2022 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 2022, David Shanahan (33) led college football punters in punts returned, ahead of Aaron Rodriguez (26) and Trent Carrizosa (26). 162 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Returns	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	33	73	43.5	33.2	13	17%	8%	13%	−31.8
2	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	26	81	44.2	40.4	26	33%	8%	43%	+12.6
3	Trent Carrizosa	Colorado	26	46	40.9	36.9	14	30%	0%	28%	−12.2
4	James Evans	Indiana	25	75	44.3	40.1	31	41%	3%	28%	+1.5
5	Matthew Hayball	Vanderbilt	24	59	45.4	37.8	21	36%	3%	20%	−6.1
6	Mark Vassett	Louisville	23	50	44.6	40.8	20	40%	8%	20%	+5.8
7	Nick Mihalic	Western Michigan	22	71	41.4	37.1	14	20%	10%	43%	−0.4
8	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	22	59	42.3	38.2	18	31%	2%	24%	−8.2
9	Lachlan Wilson	Tulsa	22	58	43.8	39.2	26	45%	0%	32%	−4.7
10	Jamieson Sheahan	California	21	65	45.1	40.1	25	38%	8%	35%	+5.4
11	Kyle Ulbrich	Middle Tennessee	21	60	46.2	41.8	28	47%	12%	22%	+12.0
12	Ryan Sanborn	Stanford	21	57	41.7	39.1	20	35%	0%	41%	+2.6
13	Michael Hayes II	Georgia State	21	57	42.0	39.7	16	30%	4%	30%	+2.2
14	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	21	46	46.7	42.4	18	39%	4%	23%	+4.2
15	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	20	81	36.4	34.3	19	24%	6%	31%	−26.5
16	Brian Buschini	Nebraska	20	68	44.0	39.9	16	24%	9%	35%	+5.0
17	Devyn McCormick	UL Monroe	20	60	43.9	36.6	17	29%	7%	24%	−17.3
18	Riley Thompson	Florida Atlantic	20	61	45.4	42.4	25	44%	5%	27%	+3.2
19	Clayton Stewart	Wyoming	19	69	44.3	37.9	20	29%	13%	30%	−4.0
20	Jack Browning	San Diego State	19	65	45.6	42.5	31	52%	7%	33%	+18.1
21	Colton Spangler	Maryland	19	52	44.9	42.3	19	37%	6%	26%	+11.1
22	Tom Hutton	Oklahoma State	19	44	43.8	36.3	19	40%	2%	28%	−6.0
23	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	18	68	43.1	41.2	31	46%	4%	34%	+15.6
24	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	18	56	46.6	44.8	31	56%	4%	41%	+21.2
25	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	18	52	46.8	43.5	29	56%	10%	17%	+16.0
26	Eddie Czaplicki	Arizona State	18	50	46.0	39.4	18	37%	10%	27%	−2.1
27	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	18	47	45.8	38.5	15	32%	11%	19%	+0.9
28	Tory Taylor	Iowa	17	74	45.1	41.2	37	50%	15%	32%	+19.2
29	Noah Gettman	Akron	17	53	41.4	36.5	13	21%	8%	41%	−12.2
30	Marshall Nichols	UNLV	17	59	42.5	39.1	18	32%	4%	32%	−3.1
31	Anthony Beck II	Georgia Southern	17	47	42.5	37.8	16	36%	7%	18%	−3.6
32	George Caratan	UConn	16	61	40.3	38.2	18	31%	2%	48%	−5.1
33	Matt Freem	Nevada	16	50	41.6	39.0	16	30%	2%	41%	+3.5
34	Jack Ansell	Purdue	16	49	42.7	39.2	14	29%	10%	27%	+7.6
35	Riley Riethman	Navy	16	45	43.8	39.0	12	26%	7%	26%	+0.7
36	Max Von Marburg	Syracuse	16	48	40.8	36.8	8	17%	7%	28%	−11.5
37	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	16	35	44.2	38.4	11	32%	9%	10%	−3.9
38	Mike Rivers	Troy	15	56	42.0	38.8	26	50%	6%	33%	−1.9
39	Bryce Baringer	Michigan State	15	51	48.8	45.5	22	43%	8%	24%	+22.0
40	Rhys Byrns	Louisiana	15	49	44.3	40.8	14	29%	8%	25%	+4.3
41	Ryan Hanson	Arkansas State	15	48	43.7	40.8	19	40%	4%	24%	+1.3
42	Jay Bramblett	LSU	15	47	44.2	39.3	19	40%	9%	36%	+4.5
43	Kyle Greenwell	UAB	15	43	45.5	39.1	13	30%	14%	24%	+0.6
44	Dom Dzioban	Miami (OH)	14	71	41.9	40.3	29	44%	5%	32%	+7.9
45	Paddy Turner	Colorado State	14	66	39.1	37.6	15	23%	2%	25%	−8.3
46	Matthew Shipley	Hawai'i	14	63	40.7	36.6	19	31%	10%	31%	−6.5
47	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	14	62	41.7	40.5	27	44%	2%	43%	+9.1
48	Andy Vujnovich	Wisconsin	14	56	43.6	39.3	21	39%	7%	23%	+0.4
49	Sam Clark	James Madison	14	50	43.2	39.2	18	36%	8%	36%	+3.6
50	Lou Hedley	Miami	14	47	45.3	42.6	24	51%	6%	20%	+12.8
51	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	14	45	43.3	38.3	16	36%	9%	37%	−1.7
52	Conor Hunt	Rice	14	42	41.3	36.8	13	33%	5%	32%	−5.6
53	Shane McDonough	NC State	14	40	41.4	36.9	13	33%	5%	46%	−0.4
54	Issac Power	Baylor	14	37	42.1	38.1	14	38%	11%	29%	−1.2
55	Laine Wilkins	Houston	14	37	44.4	41.7	11	30%	5%	17%	+2.5
56	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	13	62	43.8	40.1	22	35%	13%	25%	+9.4
57	Josh Carlson	New Mexico State	13	56	40.5	39.3	16	29%	0%	60%	+3.7
58	Nick Haberer	Washington State	13	54	41.8	40.4	20	38%	2%	50%	+5.0
59	Jack Brooks	South Alabama	13	51	41.8	38.5	17	33%	6%	26%	−6.3
60	Barney Amor	Penn State	13	50	43.9	40.6	19	39%	6%	28%	+5.0
61	Joe Doyle	Memphis	13	45	46.7	39.8	15	33%	13%	48%	+1.4
62	Mitch McCarthy	UCF	13	36	43.0	39.6	15	42%	0%	35%	+1.3
63	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	12	73	40.5	37.7	17	24%	7%	52%	−7.1
64	Lucas Borrow	Ball State	12	66	41.4	38.5	28	44%	9%	43%	−5.1
65	Michael Turk	Oklahoma	12	60	46.7	43.1	22	37%	15%	30%	+9.1
66	Mackenzie Morgan	Temple	12	58	40.0	38.7	18	33%	2%	35%	−3.8
67	Bernardo Rodriguez	North Texas	12	49	40.6	39.0	22	44%	0%	60%	−0.6
68	Porter Wilson	Duke	12	42	42.3	39.8	15	39%	5%	42%	+5.4
69	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	11	73	41.7	40.2	24	33%	6%	38%	+0.1
70	Danny Longman	Boston College	11	61	40.9	39.7	17	27%	0%	55%	+1.3
71	Aidan Alves	Liberty	11	56	41.4	38.1	22	42%	4%	42%	+0.1
72	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	11	49	44.4	39.6	17	35%	6%	46%	−0.4
73	Tom Foley	Northern Illinois	11	47	40.8	38.4	16	33%	2%	54%	−11.3
74	Jack Stonehouse	Missouri	11	47	42.3	38.9	17	37%	9%	40%	+2.1
75	Mitchell Tomasek	Eastern Michigan	11	46	44.1	40.0	18	44%	15%	13%	+3.4
76	Lucas Dean	UTSA	11	38	45.1	41.6	17	47%	8%	29%	+10.7
77	Jonah Wieland	Ohio	11	16	38.8	31.8	2	13%	0%	14%	−8.8
78	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	10	57	43.8	42.5	21	38%	4%	53%	+13.6
79	Carson King	Fresno State	10	48	41.9	39.1	13	28%	6%	33%	−3.5
80	Luke Akers	Northwestern	10	45	41.0	37.2	13	30%	7%	29%	−8.6
81	Daniel Trejo	Texas	10	40	41.6	39.8	11	26%	5%	34%	−0.8
82	Fraser Masin	Ole Miss	10	38	41.6	39.3	13	33%	5%	31%	−0.3
83	James Burnip	Alabama	10	39	42.8	39.1	13	33%	5%	39%	+5.1
84	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	10	32	41.8	39.3	17	52%	9%	22%	+5.6
85	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	10	31	46.8	43.5	14	45%	3%	38%	+3.4
86	William Przystup	Arkansas State	10	21	43.5	40.3	7	33%	0%	14%	+0.2
87	Mason Hunt	Southern Miss	9	66	42.4	38.5	29	43%	12%	46%	+5.9
88	John McConnell	Marshall	9	64	39.2	36.2	26	41%	10%	37%	−7.8
89	Jonathon Batzke	Toledo	9	62	39.4	37.2	12	20%	3%	40%	−13.5
90	Luke Elzinga	Central Michigan	9	55	42.7	39.9	26	47%	7%	45%	+2.7
91	Tyler Perkins	Iowa State	9	50	42.2	41.2	21	42%	4%	41%	+7.6
92	Evan Crenshaw	Coastal Carolina	9	47	38.7	36.2	9	20%	2%	45%	−11.9
93	Josh Smith	Kent State	9	43	40.3	38.6	14	33%	0%	38%	−3.0
94	Tom Ellard	Western Kentucky	9	42	42.5	40.2	19	46%	2%	40%	+1.3
95	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	9	40	40.3	38.1	15	38%	8%	42%	+3.7
96	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	9	36	44.8	41.3	14	39%	8%	32%	+6.4
97	Reis Vernon	Kansas	9	35	39.9	36.1	11	31%	9%	21%	−9.5
98	Sam Vander Haar	Pittsburgh	9	30	39.1	36.3	13	42%	3%	31%	−3.7
99	Jack McCallister	Washington	9	20	41.1	35.6	6	30%	10%	5%	−3.2
100	Daton Montiel	Florida International	8	69	42.1	40.2	20	29%	4%	65%	−1.5
101	Sami Sir	Bowling Green	8	68	38.5	37.1	15	23%	5%	49%	−15.7
102	James Ferguson-Reynolds	Boise State	8	59	42.5	39.2	22	40%	5%	54%	+5.5
103	Ty Zentner	Kansas State	8	54	44.7	42.2	27	50%	9%	44%	+10.1
104	Bailey Rice	Charlotte	8	46	42.7	39.3	17	38%	7%	48%	−0.4
105	Jon Sot	Notre Dame	8	45	43.2	40.7	20	44%	4%	59%	+9.2
106	Jesse Mirco	Ohio State	8	44	45.6	41.5	20	45%	16%	37%	+7.2
107	Ryan Bujcevski	SMU	8	36	43.8	40.9	13	36%	8%	50%	+4.1
108	Anthony Venneri	Buffalo	8	33	41.7	37.6	10	29%	14%	18%	−4.4
109	Luke Loecher	Oregon State	8	33	45.4	40.9	11	33%	6%	36%	+5.7
110	George Georgopoulos	Mississippi State	8	31	40.1	37.9	12	39%	3%	23%	−2.9
111	Nick Barr-Mira	UCLA	8	22	43.7	39.6	9	43%	0%	44%	+1.7
112	Oliver Straw	West Virginia	7	49	42.5	41.3	19	39%	4%	55%	+4.1
113	Austin McCready	Louisiana Tech	7	34	40.6	37.0	6	17%	3%	47%	−11.7
114	Aadyn Sleep-Dalton	USC	7	30	40.3	37.8	10	33%	0%	48%	−2.2
115	Adam Korsak	Rutgers	6	75	44.0	43.4	35	50%	3%	49%	+17.8
116	Hugh Robertson	Illinois	6	55	39.0	36.4	18	33%	7%	45%	−8.8
117	Billy Boehlke	Army	6	43	38.3	35.6	8	19%	7%	46%	−9.5
118	Brad Robbins	Michigan	6	38	42.0	41.5	18	47%	0%	50%	+9.9
119	Jack Wilson	Ohio	6	38	37.1	35.0	18	47%	5%	37%	−0.7
120	Travis Benham	San José State	6	36	41.5	36.9	17	47%	17%	40%	+2.1
121	Colin Goodfellow	Kentucky	6	33	40.8	36.9	11	32%	3%	52%	−1.9
122	Brett Thorson	Georgia	6	33	44.9	41.0	18	55%	3%	52%	+3.7
123	Max Fletcher	Arkansas	6	32	37.6	32.9	13	41%	3%	32%	−11.2
124	Carson Bay	Air Force	6	29	38.6	34.5	11	37%	10%	19%	−7.5
125	Logan Ward	Oklahoma State	6	28	45.0	40.5	10	34%	11%	44%	+5.0
126	Archer Trafford	Mississippi State	6	16	42.4	39.3	9	56%	6%	7%	−0.1
127	Jordy Sandy	TCU	5	52	39.6	37.9	16	31%	6%	64%	+0.1
128	Casey Glover	Tulane	5	44	41.6	38.5	17	39%	16%	53%	+3.8
129	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	5	33	42.6	39.1	13	38%	3%	52%	+2.5
130	Caden Noonkester	NC State	5	22	43.6	40.5	7	32%	9%	59%	+5.8
131	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	5	17	41.2	39.6	8	47%	6%	29%	+1.9
132	Ashton Logan	Colorado	5	17	40.6	36.4	3	21%	7%	36%	−1.0
133	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	5	9	43.3	41.6	3	33%	0%	13%	−0.2
134	Jack Bouwmeester	Utah	4	34	38.9	38.0	13	41%	3%	69%	+0.1
135	Reid Bauer	Arkansas	4	23	44.6	42.3	10	43%	9%	21%	+6.0
136	Jackson Baltar	Buffalo	4	13	40.2	34.7	3	23%	8%	25%	−7.9
137	Luke Larsen	East Carolina	3	44	40.4	37.5	17	39%	7%	59%	−1.3
138	Clayton Howell	App State	3	43	38.8	36.4	12	28%	12%	51%	−4.4
139	Andrew Osteen	UCF	3	12	39.8	35.0	3	25%	17%	18%	−2.7
140	Cam Guess	Pittsburgh	3	12	35.5	33.1	3	25%	0%	40%	−4.0
141	Paxton Brooks	Tennessee	2	30	39.0	38.3	11	37%	3%	45%	0.0
142	Colin McCreary	South Florida	2	24	40.8	39.7	7	30%	0%	68%	−2.0
143	Hunter Renner	Northwestern	2	12	36.9	35.9	5	42%	0%	17%	−1.2
144	Ross James	Oregon	2	8	41.9	36.4	2	22%	0%	67%	−2.3
145	Zach Murphy	Wake Forest	2	6	39.7	28.8	2	33%	17%	33%	−3.1
146	Braxton Guilbeau	UL Monroe	2	3	42.0	29.3	1	33%	0%	0%	−2.6
147	Will Hutchinson	Miami	2	3	47.3	47.0	2	67%	0%	33%	+2.0
148	Alex Weir	San José State	1	15	37.7	34.9	3	21%	7%	82%	−4.0
149	Sean Koetting	Missouri	1	13	40.1	35.6	4	31%	0%	44%	−2.7
150	Adam Barry	Oregon	1	10	39.7	40.0	6	67%	0%	78%	−1.1
151	Alex Bales	Oregon	1	7	36.0	30.5	1	13%	0%	57%	−4.4
152	Rece Verhoff	Marshall	1	9	41.0	38.8	1	13%	13%	38%	−0.5
153	Wilson Berry	Kentucky	1	9	41.4	38.5	3	38%	0%	29%	+0.5
154	Brendan Farrell	Virginia	1	3	30.0	29.0	0	0%	0%	33%	−3.2
155	Bruno Perlicki	UConn	1	3	31.0	27.0	1	33%	0%	0%	−3.5
156	Arlind Bengu	Louisiana Tech	1	2	48.5	48.0	1	50%	0%	0%	+1.1
157	Jack Martin	South Alabama	1	2	44.0	45.5	0	0%	0%	0%	+1.0
158	Luke Freer	Air Force	1	2	47.5	47.0	1	50%	0%	0%	+0.8
159	Max Morgan	Liberty	1	2	44.5	45.0	1	50%	0%	0%	+0.6
160	Will Ferrin	Boise State	1	2	35.5	17.5	0	0%	0%	50%	−1.7
161	Ben Falck	Hawai'i	1	1	37.0	36.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.4
162	Kriston Esnard	Tulane	1	1	33.0	33.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.6

All 2022 College punter rankings

Punts Returned in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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