkins	LSU	16	59	42.4	38.7	20	34%	5%	45%	−4.5
29	Bryce Baringer	Michigan State	16	56	48.6	43.8	19	34%	14%	22%	+8.5
30	Ralph Fawaz	Wyoming	16	55	42.4	39.6	21	38%	2%	38%	−3.6
31	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	16	54	46.2	44.0	25	47%	6%	38%	+11.4
32	Ethan Slike	Akron	16	49	43.0	39.7	12	28%	2%	28%	−6.6
33	Harrison Smith	Vanderbilt	15	73	42.5	38.6	17	23%	4%	30%	−7.4
34	Josh Carlson	New Mexico State	15	71	41.5	38.2	20	29%	4%	40%	−6.4
35	Andrew Osteen	UCF	15	66	41.1	38.7	19	29%	2%	43%	−6.1
36	Lou Hedley	Miami	15	49	44.7	43.0	21	44%	2%	38%	+9.0
37	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	15	40	43.3	37.3	12	29%	5%	38%	−11.0
38	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	14	64	45.0	42.0	26	41%	3%	47%	+10.7
39	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	14	62	44.5	39.6	25	42%	8%	30%	+0.9
40	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	14	59	45.1	40.3	24	41%	10%	39%	+2.4
41	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	14	53	43.2	39.7	13	24%	6%	44%	−3.6
42	Jay Bramblett	Notre Dame	14	51	44.1	41.3	16	31%	6%	37%	+2.6
43	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	14	49	42.6	40.3	18	38%	4%	37%	+2.5
44	Matt Ference	Northern Illinois	14	45	44.4	37.0	9	20%	13%	29%	−8.7
45	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	14	39	48.7	42.7	16	41%	15%	26%	+6.4
46	Mac Brown	Ole Miss	14	38	44.0	39.4	15	39%	16%	35%	+6.2
47	Ryan Hanson	Arkansas State	13	68	44.0	42.1	23	35%	2%	43%	+6.3
48	Trenton Gill	NC State	13	65	44.4	41.7	36	55%	8%	44%	+7.4
49	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	13	61	42.7	40.9	18	30%	0%	63%	−1.5
50	Jordan Stout	Penn State	13	62	46.5	45.0	35	57%	5%	42%	+22.6
51	Evan Silva	UNLV	13	52	40.2	37.0	16	33%	4%	46%	−10.1
52	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	13	45	42.7	41.3	17	38%	4%	49%	+8.7
53	Jacob Finn	Virginia	13	41	44.2	40.4	12	29%	7%	29%	+0.4
54	Tom Snee	Oregon	13	41	42.8	38.7	17	41%	8%	26%	+3.1
55	James Williams	Syracuse	13	40	38.4	35.1	9	23%	0%	31%	−11.8
56	Robert LeFevre	Marshall	12	53	40.3	38.7	18	34%	4%	44%	−2.5
57	Joel Velazquez	Boise State	12	51	43.1	39.7	19	38%	6%	42%	+6.8
58	Cameron Dicker	Texas	12	47	46.8	44.1	13	27%	6%	44%	+13.4
59	Nick Haberer	Washington State	12	45	42.7	38.3	15	33%	7%	50%	−4.3
60	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	12	44	42.5	36.6	14	33%	10%	26%	−6.7
61	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	12	53	43.2	39.3	12	29%	5%	33%	−0.5
62	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	11	70	45.9	45.3	38	54%	0%	49%	+21.5
63	Mason Hunt	Southern Miss	11	71	43.6	39.7	22	33%	6%	48%	+4.9
64	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	11	66	42.2	40.4	27	41%	9%	52%	+6.5
65	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	11	60	38.4	37.1	20	33%	2%	53%	−8.8
66	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	11	60	40.2	37.2	23	40%	7%	43%	−8.2
67	Matthew Hayball	Florida Atlantic	11	61	45.7	42.1	31	53%	10%	36%	+4.4
68	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	11	57	42.8	39.8	25	44%	4%	43%	+1.9
69	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	11	57	43.0	39.1	17	30%	11%	48%	−1.4
70	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	11	56	42.0	38.4	15	28%	9%	29%	−4.0
71	Xavier Subotsch	App State	11	48	40.8	39.4	26	55%	2%	48%	+1.6
72	Lucas Dean	UTSA	11	44	45.4	43.1	21	48%	5%	31%	+7.7
73	James Burnip	Alabama	11	42	39.1	36.8	16	37%	0%	40%	−7.2
74	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	11	42	43.3	40.1	19	45%	7%	32%	+8.1
75	Joe Doyle	Memphis	11	41	46.0	40.9	18	43%	10%	32%	+7.7
76	Michael Turk	Oklahoma	11	33	51.3	44.9	14	41%	12%	23%	+5.6
77	William Przystup	Nebraska	11	31	43.4	39.1	6	19%	10%	26%	−6.3
78	Colton Spangler	Maryland	11	27	45.1	40.9	1	4%	7%	31%	+1.1
79	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	10	59	46.0	40.0	23	40%	14%	33%	+3.4
80	Cesar Barajas	Louisiana Tech	10	54	41.5	37.9	25	47%	4%	41%	−3.5
81	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	10	54	39.6	37.0	17	33%	4%	32%	−8.3
82	Dom Dzioban	Miami (OH)	10	49	39.0	36.8	17	35%	0%	44%	−3.8
83	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	10	47	43.7	40.6	17	37%	4%	36%	+2.7
84	Mark Vassett	Louisville	10	47	41.6	39.7	19	41%	2%	50%	+2.9
85	Grant McKinniss	Missouri	10	48	41.4	38.7	28	62%	0%	41%	−4.0
86	Tyler Sumpter	West Virginia	10	45	43.6	39.8	14	31%	13%	31%	+1.1
87	Jake Camarda	Georgia	10	40	47.1	41.4	14	35%	15%	28%	+0.5
88	Will Hart	San José State	9	67	44.4	41.6	31	46%	10%	40%	+7.3
89	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	9	56	39.0	36.3	18	33%	4%	27%	−20.9
90	Kirk Christodoulou	Pittsburgh	9	53	41.1	38.5	24	45%	9%	47%	+1.7
91	Reis Vernon	Kansas	9	49	40.4	35.4	11	22%	4%	38%	−22.4
92	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	9	44	41.6	40.6	21	48%	2%	36%	+6.3
93	Brad Robbins	Michigan	9	43	46.4	44.1	16	38%	7%	43%	+11.9
94	Jack Ansell	Purdue	9	39	37.9	34.9	11	28%	0%	48%	−11.4
95	Brendan Hall	SMU	9	36	41.7	36.2	10	28%	3%	44%	−6.6
96	Jackson Baltar	Buffalo	9	28	39.5	35.7	6	21%	4%	27%	−11.5
97	John Haggerty	Western Kentucky	9	30	48.3	40.4	14	50%	4%	30%	+1.3
98	Bailey Flint	Toledo	8	57	40.0	36.4	20	36%	9%	41%	−15.3
99	Josh Smith	Kent State	8	51	36.4	35.0	15	29%	6%	38%	−12.3
100	Issac Power	Baylor	8	44	46.2	42.9	18	41%	14%	41%	+15.0
101	Julian Diaz	Nevada	8	45	44.3	41.2	11	26%	7%	30%	+1.2
102	Bailey Rice	Charlotte	8	40	42.2	40.6	15	38%	5%	48%	+1.8
103	Colin Goodfellow	Kentucky	8	31	46.0	41.3	11	35%	16%	29%	+2.1
104	Luke Akers	UCLA	8	34	43.1	37.1	6	19%	23%	35%	−1.2
105	Anthony Pecorella	Maryland	8	28	44.0	37.1	12	41%	18%	30%	+1.9
106	Ian Hawkins	Syracuse	8	26	37.2	32.6	5	19%	4%	29%	−11.4
107	Cameron Peasley	Utah	8	24	41.1	39.3	7	29%	4%	32%	−3.2
108	Laine Wilkins	Houston	7	55	42.3	39.9	22	40%	7%	44%	−0.3
109	Jamieson Sheahan	California	7	53	43.1	41.6	14	26%	4%	60%	−2.5
110	Matthew Shipley	Hawai'i	7	55	41.5	37.5	18	33%	8%	55%	−8.2
111	Carson King	Fresno State	7	52	41.6	39.3	24	46%	6%	37%	−0.9
112	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	7	51	44.8	42.6	22	43%	8%	51%	+10.9
113	Luke Elzinga	Central Michigan	7	50	41.1	37.7	20	40%	8%	33%	−4.9
114	Ben Griffiths	USC	7	44	45.0	41.1	17	40%	12%	55%	+5.9
115	Zach Harding	Army	7	35	44.1	40.5	16	46%	11%	31%	+5.9
116	Jesse Mirco	Ohio State	7	29	42.3	41.5	17	61%	0%	36%	+5.3
117	Archer Trafford	Mississippi State	7	21	42.4	37.8	7	33%	5%	30%	−2.2
118	Corey Dunn	Iowa State	7	20	40.6	33.8	8	38%	5%	24%	−5.6
119	Jonn Young	East Carolina	6	48	43.0	40.5	19	40%	4%	55%	+3.9
120	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	6	46	44.0	39.8	20	43%	13%	45%	+5.2
121	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	6	39	44.3	40.5	19	49%	10%	31%	+4.0
122	Jonah Wieland	Ohio	6	28	42.0	39.0	16	64%	0%	41%	+0.8
123	Max Morgan	Liberty	6	25	42.9	39.7	8	32%	4%	35%	+2.2
124	Andrew Mevis	Iowa State	6	21	41.0	39.1	5	26%	0%	38%	−0.4
125	Nathan Snyder	Ball State	5	52	42.7	41.7	23	45%	4%	63%	+5.0
126	Ryan Wright	Tulane	5	51	47.5	44.8	16	33%	10%	49%	+15.0
127	Jordy Sandy	TCU	5	43	43.3	41.8	12	28%	7%	61%	+2.0
128	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	5	38	48.4	43.9	17	45%	13%	54%	+15.0
129	Luke Loecher	Oregon State	5	28	47.7	42.8	14	48%	7%	38%	+3.5
130	Charles Bein	Air Force	5	25	39.6	37.9	13	52%	4%	40%	−1.9
131	Aidan Alves	Liberty	5	19	41.7	37.0	9	47%	5%	38%	+1.0
132	George Georgeopoulos	Massachusetts	5	11	40.5	41.3	2	18%	0%	10%	−2.2
133	Jack Wilson	Ohio	4	19	39.6	39.2	4	18%	0%	36%	−3.6
134	Jake Julien	Eastern Michigan	3	46	45.9	43.6	14	30%	11%	50%	+6.4
135	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	3	39	44.2	42.2	17	44%	8%	66%	+2.2
136	Haydn Kerr	UConn	3	19	36.2	34.2	10	53%	5%	47%	−4.5
137	Tucker Day	Mississippi State	3	17	39.7	32.6	2	12%	6%	36%	−14.1
138	Michael Williams	Utah	3	8	44.3	42.5	3	38%	0%	43%	+0.6
139	Daniel Cerni	Nebraska	2	16	36.9	27.6	4	25%	25%	36%	−9.6
140	Carson Bay	Air Force	2	12	41.0	41.1	5	42%	0%	29%	+1.6
141	Evan Finegan	Buffalo	2	9	40.4	35.4	3	38%	25%	50%	−1.9
142	Charlton Butt	UNLV	2	6	38.0	33.5	1	17%	0%	0%	−4.1
143	Sean Koetting	Missouri	2	6	46.7	35.5	0	0%	33%	0%	−1.4
144	Charles Ouverson	Coastal Carolina	1	38	37.2	36.2	13	34%	5%	42%	−5.1
145	Lucas Borrow	Ball State	1	7	39.1	39.1	4	57%	0%	60%	+0.5
146	Brendan Cropsey	Purdue	1	5	38.4	37.5	3	50%	0%	33%	+0.2
147	Cameron Shook	Iowa State	1	6	36.7	32.7	0	0%	0%	40%	−3.5
148	Duke Paane	Navy	1	5	35.8	29.2	1	17%	0%	60%	−4.8
149	Conor Schlichting	Wisconsin	1	6	29.8	24.4	3	60%	20%	33%	−0.3
150	Jake Genyk	Northwestern	1	4	34.5	34.5	2	50%	0%	75%	−1.7
151	Kolby Morgan	Tennessee	1	4	38.5	38.5	1	25%	0%	50%	−1.0
152	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	1	3	38.7	37.3	1	33%	0%	0%	−0.1
153	Kyle Vantrease	Buffalo	1	2	65.0	30.0	0	0%	50%	0%	−1.3
154	Zac Collins	Purdue	1	2	38.5	38.0	1	50%	0%	50%	0.0
155	Camden Lewis	Oregon	1	1	71.0	51.0	0	0%	0%	0%	+1.0
156	Kade Loggins	Georgia State	1	1	47.0	42.0	0	0%	0%	0%	+0.1
157	Sam Loy	Arkansas	1	1	37.0	27.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−1.2
158	Tanner Mordecai	SMU	1	1	15.0	15.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.5

All 2021 College punter rankings

Punts Returned 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

Loading the interactive stats…