2022 College Fair Catches Forced Leaders

A fair catch means the returner gave up the chance to run. Punters who kick high and coverage teams who arrive quickly force more of them.

A sign of good hang time and coverage. In 2022, Seamus O'Kelly (33) led college football punters in fair catches forced, ahead of Aaron Rodriguez (32) and Daton Montiel (32). 184 punters qualify.

Final 2022 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	FC	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	33	73	40.5	37.7	17	24%	7%	52%	−7.1
2	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	32	81	44.2	40.4	26	33%	8%	43%	+12.6
3	Daton Montiel	Florida International	32	69	42.1	40.2	20	29%	4%	65%	−1.5
4	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	31	75	44.0	43.4	35	50%	3%	49%	+17.8
5	Jordy Sandy	TCU	30	52	39.6	37.9	16	31%	6%	64%	+0.1
6	Mason Hunt	Southern Miss	27	66	42.4	38.5	29	43%	12%	46%	+5.9
7	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	27	57	43.8	42.5	21	38%	4%	53%	+13.6
8	Josh Carlson	New Mexico State	27	56	40.5	39.3	16	29%	0%	60%	+3.7
9	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	26	62	41.7	40.5	27	44%	2%	43%	+9.1
10	Jon Sot	Notre Dame	26	45	43.2	40.7	20	44%	4%	59%	+9.2
11	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	25	71	41.4	37.1	14	20%	10%	43%	−0.4
12	George Caratan	UConn	25	61	40.3	38.2	18	31%	2%	48%	−5.1
13	James Ferguson-Reynolds	Boise State	25	59	42.5	39.2	22	40%	5%	54%	+5.5
14	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	25	49	40.6	39.0	22	44%	0%	60%	−0.6
15	Sami Sir	Bowling Green	24	68	38.5	37.1	15	23%	5%	49%	−15.7
16	Danny Longman	Boston College	24	61	40.9	39.7	17	27%	0%	55%	+1.3
17	Oliver Straw	West Virginia	24	49	42.5	41.3	19	39%	4%	55%	+4.1
18	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	23	54	44.7	42.2	27	50%	9%	44%	+10.1
19	Nick Haberer	Washington State	23	54	41.8	40.4	20	38%	2%	50%	+5.0
20	Brian Buschini	Nebraska	22	68	44.0	39.9	16	24%	9%	35%	+5.0
21	Tory Taylor	Iowa	21	74	45.1	41.2	37	50%	15%	32%	+19.2
22	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	21	68	43.1	41.2	31	46%	4%	34%	+15.6
23	Lucas Borrow	Ball State	21	66	41.4	38.5	28	44%	9%	43%	−5.1
24	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	20	81	36.4	34.3	19	24%	6%	31%	−26.5
25	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	20	73	41.7	40.2	24	33%	6%	38%	+0.1
26	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	20	57	41.7	39.1	20	35%	0%	41%	+2.6
27	Matt Freem	Nevada	20	50	41.6	39.0	16	30%	2%	41%	+3.5
28	Joe Doyle	Memphis	20	45	46.7	39.8	15	33%	13%	48%	+1.4
29	Casey Glover	Tulane	20	44	41.6	38.5	17	39%	16%	53%	+3.8
30	Luke Larsen	East Carolina	20	44	40.4	37.5	17	39%	7%	59%	−1.3
31	Clayton Howell	App State	20	43	38.8	36.4	12	28%	12%	51%	−4.4
32	Jack Bouwmeester	Utah	20	34	38.9	38.0	13	41%	3%	69%	+0.1
33	James Evans	Indiana	19	75	44.3	40.1	31	41%	3%	28%	+1.5
34	Jamieson Sheahan	California	19	65	45.1	40.1	25	38%	8%	35%	+5.4
35	John McConnell	Marshall	19	64	39.2	36.2	26	41%	10%	37%	−7.8
36	Noah Gettman	Akron	19	53	41.4	36.5	13	21%	8%	41%	−12.2
37	Hugh Robertson	Illinois	19	55	39.0	36.4	18	33%	7%	45%	−8.8
38	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	19	56	46.6	44.8	31	56%	4%	41%	+21.2
39	Aidan Alves	Liberty	19	56	41.4	38.1	22	42%	4%	42%	+0.1
40	Tom Foley	Northern Illinois	19	47	40.8	38.4	16	33%	2%	54%	−11.3
41	Brad Robbins	Michigan	19	38	42.0	41.5	18	47%	0%	50%	+9.9
42	Jonathon Batzke	Toledo	18	62	39.4	37.2	12	20%	3%	40%	−13.5
43	Luke Elzinga	Central Michigan	18	55	42.7	39.9	26	47%	7%	45%	+2.7
44	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	18	49	44.4	39.6	17	35%	6%	46%	−0.4
45	Shane McDonough	NC State	18	40	41.4	36.9	13	33%	5%	46%	−0.4
46	Clayton Stewart	Wyoming	17	69	44.3	37.9	20	29%	13%	30%	−4.0
47	Tyler Perkins	Iowa State	17	50	42.2	41.2	21	42%	4%	41%	+7.6
48	Jay Bramblett	LSU	17	47	44.2	39.3	19	40%	9%	36%	+4.5
49	Evan Crenshaw	Coastal Carolina	17	47	38.7	36.2	9	20%	2%	45%	−11.9
50	Brett Thorson	Georgia	17	33	44.9	41.0	18	55%	3%	52%	+3.7
51	Jack Browning	San Diego State	16	65	45.6	42.5	31	52%	7%	33%	+18.1
52	Mackenzie Morgan	Temple	16	58	40.0	38.7	18	33%	2%	35%	−3.8
53	Mike Rivers	Troy	16	56	42.0	38.8	26	50%	6%	33%	−1.9
54	Jack Stonehouse	Missouri	16	47	42.3	38.9	17	37%	9%	40%	+2.1
55	Jesse Mirco	Ohio State	16	44	45.6	41.5	20	45%	16%	37%	+7.2
56	Matthew Shipley	Hawai'i	15	63	40.7	36.6	19	31%	10%	31%	−6.5
57	Michael Turk	Oklahoma	15	60	46.7	43.1	22	37%	15%	30%	+9.1
58	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	15	57	42.0	39.7	16	30%	4%	30%	+2.2
59	Sam Clark	James Madison	15	50	43.2	39.2	18	36%	8%	36%	+3.6
60	James Burnip	Alabama	15	39	42.8	39.1	13	33%	5%	39%	+5.1
61	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	15	40	40.3	38.1	15	38%	8%	42%	+3.7
62	Ryan Bujcevski	SMU	15	36	43.8	40.9	13	36%	8%	50%	+4.1
63	Austin McCready	Louisiana Tech	15	34	40.6	37.0	6	17%	3%	47%	−11.7
64	Colin Goodfellow	Kentucky	15	33	40.8	36.9	11	32%	3%	52%	−1.9
65	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	15	33	42.6	39.1	13	38%	3%	52%	+2.5
66	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	14	59	42.3	38.2	18	31%	2%	24%	−8.2
67	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	14	58	43.8	39.2	26	45%	0%	32%	−4.7
68	Marshall Nichols	UNLV	14	59	42.5	39.1	18	32%	4%	32%	−3.1
69	Bailey Rice	Charlotte	14	46	42.7	39.3	17	38%	7%	48%	−0.4
70	Daniel Trejo	Texas	14	40	41.6	39.8	11	26%	5%	34%	−0.8
71	Aadyn Sleep-Dalton	USC	14	30	40.3	37.8	10	33%	0%	48%	−2.2
72	Dom Dzioban	Miami (OH)	13	71	41.9	40.3	29	44%	5%	32%	+7.9
73	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	13	62	43.8	40.1	22	35%	13%	25%	+9.4
74	Colton Spangler	Maryland	13	52	44.9	42.3	19	37%	6%	26%	+11.1
75	Barney Amor	Penn State	13	50	43.9	40.6	19	39%	6%	28%	+5.0
76	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	13	50	46.0	39.4	18	37%	10%	27%	−2.1
77	Carson King	Fresno State	13	48	41.9	39.1	13	28%	6%	33%	−3.5
78	Billy Boehlke	Army	13	43	38.3	35.6	8	19%	7%	46%	−9.5
79	Jack Wilson	Ohio	13	38	37.1	35.0	18	47%	5%	37%	−0.7
80	Porter Wilson	Duke	13	42	42.3	39.8	15	39%	5%	42%	+5.4
81	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	13	30	39.0	38.3	11	37%	3%	45%	0.0
82	Colin McCreary	South Florida	13	24	40.8	39.7	7	30%	0%	68%	−2.0
83	Caden Noonkester	NC State	13	22	43.6	40.5	7	32%	9%	59%	+5.8
84	Devyn McCormick	UL Monroe	12	60	43.9	36.6	17	29%	7%	24%	−17.3
85	Riley Thompson	Florida Atlantic	12	61	45.4	42.4	25	44%	5%	27%	+3.2
86	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	12	44	43.8	36.3	19	40%	2%	28%	−6.0
87	Trent Carrizosa	Colorado	12	46	40.9	36.9	14	30%	0%	28%	−12.2
88	Tom Ellard	Western Kentucky	12	42	42.5	40.2	19	46%	2%	40%	+1.3
89	Conor Hunt	Rice	12	42	41.3	36.8	13	33%	5%	32%	−5.6
90	Fraser Masin	Ole Miss	12	38	41.6	39.3	13	33%	5%	31%	−0.3
91	Mitch McCarthy	UCF	12	36	43.0	39.6	15	42%	0%	35%	+1.3
92	Travis Benham	San José State	12	36	41.5	36.9	17	47%	17%	40%	+2.1
93	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	12	28	45.0	40.5	10	34%	11%	44%	+5.0
94	Paddy Turner	Colorado State	11	66	39.1	37.6	15	23%	2%	25%	−8.3
95	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	11	60	46.2	41.8	28	47%	12%	22%	+12.0
96	Andy Vujnovich	Wisconsin	11	56	43.6	39.3	21	39%	7%	23%	+0.4
97	Bryce Baringer	Michigan State	11	51	48.8	45.5	22	43%	8%	24%	+22.0
98	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	11	51	41.8	38.5	17	33%	6%	26%	−6.3
99	Jack Ansell	Purdue	11	49	42.7	39.2	14	29%	10%	27%	+7.6
100	Riley Riethman	Navy	11	45	43.8	39.0	12	26%	7%	26%	+0.7
101	Max Von Marburg	Syracuse	11	48	40.8	36.8	8	17%	7%	28%	−11.5
102	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	11	45	43.3	38.3	16	36%	9%	37%	−1.7
103	Luke Akers	Northwestern	11	45	41.0	37.2	13	30%	7%	29%	−8.6
104	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	11	31	46.8	43.5	14	45%	3%	38%	+3.4
105	Matthew Hayball	Vanderbilt	10	59	45.4	37.8	21	36%	3%	20%	−6.1
106	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	10	49	44.3	40.8	14	29%	8%	25%	+4.3
107	Ryan Hanson	Arkansas State	10	48	43.7	40.8	19	40%	4%	24%	+1.3
108	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	10	46	46.7	42.4	18	39%	4%	23%	+4.2
109	Josh Smith	Kent State	10	43	40.3	38.6	14	33%	0%	38%	−3.0
110	Issac Power	Baylor	10	37	42.1	38.1	14	38%	11%	29%	−1.2
111	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	10	36	44.8	41.3	14	39%	8%	32%	+6.4
112	Luke Loecher	Oregon State	10	33	45.4	40.9	11	33%	6%	36%	+5.7
113	Max Fletcher	Arkansas	10	32	37.6	32.9	13	41%	3%	32%	−11.2
114	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	9	73	43.5	33.2	13	17%	8%	13%	−31.8
115	Mark Vassett	Louisville	9	50	44.6	40.8	20	40%	8%	20%	+5.8
116	Lou Hedley	Miami	9	47	45.3	42.6	24	51%	6%	20%	+12.8
117	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	9	43	45.5	39.1	13	30%	14%	24%	+0.6
118	Lucas Dean	UTSA	9	38	45.1	41.6	17	47%	8%	29%	+10.7
119	Alex Weir	San José State	9	15	37.7	34.9	3	21%	7%	82%	−4.0
120	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	8	52	46.8	43.5	29	56%	10%	17%	+16.0
121	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	8	47	45.8	38.5	15	32%	11%	19%	+0.9
122	Sam Vander Haar	Pittsburgh	8	30	39.1	36.3	13	42%	3%	31%	−3.7
123	Nick Barr-Mira	UCLA	8	22	43.7	39.6	9	43%	0%	44%	+1.7
124	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	7	47	42.5	37.8	16	36%	7%	18%	−3.6
125	George Georgopoulos	Mississippi State	7	31	40.1	37.9	12	39%	3%	23%	−2.9
126	Harry Webster	Nevada	7	23	33.7	32.8	4	20%	0%	70%	−8.5
127	Adam Barry	Oregon	7	10	39.7	40.0	6	67%	0%	78%	−1.1
128	Laine Wilkins	Houston	6	37	44.4	41.7	11	30%	5%	17%	+2.5
129	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	6	32	41.8	39.3	17	52%	9%	22%	+5.6
130	Sam Candotti	Boston College	6	12	36.9	37.3	7	64%	0%	67%	+1.1
131	Ross James	Oregon	6	8	41.9	36.4	2	22%	0%	67%	−2.3
132	Reis Vernon	Kansas	5	35	39.9	36.1	11	31%	9%	21%	−9.5
133	Ashton Logan	Colorado	5	17	40.6	36.4	3	21%	7%	36%	−1.0
134	Mitchell Tomasek	Eastern Michigan	4	46	44.1	40.0	18	44%	15%	13%	+3.4
135	Anthony Venneri	Buffalo	4	33	41.7	37.6	10	29%	14%	18%	−4.4
136	Carson Bay	Air Force	4	29	38.6	34.5	11	37%	10%	19%	−7.5
137	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	4	23	44.6	42.3	10	43%	9%	21%	+6.0
138	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	4	17	41.2	39.6	8	47%	6%	29%	+1.9
139	Sean Koetting	Missouri	4	13	40.1	35.6	4	31%	0%	44%	−2.7
140	Cam Guess	Pittsburgh	4	12	35.5	33.1	3	25%	0%	40%	−4.0
141	Alex Bales	Oregon	4	7	36.0	30.5	1	13%	0%	57%	−4.4
142	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	3	35	44.2	38.4	11	32%	9%	10%	−3.9
143	Rece Verhoff	Marshall	3	9	41.0	38.8	1	13%	13%	38%	−0.5
144	Kellen Grave de Peralta	Navy	3	7	43.7	38.0	4	57%	29%	50%	+1.5
145	R.Bell	Navy	3	3	58.3	58.3	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.1
146	R.Coe	Miami (OH)	3	3	58.0	58.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.4
147	William Przystup	Arkansas State	2	21	43.5	40.3	7	33%	0%	14%	+0.2
148	Jonah Wieland	Ohio	2	16	38.8	31.8	2	13%	0%	14%	−8.8
149	Jackson Baltar	Buffalo	2	13	40.2	34.7	3	23%	8%	25%	−7.9
150	Andrew Osteen	UCF	2	12	39.8	35.0	3	25%	17%	18%	−2.7
151	Hunter Renner	Northwestern	2	12	36.9	35.9	5	42%	0%	17%	−1.2
152	Wilson Berry	Kentucky	2	9	41.4	38.5	3	38%	0%	29%	+0.5
153	Zach Murphy	Wake Forest	2	6	39.7	28.8	2	33%	17%	33%	−3.1
154	Alex Bacchetta	Penn State	2	3	41.0	41.0	2	67%	0%	67%	+0.6
155	Andrew Boyle	Oregon	2	2	36.0	36.0	1	50%	0%	100%	+0.1
156	G.Nicholson	Cincinnati	2	2	47.0	47.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.2
157	J.Oldroyd	Boise State	2	2	56.0	56.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.6
158	M.Lantz	Georgia State	2	2	61.5	61.5	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.7
159	Jack McCallister	Washington	1	20	41.1	35.6	6	30%	10%	5%	−3.2
160	Archer Trafford	Mississippi State	1	16	42.4	39.3	9	56%	6%	7%	−0.1
161	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	1	9	43.3	41.6	3	33%	0%	13%	−0.2
162	Patrick Rea	Louisiana Tech	1	10	39.6	38.0	1	11%	11%	13%	−1.7
163	Anthony Pecorella	Maryland	1	4	37.3	37.3	3	75%	0%	50%	−0.3
164	Matthew Dennis	Wake Forest	1	4	30.0	30.0	1	25%	0%	33%	−3.1
165	Brendan Farrell	Virginia	1	3	30.0	29.0	0	0%	0%	33%	−3.2
166	Mack West	Coastal Carolina	1	3	21.7	21.7	2	67%	0%	100%	−1.0
167	Will Hutchinson	Miami	1	3	47.3	47.0	2	67%	0%	33%	+2.0
168	Brendan Cropsey	Purdue	1	2	44.0	44.0	0	0%	0%	50%	+0.8
169	Caleb Williams	USC	1	2	42.0	32.0	1	50%	50%	50%	+0.1
170	Will Ferrin	Boise State	1	2	35.5	17.5	0	0%	0%	50%	−1.7
171	A.Laros	Maryland	1	1	58.0	58.0	0	0%	0%	100%	0.0
172	A.McNulty	Toledo	1	1	61.0	61.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.3
173	B.Pohl	Akron	1	1	50.0	50.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.4
174	C.Davis	Rice	1	1	60.0	60.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.3
175	D.Gutierrez	Utah State	1	1	41.0	41.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.2
176	G.Nicholson	Ball State	1	1	64.0	64.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.3
177	J.Feely	Eastern Michigan	1	1	58.0	58.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.3
178	Jace Feely	Arizona State	1	1	37.0	37.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.3
179	Jack Smith	Clemson	1	1	47.0	47.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.7
180	Kevin Ryan	Washington	1	1	37.0	37.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.1
181	R.Verhoff	Coastal Carolina	1	1	61.0	61.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.4
182	T.Horn	Florida Atlantic	1	1	60.0	60.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.1
183	Tommy Doman	Michigan	1	1	41.0	41.0	1	100%	0%	100%	+0.2
184	W.Stone	UTSA	1	1	64.0	64.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.3

All 2022 College punter rankings

Fair Catches Forced in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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