2023 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 2023, Ryan Rehkow (22) led college football punters in punts returned, ahead of Josh Smith (17) and Daniel Sparks (16). 154 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Returns	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Ryan Rehkow	BYU	22	68	48.3	42.2	25	38%	8%	30%	+6.0
2	Josh Smith	Kent State	17	50	41.0	36.8	15	30%	2%	26%	−17.1
3	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	16	64	42.9	37.2	17	26%	11%	34%	−9.9
4	Matt Freem	Nevada	15	66	41.2	39.2	18	28%	5%	26%	−5.7
5	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	15	55	43.7	40.4	22	40%	9%	47%	+6.6
6	Bryce McFerson	Notre Dame	15	37	44.7	40.2	6	17%	6%	34%	−2.5
7	Lucas Borrow	Ball State	14	58	41.7	36.7	22	38%	5%	28%	−10.9
8	John McConnell	Marshall	14	55	43.1	37.1	14	26%	6%	32%	−9.4
9	Mark Vassett	Colorado	13	66	44.1	41.4	24	36%	5%	23%	+7.3
10	Alec Bevelhimer	Miami (OH)	13	53	45.3	44.1	28	53%	8%	36%	+22.9
11	Anthony Venneri	Buffalo	13	53	43.6	41.3	17	33%	4%	30%	−1.6
12	Porter Wilson	Duke	13	50	46.8	44.3	25	50%	8%	40%	+18.2
13	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	13	51	41.3	35.8	10	21%	8%	18%	−13.5
14	Jadon Cardell	Sam Houston	12	75	40.9	38.6	23	31%	9%	35%	−2.6
15	Caden Noonkester	NC State	12	67	42.7	39.9	28	42%	7%	52%	+6.2
16	Dante Jackson	Akron	12	65	37.5	36.0	16	25%	5%	46%	−13.1
17	Brian Buschini	Nebraska	12	57	40.7	38.8	20	34%	3%	42%	−8.8
18	James Evans	Indiana	12	57	45.8	42.7	18	32%	11%	38%	+8.9
19	Fraser Masin	Ole Miss	12	43	42.4	39.5	17	39%	0%	31%	+1.4
20	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	11	61	45.2	43.2	26	43%	5%	57%	+12.4
21	Angus Davies	Tulsa	11	58	42.7	40.3	26	44%	2%	47%	+3.9
22	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	11	58	44.9	42.0	21	36%	10%	43%	+8.0
23	Tyler Perkins	Iowa State	11	58	44.3	41.2	26	45%	12%	28%	+10.3
24	Tory Taylor	Iowa	10	86	47.9	44.7	33	38%	7%	43%	+25.2
25	Jake Walrath	Central Michigan	10	62	43.2	39.5	16	26%	11%	38%	−2.9
26	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	10	62	42.3	39.3	18	31%	12%	24%	−1.9
27	Max Fletcher	Arkansas	10	59	46.9	42.8	21	36%	5%	36%	+2.9
28	Matthew Hayball	Vanderbilt	10	58	47.6	44.8	25	44%	7%	27%	+16.5
29	Logan Lupo	Florida Atlantic	10	55	44.1	39.7	17	31%	7%	52%	−1.4
30	Jack Browning	San Diego State	10	54	45.4	42.5	27	50%	9%	49%	+14.8
31	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	10	52	42.4	39.9	20	39%	2%	41%	−0.4
32	James Ferguson-Reynolds	Boise State	10	51	49.6	44.8	25	49%	16%	10%	+11.3
33	James Burnip	Alabama	10	50	47.2	42.2	21	42%	14%	36%	+13.8
34	Lachlan Wilson	California	10	47	45.6	41.3	19	40%	4%	41%	−1.6
35	Riley Riethman	Navy	9	80	44.8	42.1	22	28%	13%	40%	+7.8
36	Daton Montiel	Florida International	9	72	39.2	38.0	13	18%	4%	60%	−17.9
37	George Caratan	UConn	9	61	44.2	42.3	22	37%	10%	31%	+2.1
38	Grant Gonya	Charlotte	9	60	44.5	40.7	17	28%	15%	25%	−11.0
39	Jack Stonehouse	Syracuse	9	52	46.5	42.5	20	38%	10%	41%	+1.9
40	Mitchell Lake	App State	9	51	38.7	37.1	17	33%	4%	43%	−8.8
41	Jack Bouwmeester	Utah	9	48	46.0	44.2	24	50%	8%	55%	+16.4
42	Conor Hunt	Rice	9	48	39.6	37.5	6	13%	2%	37%	−18.0
43	Riley Thompson	Penn State	9	46	45.2	42.4	19	40%	4%	50%	+7.7
44	Cooper Allan	Army	9	44	36.8	35.0	11	26%	2%	34%	−15.5
45	Oliver Straw	West Virginia	9	40	42.7	41.2	20	51%	3%	46%	+5.9
46	Palmer Williams	Baylor	9	37	43.0	38.6	11	30%	3%	38%	−7.2
47	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	8	62	43.1	41.4	22	35%	6%	49%	+2.0
48	Mitchell Tomasek	Eastern Michigan	8	61	45.3	43.7	26	43%	5%	44%	+10.3
49	William Przystup	Arkansas State	8	56	43.7	40.3	20	36%	9%	25%	−2.0
50	Carson Voss	Western Michigan	8	44	39.3	36.5	11	25%	2%	42%	−19.9
51	Will Karoll	Tulane	8	40	43.5	40.5	12	30%	8%	46%	+1.4
52	Nik Constantinou	Texas A&M	8	38	40.9	38.6	14	37%	3%	33%	−0.3
53	Mitch McCarthy	UCF	8	34	41.1	36.0	9	26%	9%	56%	−13.8
54	Ryan Sanborn	Texas	8	35	45.5	43.5	14	42%	6%	19%	+8.8
55	Bryce Lofton	Southern Miss	7	60	40.4	38.5	15	25%	7%	44%	−9.7
56	Luke Larsen	East Carolina	7	60	40.9	39.4	21	35%	2%	48%	−2.7
57	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	7	58	41.6	39.8	20	36%	7%	39%	+0.8
58	Austin McNamara	Texas Tech	7	50	46.5	43.1	22	44%	12%	44%	+8.9
59	Jackson Ross	Tennessee	7	48	42.8	41.2	21	44%	6%	56%	+6.0
60	Wilson Berry	Kentucky	7	50	41.5	38.8	16	33%	8%	47%	−2.3
61	Tom Ellard	Western Kentucky	7	46	41.0	39.9	17	37%	2%	52%	−4.0
62	Ethan Duane	Old Dominion	7	46	39.6	38.1	12	27%	4%	41%	−9.4
63	Jesse Mirco	Ohio State	7	42	42.6	40.3	18	43%	2%	31%	+2.4
64	Ryan Bujcevski	SMU	7	37	45.2	42.9	8	22%	8%	36%	−6.7
65	Sam Candotti	Boston College	7	32	38.5	36.3	12	38%	3%	43%	−5.6
66	Luke Elzinga	Oklahoma	7	22	44.2	41.0	8	36%	9%	15%	−3.3
67	Jack Dawson	Jacksonville State	6	61	42.6	42.9	24	39%	2%	50%	+9.8
68	Atticus Bertrams	Wisconsin	6	58	41.8	40.2	24	41%	7%	53%	−1.1
69	Kade Loggins	Georgia State	6	58	40.9	38.9	16	29%	5%	26%	−17.5
70	Hugh Robertson	Illinois	6	51	42.6	39.9	17	33%	6%	60%	−6.5
71	Joshua Sloan	UTEP	6	51	44.2	41.2	22	44%	6%	37%	+2.0
72	Laine Wilkins	Houston	6	49	42.2	41.1	19	39%	4%	35%	+3.4
73	Thomas Leo	Louisiana	6	44	41.5	40.1	16	37%	7%	63%	+1.5
74	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	6	42	48.9	46.0	16	38%	12%	37%	+12.2
75	Dylan Joyce	Miami	6	40	43.5	40.6	14	34%	0%	45%	+3.4
76	Patrick Foley	UAB	6	41	42.8	40.5	14	34%	5%	46%	−3.2
77	Jordy Sandy	TCU	6	37	42.2	40.0	9	24%	5%	50%	−7.1
78	Trey Turk	Middle Tennessee	6	33	42.5	39.5	12	36%	9%	24%	−1.1
79	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	5	61	42.4	41.0	26	43%	7%	53%	+8.7
80	Ryan Hanson	James Madison	5	54	40.7	39.9	32	59%	4%	48%	+5.0
81	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	5	49	41.3	41.1	22	46%	0%	44%	+8.0
82	Emilio Duran	Toledo	5	48	37.6	36.9	16	34%	0%	58%	−7.4
83	Marshall Nichols	UNLV	5	48	45.8	42.7	18	39%	13%	52%	+6.8
84	Tom Foley	Northern Illinois	5	48	40.7	39.7	18	39%	4%	52%	−2.4
85	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	5	42	42.4	39.9	12	30%	10%	44%	0.0
86	Jack McCallister	Washington	5	37	41.5	40.8	15	41%	3%	57%	+4.3
87	Tom Maginness	North Carolina	5	29	39.8	39.0	11	38%	0%	45%	−4.6
88	Jackson Kleather	Bowling Green	5	26	39.0	37.6	10	38%	4%	38%	−4.2
89	Connor Weselman	Stanford	5	21	43.5	39.9	4	20%	15%	31%	−3.7
90	Hunter Renner	Northwestern	4	64	38.9	37.6	14	22%	5%	29%	−11.8
91	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	4	58	43.2	41.6	22	38%	5%	41%	+6.4
92	Carson King	Fresno State	4	51	41.2	39.8	22	43%	6%	57%	−2.8
93	Paddy Turner	Colorado State	4	52	43.3	41.9	18	35%	4%	22%	+3.3
94	Nick Haberer	Washington State	4	47	44.3	42.4	16	35%	7%	62%	+8.2
95	Will Powers	UCLA	4	44	42.7	41.6	13	30%	5%	48%	+4.0
96	Seamus O'Kelly	Texas State	4	36	41.1	39.6	8	22%	3%	57%	+0.9
97	Evan Crenshaw	Coastal Carolina	4	33	41.2	38.5	7	21%	6%	52%	−2.9
98	Miles Tillman	Middle Tennessee	4	34	43.8	40.9	17	52%	9%	30%	+3.9
99	Josh Green	Oregon State	4	32	42.0	38.8	14	44%	9%	50%	−3.2
100	Ross James	Oregon	4	26	48.7	46.5	11	42%	4%	59%	+8.9
101	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	4	26	43.6	40.3	9	35%	12%	43%	+2.8
102	Archer Trafford	East Carolina	4	7	45.3	42.6	3	43%	0%	0%	+1.5
103	Matthew Shipley	Hawai'i	3	60	39.5	38.8	10	17%	5%	26%	−13.8
104	Blake Ochsendorf	Louisiana Tech	3	53	45.7	43.6	18	35%	10%	52%	+5.0
105	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	3	45	43.0	43.0	19	44%	0%	64%	+4.2
106	Dante Atton	Temple	3	43	39.4	38.9	16	38%	0%	33%	−3.9
107	Eddie Czaplicki	USC	3	42	43.6	41.4	17	40%	10%	59%	+4.4
108	Tommy Doman	Michigan	3	42	43.5	42.3	19	46%	7%	54%	+8.8
109	Jack Martin	South Alabama	3	41	40.0	39.6	13	33%	3%	57%	−5.9
110	Hudson Kaak	Oklahoma State	3	35	40.7	40.5	18	51%	0%	61%	+2.8
111	Colton Spangler	Maryland	3	33	43.3	42.7	17	52%	3%	31%	+2.0
112	Carson Bay	Air Force	3	27	39.8	38.0	8	30%	7%	52%	+0.9
113	Josh Carlson	Arizona State	3	26	38.2	37.2	3	12%	0%	59%	−6.8
114	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	3	25	43.4	41.4	8	33%	8%	32%	+6.0
115	Ian Hershey	Arizona State	3	16	39.6	35.7	3	19%	0%	62%	−5.8
116	Josh Plaster	Oklahoma	3	15	40.4	40.3	4	27%	0%	40%	−1.4
117	Cameron Peasley	Western Michigan	3	11	39.8	35.9	3	27%	0%	43%	−2.1
118	Cory Munson	Western Kentucky	3	10	40.0	37.4	4	40%	0%	20%	−3.2
119	Braxton Guilbeau	UL Monroe	2	61	41.0	39.9	18	30%	5%	42%	−3.6
120	Jack Ansell	Purdue	2	60	40.7	38.7	20	33%	10%	47%	−1.0
121	Clayton Stewart	Wyoming	2	57	42.8	40.5	16	28%	11%	38%	−2.3
122	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	2	56	46.7	45.7	25	45%	4%	56%	+13.3
123	Keelan Crimmins	Mississippi State	2	49	40.9	40.7	16	33%	0%	63%	−4.5
124	Robert Cole	Troy	2	48	42.1	40.2	11	23%	11%	41%	−1.8
125	Zachary Haynes	New Mexico State	2	47	41.2	40.7	19	40%	2%	24%	+2.2
126	Reid Bauer	Memphis	2	43	43.2	40.7	14	33%	12%	58%	+1.1
127	Ryan Marks	Utah State	2	33	43.9	40.7	12	36%	13%	26%	+2.1
128	Aidan Flintoft	Stanford	2	31	42.0	41.4	10	32%	3%	68%	+2.4
129	Damon Greaves	Kansas	2	30	39.4	38.1	10	32%	0%	68%	−8.1
130	Max Morgan	Liberty	2	30	40.2	38.1	8	27%	10%	42%	−2.1
131	Kyle Ostendorp	Arizona	2	29	42.0	40.7	12	41%	7%	36%	−6.3
132	Jay Bramblett	LSU	2	21	41.6	40.5	8	38%	5%	39%	+1.3
133	Jared Wheatley	Ohio	2	19	36.8	33.8	7	37%	0%	67%	−4.8
134	Ian Brandt	Old Dominion	2	17	38.4	37.1	5	29%	6%	56%	−4.0
135	Flynn Appleby	Rutgers	1	54	39.6	39.2	19	35%	2%	66%	−6.2
136	Lucas Dean	UTSA	1	46	42.0	41.3	18	40%	4%	63%	+6.4
137	Alex Smith	Georgia Southern	1	45	40.0	38.4	20	45%	9%	52%	−1.3
138	Alex Weir	San José State	1	42	41.6	38.7	17	40%	14%	54%	−0.7
139	Sawyer Evans	North Texas	1	33	42.3	42.5	14	45%	3%	63%	+0.5
140	Jack Wilson	Ohio	1	26	43.2	40.8	13	50%	12%	33%	+0.8
141	Brady Hodges	Louisville	1	26	43.2	42.1	11	44%	4%	33%	+5.1
142	Luke Bauer	Missouri	1	22	41.9	41.0	9	41%	5%	41%	−0.3
143	Charlie Durkin	Kent State	1	20	34.0	31.2	2	10%	5%	53%	−14.5
144	Loren DiLoreto	Boston College	1	18	36.7	36.8	3	17%	0%	50%	−4.9
145	Sami Sir	Bowling Green	1	18	39.3	38.5	3	18%	6%	57%	−6.1
146	Ben Kiernan	North Carolina	1	9	41.2	37.1	5	50%	0%	75%	−0.6
147	Luke Freer	Air Force	1	10	40.9	39.8	2	20%	0%	78%	−0.3
148	Brenden Segovia	Maryland	1	7	37.7	32.3	6	75%	0%	50%	−2.4
149	Cam Skattebo	Arizona State	1	8	42.3	41.9	3	38%	0%	50%	+2.2
150	Casey Glover	Tulane	1	5	41.2	40.6	1	20%	0%	25%	+0.2
151	Brady Braun	UL Monroe	1	4	43.5	35.8	0	0%	25%	0%	−3.6
152	Dario Longhetto	Arizona State	1	3	43.7	41.3	1	33%	0%	0%	+2.5
153	Nick Salmon	Florida Atlantic	1	3	35.3	35.0	1	33%	0%	0%	−0.9
154	Hayden Dawahare	Kentucky	1	1	51.0	51.0	0	0%	0%	0%	−0.5

All 2023 College punter rankings

Punts Returned in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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