2024 College Average Punt Return Allowed Leaders

Return yards allowed divided by punts returned. It shows how well a punter and his coverage team contain returners.

Lower is better. Only punters with enough returns are ranked. In 2024, Caile Hogan (-0.3) topped college football punters in average punt return allowed, ahead of Paddy Turner (1.5) and Alex Smith (2.9). 90 punters qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified punter had 7.1.

Final 2024 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg ret	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Caile Hogan	UTSA	-0.3	53	40.8	40.0	21	40%	2%	46%	−2.6
2	Paddy Turner	Colorado State	1.5	44	40.4	40.0	20	45%	0%	17%	−1.7
3	Alex Smith	Georgia Southern	2.9	54	42.8	41.9	20	38%	0%	59%	+8.0
4	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	3.2	45	47.6	42.6	20	45%	14%	39%	+10.7
5	Marshall Nichols	UNLV	3.6	44	44.9	39.5	19	42%	18%	17%	+3.6
6	Emilio Duran	Toledo	3.8	52	42.0	40.0	23	46%	6%	32%	+8.8
7	Liam Dougherty	Houston	3.9	57	41.9	39.1	20	35%	9%	39%	+1.5
8	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	4.0	48	42.6	41.0	12	27%	2%	47%	−2.3
9	Logan Lupo	Florida Atlantic	4.1	47	44.5	40.3	13	27%	9%	27%	+1.3
10	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	4.2	53	43.8	41.2	15	28%	4%	26%	+1.3
11	Alec Bevelhimer	Miami (OH)	4.2	55	41.1	40.2	25	47%	0%	53%	+8.6
12	Jack Dawson	Jacksonville State	4.4	48	42.1	40.3	18	38%	4%	55%	−0.4
13	Makenzie Ryan	UL Monroe	4.4	58	39.2	37.0	18	32%	7%	38%	−8.8
14	Kade Reynoldson	Duke	4.4	70	43.8	41.1	28	40%	9%	45%	+9.4
15	Palmer Williams	Baylor	4.4	41	49.6	44.9	17	43%	13%	13%	+16.7
16	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	4.5	53	41.5	39.3	19	36%	4%	46%	−0.4
17	James Rendell	Notre Dame	4.7	37	41.9	39.8	16	43%	0%	26%	+3.3
18	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	5.0	62	44.9	42.6	25	40%	6%	22%	+14.5
19	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	5.1	57	44.6	42.2	18	32%	5%	38%	+14.7
20	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	5.1	32	43.8	41.9	12	38%	9%	31%	+3.0
21	Daton Montiel	Florida International	5.2	57	39.4	36.4	19	33%	7%	38%	−5.9
22	Jack Stonehouse	Syracuse	5.5	32	45.9	40.2	11	35%	10%	27%	+0.7
23	Ryan Hanson	James Madison	5.5	45	43.0	38.8	18	39%	9%	23%	+0.8
24	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	5.5	56	41.0	37.1	13	24%	9%	20%	−10.6
25	Fraser Masin	Ole Miss	5.5	34	46.2	43.9	17	50%	3%	42%	+10.6
26	Keelan Crimmins	Purdue	5.6	64	44.9	41.8	19	30%	3%	41%	+2.7
27	Bryce Lofton	Southern Miss	5.7	61	44.5	41.2	15	25%	5%	38%	+5.9
28	Jack Culbreath	Wyoming	5.7	66	40.4	38.2	27	41%	3%	41%	−1.4
29	Luke Elzinga	Oklahoma	5.8	57	45.2	42.4	24	44%	4%	34%	+13.0
30	Luke Larsen	East Carolina	5.8	51	40.9	38.6	19	38%	4%	49%	−3.7
31	Atticus Bertrams	Wisconsin	5.8	55	45.3	42.6	18	34%	6%	31%	+8.2
32	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	5.8	56	45.9	43.2	25	45%	7%	36%	+18.3
33	Emile Sebafundi	Coastal Carolina	5.9	47	40.4	38.7	19	40%	2%	46%	−2.1
34	Tyler Perkins	Iowa State	6.0	34	45.0	42.1	10	29%	6%	37%	+6.1
35	Brody Richter	UCLA	6.2	40	42.8	38.9	15	38%	8%	37%	−5.0
36	Mitchell Tomasek	Eastern Michigan	6.2	47	41.4	39.2	15	33%	7%	22%	+1.1
37	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	6.3	52	43.0	41.0	23	44%	4%	45%	+7.8
38	Grant Chadwick	Middle Tennessee	6.3	51	43.6	41.0	22	43%	2%	43%	+1.0
39	Seamus Hall	Old Dominion	6.4	61	41.6	38.1	21	34%	11%	45%	−2.3
40	Adam Jacklin	UTEP	6.4	58	39.4	37.4	13	22%	0%	31%	−13.7
41	Tyler Pastula	San Diego State	6.4	58	46.1	40.7	20	35%	14%	30%	+4.4
42	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	6.5	50	43.3	41.1	17	35%	2%	29%	−0.4
43	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	6.7	57	48.6	45.0	22	39%	4%	32%	+22.6
44	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	6.9	54	45.1	41.4	20	38%	8%	40%	+8.6
45	Bryce McFerson	Maryland	7.1	52	45.1	41.9	25	48%	6%	41%	+3.6
46	Trent Carrizosa	San José State	7.1	38	41.9	39.9	9	24%	5%	37%	−1.5
47	Eddie Czaplicki	USC	7.2	40	48.5	45.8	26	65%	3%	35%	+18.0
48	Luke Akers	Northwestern	7.3	41	43.1	39.7	16	40%	3%	42%	+0.9
49	Patrick Rea	Louisiana Tech	7.3	64	39.4	35.8	23	36%	11%	38%	−9.7
50	David Chapeau	Central Michigan	7.4	55	41.8	37.4	15	27%	5%	33%	−9.9
51	Cole Maynard	Western Kentucky	7.4	49	42.9	39.6	19	39%	4%	37%	+1.4
52	Connor Stutz	UConn	7.5	58	43.1	39.7	18	33%	7%	19%	+2.2
53	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	7.6	42	42.6	38.0	12	29%	10%	32%	−6.2
54	Lachlan Wilson	California	7.8	51	45.0	40.2	18	38%	15%	32%	+3.4
55	Jadon Cardell	Sam Houston	7.8	59	40.9	37.8	20	34%	7%	29%	−5.0
56	Jackson Ross	Tennessee	8.3	46	44.4	40.4	22	48%	7%	33%	+6.0
57	Aidan Flintoft	Stanford	8.3	43	42.9	39.3	19	44%	0%	25%	−2.1
58	Josh Green	Oregon State	8.5	33	47.2	41.8	16	48%	9%	29%	+6.2
59	Ethan Duane	Buffalo	8.7	63	42.2	40.0	20	32%	0%	44%	+0.2
60	Riley Riethman	Navy	8.7	52	45.7	39.5	23	44%	8%	24%	+6.3
61	Conner Maynard	App State	8.7	29	41.4	37.0	11	38%	7%	22%	−5.3
62	Jack Bouwmeester	Utah	8.8	60	44.7	39.9	25	41%	7%	37%	+3.4
63	Lucas Borrow	Hawai'i	9.0	48	45.5	41.5	15	32%	2%	18%	+4.1
64	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	9.2	46	43.3	37.2	17	37%	9%	14%	−4.2
65	Brian Cooey Jr.	Ball State	9.4	48	41.5	36.2	19	39%	8%	31%	−5.9
66	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	9.5	43	47.9	40.7	8	19%	10%	15%	−2.1
67	Michael Salgado-Medina	Arizona	9.6	39	43.3	39.1	17	44%	5%	41%	+2.0
68	Nick Barr-Mira	Mississippi State	10.0	44	44.6	41.6	21	48%	0%	35%	+4.3
69	Clay Lawrence	Fresno State	10.2	55	40.7	37.4	21	38%	7%	53%	−3.8
70	Alex Bacchetta	Rice	10.3	50	41.2	37.7	13	26%	6%	49%	−9.4
71	Jesse Mirco	Vanderbilt	10.3	47	48.0	42.8	20	43%	11%	19%	+11.6
72	Avery Book	Akron	10.9	65	43.4	40.4	24	37%	3%	15%	+1.0
73	Jacob Ulrich	Kennesaw State	11.1	75	46.0	39.9	33	44%	7%	27%	+10.0
74	Isaac Pearson	SMU	11.2	40	44.1	37.2	11	28%	15%	18%	−10.7
75	Caden Noonkester	NC State	11.3	46	43.3	39.8	17	38%	4%	48%	+3.2
76	Patrick Foley	UAB	11.3	39	43.3	36.6	10	25%	8%	22%	−3.6
77	Ryan Heicher	Arkansas State	11.5	54	42.9	39.4	22	41%	4%	55%	−1.5
78	George Eberle	New Mexico State	11.8	62	44.7	39.4	22	36%	5%	28%	−2.7
79	Jack Wilson	Ohio	12.3	55	41.0	37.1	19	35%	2%	33%	−12.5
80	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	12.7	43	42.0	37.5	16	37%	5%	40%	−8.1
81	Mark Vassett	Colorado	12.7	49	43.8	38.0	18	37%	4%	28%	−6.5
82	Tom Maginness	North Carolina	13.0	45	41.5	37.8	12	28%	2%	44%	−3.4
83	Brian Buschini	Nebraska	13.6	44	44.7	36.7	17	39%	5%	41%	−5.0
84	Jack Burgess	Texas Tech	14.0	43	42.1	37.6	17	40%	5%	49%	−5.8
85	Josh Smith	Kent State	14.3	83	41.8	37.6	30	39%	1%	45%	−10.9
86	Angus Davies	Tulsa	15.0	68	43.0	38.1	19	28%	4%	24%	−12.1
87	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	15.2	41	42.7	36.2	20	51%	8%	17%	+0.2
88	James Ferguson-Reynolds	Boise State	15.2	39	43.8	38.0	17	44%	8%	35%	−3.0
89	James Allen	Georgia State	15.9	51	44.5	34.8	13	26%	8%	22%	−16.2
90	Jack McCallister	Washington	16.1	36	44.0	36.5	14	38%	6%	26%	−8.3

All 2024 College punter rankings

Average Punt Return Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

More 2024 College punter leaderboards

Other 2024 College rankings

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