2024 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 2024, Alex Smith (29) led college football punters in fair catches forced, ahead of Kade Reynoldson (27) and Clay Lawrence (26). 173 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	FC	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Alex Smith	Georgia Southern	29	54	42.8	41.9	20	38%	0%	59%	+8.0
2	Kade Reynoldson	Duke	27	70	43.8	41.1	28	40%	9%	45%	+9.4
3	Clay Lawrence	Fresno State	26	55	40.7	37.4	21	38%	7%	53%	−3.8
4	Dante Atton	Temple	25	75	40.5	39.5	27	36%	1%	46%	+1.4
5	Ryan Heicher	Arkansas State	24	54	42.9	39.4	22	41%	4%	55%	−1.5
6	Aidan Swanson	Clemson	24	53	41.5	39.3	19	36%	4%	46%	−0.4
7	Jack Dawson	Jacksonville State	24	48	42.1	40.3	18	38%	4%	55%	−0.4
8	Tyler White	Texas A&M	24	42	45.1	41.9	24	57%	14%	57%	+10.4
9	Josh Smith	Kent State	22	83	41.8	37.6	30	39%	1%	45%	−10.9
10	Keelan Crimmins	Purdue	22	64	44.9	41.8	19	30%	3%	41%	+2.7
11	Seamus Hall	Old Dominion	22	61	41.6	38.1	21	34%	11%	45%	−2.3
12	Jack Culbreath	Wyoming	21	66	40.4	38.2	27	41%	3%	41%	−1.4
13	Rhys Dakin	Iowa	21	60	44.2	41.2	30	51%	8%	50%	+9.0
14	Alec Bevelhimer	Miami (OH)	21	55	41.1	40.2	25	47%	0%	53%	+8.6
15	Mitch McCarthy	UCF	21	40	44.1	40.7	18	45%	5%	70%	+1.6
16	Bryce Lofton	Southern Miss	20	61	44.5	41.2	15	25%	5%	38%	+5.9
17	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	20	57	44.6	42.2	18	32%	5%	38%	+14.7
18	Makenzie Ryan	UL Monroe	20	58	39.2	37.0	18	32%	7%	38%	−8.8
19	Ivan Mora	Wake Forest	20	52	43.0	41.0	23	44%	4%	45%	+7.8
20	Michael O'Shaughnessy	Charlotte	20	53	43.0	40.1	16	31%	8%	44%	−6.0
21	Luke Larsen	East Carolina	20	51	40.9	38.6	19	38%	4%	49%	−3.7
22	Joshua Sloan	Memphis	20	45	43.4	41.4	17	38%	4%	50%	+4.2
23	Aleksi Pulkkinen	South Alabama	20	44	40.5	39.5	16	36%	5%	51%	−4.3
24	Jakob Anderson	Rutgers	20	46	42.4	38.8	17	40%	7%	56%	−1.6
25	Ethan Craw	TCU	20	39	42.3	38.6	18	46%	8%	54%	−1.3
26	Jack Bouwmeester	Utah	19	60	44.7	39.9	25	41%	7%	37%	+3.4
27	Liam Dougherty	Houston	19	57	41.9	39.1	20	35%	9%	39%	+1.5
28	Peter Moore	Virginia Tech	19	54	45.1	41.4	20	38%	8%	40%	+8.6
29	Caile Hogan	UTSA	19	53	40.8	40.0	21	40%	2%	46%	−2.6
30	Alex Bacchetta	Rice	19	50	41.2	37.7	13	26%	6%	49%	−9.4
31	Sawyer Evans	North Texas	19	44	41.0	40.3	12	28%	2%	63%	−0.9
32	Riley Thompson	Penn State	19	36	42.9	41.2	15	42%	6%	61%	+3.5
33	Jacob Ulrich	Kennesaw State	18	75	46.0	39.9	33	44%	7%	27%	+10.0
34	Patrick Rea	Louisiana Tech	18	64	39.4	35.8	23	36%	11%	38%	−9.7
35	Daton Montiel	Florida International	18	57	39.4	36.4	19	33%	7%	38%	−5.9
36	Alec Clark	Marshall	18	55	42.4	38.2	20	38%	13%	40%	−1.2
37	Bryce McFerson	Maryland	18	52	45.1	41.9	25	48%	6%	41%	+3.6
38	Tommy Doman	Michigan	18	49	42.6	39.2	16	33%	6%	46%	−3.3
39	Emile Sebafundi	Coastal Carolina	18	47	40.4	38.7	19	40%	2%	46%	−2.1
40	Jack Burgess	Texas Tech	18	43	42.1	37.6	17	40%	5%	49%	−5.8
41	Oscar Chapman	Auburn	18	41	42.5	40.8	13	33%	3%	55%	+0.8
42	Tom Foley	Northern Illinois	18	38	38.5	36.7	13	34%	8%	64%	−8.7
43	Joe McGuire	Ohio State	18	32	42.3	40.6	12	38%	3%	64%	0.0
44	Jeremy Crawshaw	Florida	17	56	45.9	43.2	25	45%	7%	36%	+18.3
45	Luke Elzinga	Oklahoma	17	57	45.2	42.4	24	44%	4%	34%	+13.0
46	Grant Chadwick	Middle Tennessee	17	51	43.6	41.0	22	43%	2%	43%	+1.0
47	John Henderson	Bowling Green	17	48	40.8	40.3	24	50%	2%	53%	+2.3
48	Ryan Millmore	Western Michigan	17	49	40.3	39.0	23	48%	0%	55%	−4.9
49	James Burnip	Alabama	17	48	44.9	43.7	22	47%	6%	43%	+11.9
50	Alex Mastromanno	Florida State	16	57	48.6	45.0	22	39%	4%	32%	+22.6
51	Caden Noonkester	NC State	16	46	43.3	39.8	17	38%	4%	48%	+3.2
52	Robert Cole	Troy	16	44	36.9	35.3	12	27%	2%	52%	−14.8
53	Will Karoll	Tulane	16	37	43.2	39.9	11	30%	5%	48%	+3.3
54	Michael Kern	Texas	16	31	40.5	37.1	7	23%	6%	53%	−3.8
55	Lars Rau	Texas State	16	22	34.9	35.0	4	20%	0%	84%	−9.1
56	George Eberle	New Mexico State	15	62	44.7	39.4	22	36%	5%	28%	−2.7
57	Jadon Cardell	Sam Houston	15	59	40.9	37.8	20	34%	7%	29%	−5.0
58	David Chapeau	Central Michigan	15	55	41.8	37.4	15	27%	5%	33%	−9.9
59	Jack Wilson	Ohio	15	55	41.0	37.1	19	35%	2%	33%	−12.5
60	Cole Maynard	Western Kentucky	15	49	42.9	39.6	19	39%	4%	37%	+1.4
61	Brian Buschini	Nebraska	15	44	44.7	36.7	17	39%	5%	41%	−5.0
62	Luke Akers	Northwestern	15	41	43.1	39.7	16	40%	3%	42%	+0.9
63	Max Morgan	Liberty	15	37	43.1	39.7	14	38%	11%	48%	+1.5
64	Sam Vander Haar	BYU	15	33	42.9	41.0	15	45%	3%	56%	+7.2
65	Ethan Duane	Buffalo	14	63	42.2	40.0	20	32%	0%	44%	+0.2
66	Tyler Pastula	San Diego State	14	58	46.1	40.7	20	35%	14%	30%	+4.4
67	Atticus Bertrams	Wisconsin	14	55	45.3	42.6	18	34%	6%	31%	+8.2
68	Stephen Kotsanlee	Utah State	14	48	42.6	41.0	12	27%	2%	47%	−2.3
69	Kai Kroeger	South Carolina	14	45	47.6	42.6	20	45%	14%	39%	+10.7
70	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	14	43	42.0	37.5	16	37%	5%	40%	−8.1
71	Tom Maginness	North Carolina	14	45	41.5	37.8	12	28%	2%	44%	−3.4
72	Brett Thorson	Georgia	14	42	47.6	44.0	23	55%	12%	33%	+14.1
73	Michael Salgado-Medina	Arizona	14	39	43.3	39.1	17	44%	5%	41%	+2.0
74	Hudson Kaak	Oklahoma State	14	31	43.1	40.9	12	35%	12%	45%	+3.6
75	Adam Jacklin	UTEP	13	58	39.4	37.4	13	22%	0%	31%	−13.7
76	Guy Gillespie	Nevada	13	46	40.3	38.2	21	46%	7%	36%	−1.0
77	Jackson Ross	Tennessee	13	46	44.4	40.4	22	48%	7%	33%	+6.0
78	Luke Bauer	Missouri	13	44	41.5	38.3	14	32%	9%	38%	−0.1
79	Nick Barr-Mira	Mississippi State	13	44	44.6	41.6	21	48%	0%	35%	+4.3
80	Brody Richter	UCLA	13	40	42.8	38.9	15	38%	8%	37%	−5.0
81	Hugh Robertson	Illinois	13	37	40.8	37.8	19	50%	8%	50%	−5.1
82	Trent Carrizosa	San José State	13	38	41.9	39.9	9	24%	5%	37%	−1.5
83	Fraser Masin	Ole Miss	13	34	46.2	43.9	17	50%	3%	42%	+10.6
84	Kanyon Floyd	Arizona State	13	36	40.6	37.0	12	36%	9%	50%	−1.5
85	Angus Davies	Tulsa	12	68	43.0	38.1	19	28%	4%	24%	−12.1
86	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	12	53	43.8	41.2	15	28%	4%	26%	+1.3
87	Emilio Duran	Toledo	12	52	42.0	40.0	23	46%	6%	32%	+8.8
88	Brian Cooey Jr.	Ball State	12	48	41.5	36.2	19	39%	8%	31%	−5.9
89	Mark Crawford	Minnesota	12	50	43.3	41.1	17	35%	2%	29%	−0.4
90	Lachlan Wilson	California	12	51	45.0	40.2	18	38%	15%	32%	+3.4
91	Logan Lupo	Florida Atlantic	12	47	44.5	40.3	13	27%	9%	27%	+1.3
92	Mason Fletcher	Cincinnati	12	42	42.6	38.0	12	29%	10%	32%	−6.2
93	Eddie Czaplicki	USC	12	40	48.5	45.8	26	65%	3%	35%	+18.0
94	James Ferguson-Reynolds	Boise State	12	39	43.8	38.0	17	44%	8%	35%	−3.0
95	Nathan Torney	Louisiana	12	30	39.5	39.3	8	27%	0%	50%	−1.6
96	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	12	24	46.6	42.0	4	19%	10%	57%	+3.2
97	Andrew Stokes	South Florida	11	62	44.9	42.6	25	40%	6%	22%	+14.5
98	Riley Riethman	Navy	11	52	45.7	39.5	23	44%	8%	24%	+6.3
99	Mark Vassett	Colorado	11	49	43.8	38.0	18	37%	4%	28%	−6.5
100	James Allen	Georgia State	10	51	44.5	34.8	13	26%	8%	22%	−16.2
101	Tyler Perkins	Iowa State	10	34	45.0	42.1	10	29%	6%	37%	+6.1
102	Dean Janikowski	Washington State	10	26	42.7	38.3	6	26%	9%	50%	+0.8
103	CJ Kolodziey	Massachusetts	9	56	41.0	37.1	13	24%	9%	20%	−10.6
104	Connor Stutz	UConn	9	58	43.1	39.7	18	33%	7%	19%	+2.2
105	Ryan Hanson	James Madison	9	45	43.0	38.8	18	39%	9%	23%	+0.8
106	Jack McCallister	Washington	9	36	44.0	36.5	14	38%	6%	26%	−8.3
107	James Rendell	Notre Dame	9	37	41.9	39.8	16	43%	0%	26%	+3.3
108	Josh Green	Oregon State	9	33	47.2	41.8	16	48%	9%	29%	+6.2
109	Ross James	Oregon	9	33	46.5	41.2	9	27%	18%	35%	+3.7
110	James Evans	Indiana	9	30	44.2	42.8	12	41%	0%	35%	+5.7
111	James Wagenseller	Army	9	24	41.7	38.8	9	39%	0%	43%	−1.6
112	Peyton Todd	LSU	9	18	41.6	40.6	6	33%	0%	53%	+1.2
113	Jesse Mirco	Vanderbilt	8	47	48.0	42.8	20	43%	11%	19%	+11.6
114	Mitchell Tomasek	Eastern Michigan	8	47	41.4	39.2	15	33%	7%	22%	+1.1
115	Aidan Flintoft	Stanford	8	43	42.9	39.3	19	44%	0%	25%	−2.1
116	Devin Bale	Arkansas	8	37	44.9	42.4	12	32%	5%	26%	+9.6
117	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	8	32	43.8	41.9	12	38%	9%	31%	+3.0
118	Damon Greaves	Kansas	8	33	42.4	38.5	6	19%	6%	32%	−4.4
119	Ivan Zivenko	Boston College	8	25	37.1	36.5	9	38%	0%	42%	−4.7
120	Brady Hodges	Louisville	8	23	39.5	36.6	9	39%	9%	40%	−1.6
121	Lucas Borrow	Hawai'i	7	48	45.5	41.5	15	32%	2%	18%	+4.1
122	Patrick Foley	UAB	7	39	43.3	36.6	10	25%	8%	22%	−3.6
123	Jack Stonehouse	Syracuse	7	32	45.9	40.2	11	35%	10%	27%	+0.7
124	David Nunez	Texas State	7	14	39.9	35.6	10	71%	21%	54%	+0.3
125	David Shanahan	Georgia Tech	6	46	43.3	37.2	17	37%	9%	14%	−4.2
126	Marshall Nichols	UNLV	6	44	44.9	39.5	19	42%	18%	17%	+3.6
127	Paddy Turner	Colorado State	6	44	40.4	40.0	20	45%	0%	17%	−1.7
128	Isaac Pearson	SMU	6	40	44.1	37.2	11	28%	15%	18%	−10.7
129	Oliver Straw	West Virginia	6	33	43.7	41.1	17	52%	6%	26%	+6.8
130	Nick Haberer	Washington State	6	14	40.1	40.1	6	43%	0%	75%	−0.9
131	Wilson Berry	Kentucky	6	12	40.3	40.0	5	42%	0%	50%	+0.1
132	Avery Book	Akron	5	65	43.4	40.4	24	37%	3%	15%	+1.0
133	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	5	43	47.9	40.7	8	19%	10%	15%	−2.1
134	Aaron Rodriguez	New Mexico	5	41	42.7	36.2	20	51%	8%	17%	+0.2
135	Conner Maynard	App State	5	29	41.4	37.0	11	38%	7%	22%	−5.3
136	Dylan Joyce	Miami	5	25	42.7	38.1	10	40%	4%	24%	+0.9
137	Hunter Renner	Northwestern	5	16	43.1	37.3	4	25%	13%	36%	−2.1
138	Jace Gilbert	Iowa State	5	11	40.2	36.6	10	63%	13%	38%	+1.5
139	Blake Ochsendorf	LSU	5	12	40.2	36.4	7	58%	8%	45%	−2.1
140	Palmer Williams	Baylor	4	41	49.6	44.9	17	43%	13%	13%	+16.7
141	Luke Freer	Air Force	4	31	47.5	41.4	12	43%	11%	22%	+0.9
142	Carson Bay	Air Force	4	13	40.0	34.5	5	33%	20%	31%	−2.8
143	Liam Connor	Boston College	4	14	36.3	35.4	4	29%	0%	36%	−5.4
144	Dino Beslagic	San José State	3	12	39.6	35.9	9	75%	17%	30%	+1.7
145	Mitchell Lake	App State	3	11	38.2	34.2	4	36%	0%	27%	−3.5
146	Fabrizio Pinton	Illinois	3	5	43.2	41.6	3	60%	0%	75%	+0.8
147	Carter Schwartz	Louisville	2	12	40.2	37.8	3	25%	8%	18%	−1.5
148	Conor Hunt	Rice	2	12	35.8	34.0	10	83%	8%	29%	+0.6
149	Sam Candotti	Boston College	2	9	38.6	34.4	1	11%	22%	29%	−3.4
150	Ian Brandt	Old Dominion	2	7	35.0	35.0	1	14%	0%	33%	−2.1
151	Taren Schive	Boise State	2	6	42.7	37.8	3	50%	17%	40%	−0.5
152	Jack Smith	Clemson	2	3	38.0	34.3	2	67%	0%	67%	−1.3
153	Bronson Long	Charlotte	2	2	33.5	33.5	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.2
154	James Roe	Toledo	2	2	34.0	34.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.8
155	Nathan Totten	Marshall	2	2	45.0	45.0	2	100%	0%	100%	+1.3
156	Nick McLarty	Ohio State	2	2	32.5	32.5	1	50%	0%	100%	−0.3
157	Pierse Stainton	South Florida	2	2	44.0	44.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.6
158	Riley McCann	Rutgers	2	2	42.0	42.0	1	50%	0%	100%	+0.4
159	Bryan Hansen	Colorado State	1	9	41.1	38.7	6	67%	0%	14%	+1.0
160	Ian Ratliff	Texas	1	8	44.0	34.0	1	13%	25%	13%	−3.6
161	Jack Martin	South Alabama	1	7	40.6	29.0	3	38%	29%	14%	−4.9
162	Jordan Forbes	Arizona	1	5	44.0	41.0	3	60%	0%	25%	+0.8
163	Luke Dunne	Oregon	1	5	42.6	42.6	3	60%	0%	33%	+1.9
164	Trey Turk	Middle Tennessee	1	3	40.7	35.0	1	33%	0%	33%	−0.6
165	J.Wagenseller	Rice	1	2	37.5	37.5	1	50%	0%	100%	+0.3
166	A.Britton	Rice	1	1	65.0	65.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.3
167	A.Montano	Sam Houston	1	1	39.0	39.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.3
168	Chase Allen	UTSA	1	1	50.0	50.0	1	100%	0%	100%	+0.5
169	J.Ballard	UL Monroe	1	1	63.0	63.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.2
170	J.Hohl	Rutgers	1	1	63.0	63.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.3
171	Mack West	Coastal Carolina	1	1	36.0	36.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−0.7
172	N.Lopez	California	1	1	40.0	40.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−1.1
173	Reese Keeney	Rice	1	1	41.0	41.0	0	0%	0%	100%	−1.1

All 2024 College punter rankings

Fair Catches Forced in other seasons: 2026 2025 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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