2025 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 2025, Jack Smith (0.6) topped college football punters in average punt return allowed, ahead of Joshua Huiet (1.9) and Palmer Williams (2.0). 80 punters qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified punter had 9.1.

Final 2025 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg ret	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Jack Smith	Clemson	0.6	45	42.1	41.1	22	49%	4%	56%	+8.3
2	Joshua Huiet	Kennesaw State	1.9	57	41.3	39.7	25	43%	4%	52%	+1.0
3	Palmer Williams	Baylor	2.0	27	46.9	46.3	11	41%	4%	26%	+9.4
4	Jack McCallister	Purdue	3.9	50	43.2	40.8	24	48%	4%	44%	+6.5
5	Shamus Florio	Boston College	4.0	49	39.7	38.3	16	31%	2%	27%	+0.8
6	Max Dean	New Mexico State	4.3	55	42.3	39.7	20	36%	5%	42%	−0.8
7	Michael Kern	California	4.9	38	41.6	38.7	9	24%	8%	42%	−3.7
8	Emilio Duran	Toledo	4.9	60	40.6	37.3	23	38%	10%	47%	−5.4
9	Nathan Torney	Louisiana	5.1	50	42.1	39.4	10	20%	4%	37%	−6.7
10	Kade Reynoldson	Duke	5.1	39	44.5	41.1	18	45%	5%	55%	+6.9
11	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	5.2	48	42.5	39.5	19	40%	9%	39%	+2.4
12	Nathan Totten	Marshall	5.4	55	44.9	40.4	26	45%	18%	47%	+10.4
13	Mason Love	South Carolina	5.5	53	45.1	41.4	18	33%	8%	39%	+6.9
14	Alec Clark	Tulane	5.8	45	46.8	43.4	17	38%	9%	38%	+13.1
15	Cam Brown	UNLV	5.9	43	44.0	41.1	15	35%	7%	36%	−0.1
16	Wade McSparron	SMU	6.2	52	42.4	39.1	16	31%	8%	45%	+2.1
17	Daniel Hughes	New Mexico	6.3	35	45.5	42.1	11	29%	5%	41%	+7.9
18	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	6.4	64	46.5	42.6	21	32%	6%	36%	+1.5
19	Dylan Drennan	Buffalo	6.4	64	44.8	41.6	26	41%	8%	21%	+7.8
20	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	6.6	48	44.5	40.7	12	25%	10%	41%	+0.3
21	Hudson Hollenbeck	Michigan	6.6	38	43.0	37.8	11	28%	8%	32%	−2.1
22	Angus Davies	Tulsa	6.7	46	43.3	41.6	21	43%	0%	42%	+0.3
23	Bryan Hansen	Colorado State	6.9	57	47.9	44.1	15	26%	9%	19%	+17.4
24	Max Morgan	Liberty	6.9	46	41.2	38.8	14	31%	9%	53%	−4.4
25	Oscar Doyle	Boise State	7.1	52	43.7	40.4	18	35%	10%	60%	+5.2
26	Conor Donaghy	Jacksonville State	7.2	47	39.6	37.1	17	37%	4%	53%	−3.0
27	Oliver Straw	West Virginia	7.4	66	42.5	38.9	17	26%	5%	22%	−7.0
28	Ryan Millmore	Western Michigan	7.5	53	42.1	38.4	22	42%	10%	49%	+4.1
29	Ashton Logan	Middle Tennessee	7.5	66	44.6	41.1	33	50%	11%	41%	+9.2
30	Brenden Lach	Delaware	7.6	42	39.5	35.6	15	35%	2%	47%	−7.4
31	Charlie Durkin	Kent State	7.6	48	41.1	37.3	13	28%	4%	29%	−11.3
32	Curtis Gerrand	Sam Houston	7.9	64	43.0	40.4	23	37%	3%	56%	+2.5
33	Alex Smith	Georgia Southern	8.1	54	42.6	39.6	15	28%	6%	49%	−2.3
34	Landon Rehkow	Utah State	8.2	61	42.7	38.5	19	31%	7%	32%	−6.8
35	Ian Ratliff	App State	8.3	54	43.9	41.1	11	20%	2%	52%	+6.0
36	Cal Joseph	Wake Forest	8.6	57	38.1	35.1	20	35%	4%	60%	−13.9
37	John Hoyet Chance	Louisiana Tech	8.6	58	47.0	42.9	27	47%	9%	33%	+11.3
38	Bronson Long	Charlotte	8.7	70	42.7	38.4	19	28%	6%	48%	−5.4
39	Tom Maginness	North Carolina	8.8	56	42.7	39.8	21	38%	2%	47%	+2.8
40	Adam Saul	Ball State	9.1	70	40.7	37.4	17	24%	4%	44%	−12.8
41	Atticus Bertrams	Wisconsin	9.1	35	41.8	35.9	17	44%	5%	14%	−5.6
42	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	9.1	65	46.1	38.6	25	37%	17%	20%	+3.1
43	Hunter Green	San Diego State	9.2	59	46.6	41.2	29	49%	17%	41%	+10.2
44	Aleksi Pulkkinen	South Alabama	9.3	49	40.4	36.2	11	22%	6%	24%	−10.1
45	Finn Lappin	Kansas	9.3	39	45.3	41.2	13	33%	3%	44%	+1.7
46	Tom Weston	Minnesota	9.4	59	42.8	39.5	19	33%	5%	31%	+1.4
47	Mitchell Tomasek	Eastern Michigan	9.5	48	45.1	40.8	10	20%	14%	26%	+0.1
48	Damon Greaves	Colorado	9.5	64	43.7	38.3	16	25%	8%	35%	−2.6
49	Joseph Castle	Akron	9.9	48	42.8	36.6	17	35%	10%	35%	−5.5
50	Will Karoll	UCLA	9.9	44	43.5	39.2	12	27%	5%	39%	−0.5
51	Jack Stonehouse	Syracuse	10.0	60	46.5	41.6	15	26%	10%	52%	+8.9
52	Grayson Miller	Oklahoma	10.2	54	46.2	40.3	30	58%	12%	26%	+3.5
53	Cole Maynard	Western Kentucky	10.4	51	48.7	42.4	14	27%	10%	33%	+3.7
54	Patrick Foley	UAB	10.6	30	41.6	34.2	6	19%	10%	33%	−17.6
55	Emile Sebafundi	Coastal Carolina	10.8	62	42.5	37.1	17	27%	7%	31%	−11.2
56	Alex Bacchetta	Rice	10.8	60	44.6	39.5	20	32%	8%	42%	+3.3
57	Noah Botsford	UTEP	10.8	59	45.6	41.2	19	32%	7%	4%	+5.1
58	Anthony Venneri	UCF	11.0	48	40.7	35.6	19	40%	8%	36%	−9.3
59	Makenzie Ryan	UL Monroe	11.0	60	38.9	35.5	14	23%	5%	45%	−21.5
60	Evan Crenshaw	Troy	11.1	65	45.8	41.7	32	49%	6%	30%	+5.8
61	Jack Bouwmeester	Texas	11.2	55	44.7	38.4	24	43%	15%	43%	+1.5
62	Sean West	Wisconsin	11.2	26	47.4	39.1	9	36%	8%	25%	0.0
63	Max Fletcher	Cincinnati	11.2	35	45.8	42.0	17	49%	3%	45%	−3.4
64	Bailey Ettridge	Nevada	11.5	45	45.1	41.5	18	39%	4%	58%	+7.7
65	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	12.2	42	42.7	36.1	13	32%	15%	29%	−11.2
66	Aidan Flintoft	Stanford	12.9	58	43.3	39.1	15	27%	2%	30%	−2.1
67	Caden Noonkester	NC State	13.2	52	43.6	39.0	23	45%	6%	48%	−1.5
68	Caile Hogan	UTSA	13.5	50	44.9	39.8	15	32%	6%	35%	−3.4
69	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	13.8	50	44.5	38.6	20	39%	8%	51%	+2.1
70	Kanyon Floyd	Arizona State	14.0	36	41.4	34.5	8	22%	6%	36%	−13.7
71	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	14.3	35	47.5	37.9	14	40%	11%	19%	−0.4
72	Trey Wilhoit	Florida International	14.8	50	43.5	38.6	14	28%	4%	52%	−3.1
73	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	14.9	49	48.5	40.8	21	42%	2%	27%	−8.0
74	Grant Chadwick	LSU	15.0	59	45.3	38.2	21	36%	8%	35%	−4.8
75	Billy Gowers	Hawai'i	15.8	46	46.4	41.4	24	52%	4%	37%	+2.6
76	Reed Chandley	Georgia State	15.8	54	45.8	39.5	23	43%	4%	21%	−2.4
77	AJ Winsor	Oregon State	16.3	62	44.7	34.5	15	24%	8%	16%	−22.1
78	Liam Dougherty	Houston	17.5	50	44.3	37.0	18	35%	14%	36%	−9.2
79	Nick Veltsistas	Virginia Tech	20.2	47	45.4	37.3	18	38%	9%	36%	−7.3
80	Keegan Andrews	Massachusetts	21.0	69	46.5	41.7	32	45%	3%	39%	+5.0

All 2025 College punter rankings

Average Punt Return Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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