2023 College Fair Catch Percentage Leaders

The share of a punter's punts that the returner fair caught instead of running back. Public play-by-play does not record hang time, so the fair-catch rate is the best available stand-in: a punt that hangs long enough for the coverage team to arrive leaves the returner no choice but to wave for a fair catch.

Higher usually means better hang time, though a returner who is no threat also calls for more fair catches. College punts whose play text does not say how they ended are left out of the count. In 2023, Brett Thorson (73.1%) led college football punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Aidan Flintoft (68.4%) and Damon Greaves (68.2%). 123 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 43.5%.

Final 2023 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Brett Thorson	Georgia	73.1%	31	43.7	42.4	15	48%	6%	+8.7
2	Aidan Flintoft	Stanford	68.4%	31	42.0	41.4	10	32%	3%	+2.4
3	Damon Greaves	Kansas	68.2%	30	39.4	38.1	10	32%	0%	−8.1
4	Flynn Appleby	Rutgers	65.6%	54	39.6	39.2	19	35%	2%	−6.2
5	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	64.3%	45	43.0	43.0	19	44%	0%	+4.2
6	Keelan Crimmins	Mississippi State	63.4%	49	40.9	40.7	16	33%	0%	−4.5
7	Thomas Leo	Louisiana	63.3%	44	41.5	40.1	16	37%	7%	+1.5
8	Sawyer Evans	North Texas	63.2%	33	42.3	42.5	14	45%	3%	+0.5
9	Lucas Dean	UTSA	62.9%	46	42.0	41.3	18	40%	4%	+6.4
10	Nick Haberer	Washington State	62.2%	47	44.3	42.4	16	35%	7%	+8.2
11	Hudson Kaak	Oklahoma State	60.7%	35	40.7	40.5	18	51%	0%	+2.8
12	Daton Montiel	Florida International	60.4%	72	39.2	38.0	13	18%	4%	−17.9
13	Hugh Robertson	Illinois	60.0%	51	42.6	39.9	17	33%	6%	−6.5
14	Eddie Czaplicki	USC	59.4%	42	43.6	41.4	17	40%	10%	+4.4
15	Reid Bauer	Memphis	58.1%	43	43.2	40.7	14	33%	12%	+1.1
16	Emilio Duran	Toledo	57.6%	48	37.6	36.9	16	34%	0%	−7.4
17	Carson King	Fresno State	57.1%	51	41.2	39.8	22	43%	6%	−2.8
18	Jack McCallister	Washington	57.1%	37	41.5	40.8	15	41%	3%	+4.3
19	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	56.9%	61	45.2	43.2	26	43%	5%	+12.4
20	Jack Martin	South Alabama	56.7%	41	40.0	39.6	13	33%	3%	−5.9
21	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	56.5%	36	41.1	39.6	8	22%	3%	+0.9
22	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	56.0%	56	46.7	45.7	25	45%	4%	+13.3
23	Jackson Ross	Tennessee	55.6%	48	42.8	41.2	21	44%	6%	+6.0
24	Mitch McCarthy	UCF	55.6%	34	41.1	36.0	9	26%	9%	−13.8
25	Jack Blumer	Kansas State	55.2%	46	41.8	41.3	19	43%	2%	0.0
26	Jack Bouwmeester	Utah	55.0%	48	46.0	44.2	24	50%	8%	+16.4
27	Alex Weir	San José State	53.8%	42	41.6	38.7	17	40%	14%	−0.7
28	Tommy Doman	Michigan	53.8%	42	43.5	42.3	19	46%	7%	+8.8
29	Atticus Bertrams	Wisconsin	53.5%	58	41.8	40.2	24	41%	7%	−1.1
30	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	52.6%	61	42.4	41.0	26	43%	7%	+8.7
31	Logan Lupo	Florida Atlantic	52.3%	55	44.1	39.7	17	31%	7%	−1.4
32	Caden Noonkester	NC State	52.0%	67	42.7	39.9	28	42%	7%	+6.2
33	Evan Crenshaw	Coastal Carolina	52.0%	33	41.2	38.5	7	21%	6%	−2.9
34	Alex Smith	Georgia Southern	51.7%	45	40.0	38.4	20	45%	9%	−1.3
35	Marshall Nichols	UNLV	51.6%	48	45.8	42.7	18	39%	13%	+6.8
36	Blake Ochsendorf	Louisiana Tech	51.5%	53	45.7	43.6	18	35%	10%	+5.0
37	Tom Ellard	Western Kentucky	51.5%	46	41.0	39.9	17	37%	2%	−4.0
38	Tom Foley	Northern Illinois	51.5%	48	40.7	39.7	18	39%	4%	−2.4
39	Jack Dawson	Jacksonville State	50.0%	61	42.6	42.9	24	39%	2%	+9.8
40	Riley Thompson	Penn State	50.0%	46	45.2	42.4	19	40%	4%	+7.7
41	Jordy Sandy	TCU	50.0%	37	42.2	40.0	9	24%	5%	−7.1
42	Josh Green	Oregon State	50.0%	32	42.0	38.8	14	44%	9%	−3.2
43	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	49.0%	62	43.1	41.4	22	35%	6%	+2.0
44	Jack Browning	San Diego State	48.9%	54	45.4	42.5	27	50%	9%	+14.8
45	Will Powers	UCLA	48.3%	44	42.7	41.6	13	30%	5%	+4.0
46	Luke Larsen	East Carolina	47.9%	60	40.9	39.4	21	35%	2%	−2.7
47	Ryan Hanson	James Madison	47.5%	54	40.7	39.9	32	59%	4%	+5.0
48	Wilson Berry	Kentucky	47.4%	50	41.5	38.8	16	33%	8%	−2.3
49	Jack Ansell	Purdue	47.2%	60	40.7	38.7	20	33%	10%	−1.0
50	Angus Davies	Tulsa	46.9%	58	42.7	40.3	26	44%	2%	+3.9
51	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	46.8%	55	43.7	40.4	22	40%	9%	+6.6
52	Patrick Foley	UAB	46.4%	41	42.8	40.5	14	34%	5%	−3.2
53	Oliver Straw	West Virginia	46.4%	40	42.7	41.2	20	51%	3%	+5.9
54	Dante Jackson	Akron	46.2%	65	37.5	36.0	16	25%	5%	−13.1
55	Will Karoll	Tulane	45.9%	40	43.5	40.5	12	30%	8%	+1.4
56	Dylan Joyce	Miami	45.5%	40	43.5	40.6	14	34%	0%	+3.4
57	Bryce Lofton	Southern Miss	44.4%	60	40.4	38.5	15	25%	7%	−9.7
58	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	44.4%	50	46.5	43.1	22	44%	12%	+8.9
59	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	44.4%	42	42.4	39.9	12	30%	10%	0.0
60	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	44.1%	49	41.3	41.1	22	46%	0%	+8.0
61	Mitchell Tomasek	Eastern Michigan	43.8%	61	45.3	43.7	26	43%	5%	+10.3
62	Sam Candotti	Boston College	43.5%	32	38.5	36.3	12	38%	3%	−5.6
63	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	43.1%	58	44.9	42.0	21	36%	10%	+8.0
64	Tory Taylor	Iowa	43.1%	86	47.9	44.7	33	38%	7%	+25.2
65	Mitchell Lake	App State	42.9%	51	38.7	37.1	17	33%	4%	−8.8
66	Braxton Guilbeau	UL Monroe	42.4%	61	41.0	39.9	18	30%	5%	−3.6
67	Brian Buschini	Nebraska	42.2%	57	40.7	38.8	20	34%	3%	−8.8
68	Max Morgan	Liberty	42.1%	30	40.2	38.1	8	27%	10%	−2.1
69	Carson Voss	Western Michigan	41.7%	44	39.3	36.5	11	25%	2%	−19.9
70	Lachlan Wilson	California	41.4%	47	45.6	41.3	19	40%	4%	−1.6
71	Robert Cole	Troy	40.7%	48	42.1	40.2	11	23%	11%	−1.8
72	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	40.7%	46	39.6	38.1	12	27%	4%	−9.4
73	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	40.6%	58	43.2	41.6	22	38%	5%	+6.4
74	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	40.6%	52	42.4	39.9	20	39%	2%	−0.4
75	Jack Stonehouse	Syracuse	40.5%	52	46.5	42.5	20	38%	10%	+1.9
76	Riley Riethman	Navy	40.4%	80	44.8	42.1	22	28%	13%	+7.8
77	Porter Wilson	Duke	40.0%	50	46.8	44.3	25	50%	8%	+18.2
78	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	39.0%	58	41.6	39.8	20	36%	7%	+0.8
79	Palmer Williams	Baylor	37.9%	37	43.0	38.6	11	30%	3%	−7.2
80	Clayton Stewart	Wyoming	37.8%	57	42.8	40.5	16	28%	11%	−2.3
81	James Evans	Indiana	37.8%	57	45.8	42.7	18	32%	11%	+8.9
82	Jake Walrath	Central Michigan	37.5%	62	43.2	39.5	16	26%	11%	−2.9
83	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	37.1%	42	48.9	46.0	16	38%	12%	+12.2
84	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	36.7%	51	44.2	41.2	22	44%	6%	+2.0
85	Conor Hunt	Rice	36.7%	48	39.6	37.5	6	13%	2%	−18.0
86	James Burnip	Alabama	36.4%	50	47.2	42.2	21	42%	14%	+13.8
87	Alec Bevelhimer	Miami (OH)	36.1%	53	45.3	44.1	28	53%	8%	+22.9
88	Ryan Bujcevski	SMU	36.0%	37	45.2	42.9	8	22%	8%	−6.7
89	Max Fletcher	Arkansas	35.6%	59	46.9	42.8	21	36%	5%	+2.9
90	Laine Wilkins	Houston	35.3%	49	42.2	41.1	19	39%	4%	+3.4
91	Jadon Cardell	Sam Houston	34.8%	75	40.9	38.6	23	31%	9%	−2.6
92	Bryce McFerson	Notre Dame	34.5%	37	44.7	40.2	6	17%	6%	−2.5
93	Cooper Allan	Army	34.3%	44	36.8	35.0	11	26%	2%	−15.5
94	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	34.0%	64	42.9	37.2	17	26%	11%	−9.9
95	Dante Atton	Temple	33.3%	43	39.4	38.9	16	38%	0%	−3.9
96	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	33.3%	38	40.9	38.6	14	37%	3%	−0.3
97	John McConnell	Marshall	31.6%	55	43.1	37.1	14	26%	6%	−9.4
98	George Caratan	UConn	31.4%	61	44.2	42.3	22	37%	10%	+2.1
99	Colton Spangler	Maryland	31.3%	33	43.3	42.7	17	52%	3%	+2.0
100	Jesse Mirco	Ohio State	31.0%	42	42.6	40.3	18	43%	2%	+2.4
101	Fraser Masin	Ole Miss	30.6%	43	42.4	39.5	17	39%	0%	+1.4
102	Miles Tillman	Middle Tennessee	30.4%	34	43.8	40.9	17	52%	9%	+3.9
103	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	30.2%	68	48.3	42.2	25	38%	8%	+6.0
104	Anthony Venneri	Buffalo	29.6%	53	43.6	41.3	17	33%	4%	−1.6
105	Hunter Renner	Northwestern	29.0%	64	38.9	37.6	14	22%	5%	−11.8
106	Tyler Perkins	Iowa State	27.9%	58	44.3	41.2	26	45%	12%	+10.3
107	Lucas Borrow	Ball State	27.5%	58	41.7	36.7	22	38%	5%	−10.9
108	Matthew Hayball	Vanderbilt	27.0%	58	47.6	44.8	25	44%	7%	+16.5
109	Josh Smith	Kent State	26.5%	50	41.0	36.8	15	30%	2%	−17.1
110	Matthew Shipley	Hawai'i	26.1%	60	39.5	38.8	10	17%	5%	−13.8
111	Ryan Marks	Utah State	26.1%	33	43.9	40.7	12	36%	13%	+2.1
112	Kade Loggins	Georgia State	25.8%	58	40.9	38.9	16	29%	5%	−17.5
113	Matt Freem	Nevada	25.7%	66	41.2	39.2	18	28%	5%	−5.7
114	Grant Gonya	Charlotte	25.0%	60	44.5	40.7	17	28%	15%	−11.0
115	William Przystup	Arkansas State	25.0%	56	43.7	40.3	20	36%	9%	−2.0
116	Zachary Haynes	New Mexico State	24.0%	47	41.2	40.7	19	40%	2%	+2.2
117	Trey Turk	Middle Tennessee	24.0%	33	42.5	39.5	12	36%	9%	−1.1
118	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	23.7%	62	42.3	39.3	18	31%	12%	−1.9
119	Mark Vassett	Colorado	22.9%	66	44.1	41.4	24	36%	5%	+7.3
120	Paddy Turner	Colorado State	21.9%	52	43.3	41.9	18	35%	4%	+3.3
121	Ryan Sanborn	Texas	19.2%	35	45.5	43.5	14	42%	6%	+8.8
122	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	17.6%	51	41.3	35.8	10	21%	8%	−13.5
123	James Ferguson-Reynolds	Boise State	10.0%	51	49.6	44.8	25	49%	16%	+11.3

All 2023 College punter rankings

Fair Catch Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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