2025 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 2025, Dante Atton (80.0%) led college football punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Nick Verdugo (74.2%) and Lachlan Carrigan (66.7%). 124 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 42.9%.

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

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Dante Atton	Temple	80.0%	62	42.2	41.4	26	43%	2%	+5.7
2	Nick Verdugo	Fresno State	74.2%	47	40.6	39.6	16	33%	2%	+7.7
3	Lachlan Carrigan	Memphis	66.7%	42	43.4	41.2	20	47%	9%	+7.4
4	Hudson Kaak	Auburn	63.2%	49	42.0	40.7	13	27%	2%	+4.2
5	Patrick Rea	James Madison	62.1%	43	40.7	38.9	17	40%	5%	+0.1
6	Jakob Anderson	Rutgers	61.9%	33	44.2	41.8	12	36%	3%	+4.6
7	Brett Thorson	Georgia	61.8%	42	45.2	42.7	20	49%	10%	+10.1
8	Sam Vander Haar	BYU	61.3%	38	42.5	38.8	16	43%	3%	+0.4
9	Pierse Stainton	Miami (OH)	60.5%	59	41.9	40.0	25	43%	3%	+11.1
10	Oscar Doyle	Boise State	60.0%	52	43.7	40.4	18	35%	10%	+5.2
11	Rhys Dakin	Iowa	60.0%	39	43.2	40.1	17	45%	8%	+5.3
12	Cal Joseph	Wake Forest	59.6%	57	38.1	35.1	20	35%	4%	−13.9
13	Declan Duley	Central Michigan	58.8%	50	40.9	36.7	18	37%	6%	−6.2
14	David Chapeau	Louisville	58.6%	38	39.7	37.8	18	49%	8%	+1.2
15	Ryan Harris	Washington State	58.3%	51	40.9	38.3	18	35%	6%	+0.1
16	David Nunez	Texas State	57.7%	36	40.4	38.2	12	32%	5%	+0.4
17	Bailey Ettridge	Nevada	57.6%	45	45.1	41.5	18	39%	4%	+7.7
18	Tyler Perkins	Iowa State	57.1%	42	42.4	40.9	19	45%	5%	+5.5
19	Curtis Gerrand	Sam Houston	56.3%	64	43.0	40.4	23	37%	3%	+2.5
20	Jackson Ross	Tennessee	56.3%	37	44.3	42.2	19	51%	5%	+6.9
21	Isaac Lovison	Arizona	56.0%	32	42.6	39.8	12	38%	6%	−1.6
22	Jack Smith	Clemson	55.9%	45	42.1	41.1	22	49%	4%	+8.3
23	Keelan Crimmins	Illinois	55.9%	35	44.0	38.5	9	25%	17%	−0.8
24	Connor Weselman	Missouri	54.5%	41	41.8	39.0	14	34%	7%	−0.6
25	Kade Reynoldson	Duke	54.5%	39	44.5	41.1	18	45%	5%	+6.9
26	Jack Burgess	Texas Tech	53.1%	40	43.4	41.0	19	48%	5%	+7.9
27	Conor Donaghy	Jacksonville State	52.9%	47	39.6	37.1	17	37%	4%	−3.0
28	Ian Brandt	Old Dominion	52.9%	41	41.0	35.4	18	41%	7%	−9.3
29	Max Morgan	Liberty	52.8%	46	41.2	38.8	14	31%	9%	−4.4
30	Joshua Huiet	Kennesaw State	52.4%	57	41.3	39.7	25	43%	4%	+1.0
31	Trey Wilhoit	Florida International	52.4%	50	43.5	38.6	14	28%	4%	−3.1
32	Jack Stonehouse	Syracuse	52.2%	60	46.5	41.6	15	26%	10%	+8.9
33	Ian Ratliff	App State	52.2%	54	43.9	41.1	11	20%	2%	+6.0
34	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	51.1%	50	44.5	38.6	20	39%	8%	+2.1
35	Alex Smith	Georgia Southern	48.8%	54	42.6	39.6	15	28%	6%	−2.3
36	Blake Doud	Alabama	48.7%	41	42.9	38.8	15	36%	2%	−0.4
37	Ryan Millmore	Western Michigan	48.6%	53	42.1	38.4	22	42%	10%	+4.1
38	Bronson Long	Charlotte	48.3%	70	42.7	38.4	19	28%	6%	−5.4
39	Ethan Pulliam	Mississippi State	48.3%	40	46.7	45.9	10	26%	0%	+14.0
40	James Wagenseller	Army	48.3%	32	43.1	40.8	15	47%	6%	+5.6
41	Archie Wilson	Nebraska	48.1%	32	38.9	37.6	14	44%	3%	−1.8
42	Caden Noonkester	NC State	47.6%	52	43.6	39.0	23	45%	6%	−1.5
43	Jake Ference	Northern Illinois	47.6%	30	43.7	39.9	7	23%	3%	+0.3
44	Brenden Lach	Delaware	47.1%	42	39.5	35.6	15	35%	2%	−7.4
45	Emilio Duran	Toledo	46.8%	60	40.6	37.3	23	38%	10%	−5.4
46	Tom Maginness	North Carolina	46.8%	56	42.7	39.8	21	38%	2%	+2.8
47	Nathan Totten	Marshall	46.7%	55	44.9	40.4	26	45%	18%	+10.4
48	Bryce McFerson	Maryland	46.7%	56	44.2	40.4	20	36%	15%	+0.5
49	Magnus Haines	Ohio	46.4%	38	42.2	39.9	16	43%	5%	+1.7
50	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	46.4%	35	46.1	42.9	14	42%	9%	+9.5
51	Wade McSparron	SMU	45.5%	52	42.4	39.1	16	31%	8%	+2.1
52	Connor Stutz	UConn	45.5%	44	45.5	41.0	23	51%	13%	+7.8
53	Max Fletcher	Cincinnati	45.5%	35	45.8	42.0	17	49%	3%	−3.4
54	Makenzie Ryan	UL Monroe	45.2%	60	38.9	35.5	14	23%	5%	−21.5
55	Tommy Doman	Florida	44.7%	50	44.0	41.1	18	38%	8%	+3.0
56	Finn Lappin	Kansas	44.4%	39	45.3	41.2	13	33%	3%	+1.7
57	Trent Carrizosa	San José State	44.4%	39	45.6	40.1	12	32%	13%	−6.1
58	Chase Leon	South Florida	44.4%	32	43.0	39.2	15	47%	3%	−2.9
59	Adam Saul	Ball State	44.2%	70	40.7	37.4	17	24%	4%	−12.8
60	Orion Phillips	Utah	44.0%	35	42.9	40.4	13	38%	9%	+6.2
61	Jack McCallister	Purdue	43.6%	50	43.2	40.8	24	48%	4%	+6.5
62	John Henderson	Bowling Green	42.9%	59	40.5	35.4	20	34%	10%	−18.4
63	Dylan Joyce	Miami	42.9%	37	44.4	40.5	19	51%	14%	+4.6
64	Jack Bouwmeester	Texas	42.6%	55	44.7	38.4	24	43%	15%	+1.5
65	Angus Davies	Tulsa	42.4%	46	43.3	41.6	21	43%	0%	+0.3
66	Tyler White	Texas A&M	42.3%	44	44.4	40.9	18	41%	5%	+4.0
67	Alex Bacchetta	Rice	42.0%	60	44.6	39.5	20	32%	8%	+3.3
68	Michael Kern	California	41.9%	38	41.6	38.7	9	24%	8%	−3.7
69	Max Dean	New Mexico State	41.9%	55	42.3	39.7	20	36%	5%	−0.8
70	Daniel Hughes	New Mexico	41.4%	35	45.5	42.1	11	29%	5%	+7.9
71	Hunter Green	San Diego State	41.2%	59	46.6	41.2	29	49%	17%	+10.2
72	Ashton Logan	Middle Tennessee	40.9%	66	44.6	41.1	33	50%	11%	+9.2
73	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	40.5%	48	44.5	40.7	12	25%	10%	+0.3
74	Keegan Andrews	Massachusetts	39.1%	69	46.5	41.7	32	45%	3%	+5.0
75	Reed Harradine	Southern Miss	39.1%	34	40.8	38.7	6	18%	3%	−3.5
76	Luke Akers	Northwestern	39.1%	32	45.4	40.7	10	32%	13%	+6.8
77	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	38.9%	48	42.5	39.5	19	40%	9%	+2.4
78	Mason Love	South Carolina	38.8%	53	45.1	41.4	18	33%	8%	+6.9
79	Will Karoll	UCLA	38.7%	44	43.5	39.2	12	27%	5%	−0.5
80	Ethan Craw	TCU	38.7%	41	41.5	38.7	14	35%	10%	+0.8
81	Alec Clark	Tulane	37.8%	45	46.8	43.4	17	38%	9%	+13.1
82	Nathan Torney	Louisiana	36.6%	50	42.1	39.4	10	20%	4%	−6.7
83	Billy Gowers	Hawai'i	36.6%	46	46.4	41.4	24	52%	4%	+2.6
84	Kanyon Floyd	Arizona State	36.4%	36	41.4	34.5	8	22%	6%	−13.7
85	Liam Dougherty	Houston	35.9%	50	44.3	37.0	18	35%	14%	−9.2
86	Anthony Venneri	UCF	35.9%	48	40.7	35.6	19	40%	8%	−9.3
87	Nick Veltsistas	Virginia Tech	35.9%	47	45.4	37.3	18	38%	9%	−7.3
88	Cam Brown	UNLV	35.7%	43	44.0	41.1	15	35%	7%	−0.1
89	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	35.6%	64	46.5	42.6	21	32%	6%	+1.5
90	Jackson Waller	Arkansas State	35.5%	54	41.4	40.3	24	44%	4%	+0.9
91	Devin Bale	Arkansas	35.5%	34	45.6	39.0	14	40%	12%	−0.3
92	Joseph Castle	Akron	35.1%	48	42.8	36.6	17	35%	10%	−5.5
93	Caile Hogan	UTSA	35.1%	50	44.9	39.8	15	32%	6%	−3.4
94	Damon Greaves	Colorado	35.1%	64	43.7	38.3	16	25%	8%	−2.6
95	Grant Chadwick	LSU	34.5%	59	45.3	38.2	21	36%	8%	−4.8
96	John Hoyet Chance	Louisiana Tech	33.3%	58	47.0	42.9	27	47%	9%	+11.3
97	Cole Maynard	Western Kentucky	33.3%	51	48.7	42.4	14	27%	10%	+3.7
98	Patrick Foley	UAB	33.3%	30	41.6	34.2	6	19%	10%	−17.6
99	Hudson Hollenbeck	Michigan	32.3%	38	43.0	37.8	11	28%	8%	−2.1
100	Landon Rehkow	Utah State	31.7%	61	42.7	38.5	19	31%	7%	−6.8
101	Tom Weston	Minnesota	31.1%	59	42.8	39.5	19	33%	5%	+1.4
102	Emile Sebafundi	Coastal Carolina	30.6%	62	42.5	37.1	17	27%	7%	−11.2
103	Aidan Flintoft	Stanford	30.4%	58	43.3	39.1	15	27%	2%	−2.1
104	Evan Crenshaw	Troy	29.5%	65	45.8	41.7	32	49%	6%	+5.8
105	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	29.0%	42	42.7	36.1	13	32%	15%	−11.2
106	Charlie Durkin	Kent State	28.6%	48	41.1	37.3	13	28%	4%	−11.3
107	Jacob Carlson	Navy	28.6%	32	44.6	40.3	14	44%	13%	+3.9
108	Oscar Bird	Ole Miss	28.6%	32	45.9	43.8	10	31%	3%	+11.0
109	Marshall Nichols	Georgia Tech	28.6%	31	47.3	42.0	13	42%	10%	+7.7
110	Shamus Florio	Boston College	27.3%	49	39.7	38.3	16	31%	2%	+0.8
111	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	27.0%	49	48.5	40.8	21	42%	2%	−8.0
112	Luke Dunne	Washington	26.1%	28	40.2	33.6	7	23%	14%	−8.5
113	Mitchell Tomasek	Eastern Michigan	25.6%	48	45.1	40.8	10	20%	14%	+0.1
114	Grayson Miller	Oklahoma	25.5%	54	46.2	40.3	30	58%	12%	+3.5
115	Aleksi Pulkkinen	South Alabama	24.4%	49	40.4	36.2	11	22%	6%	−10.1
116	Oliver Straw	West Virginia	22.2%	66	42.5	38.9	17	26%	5%	−7.0
117	Dylan Drennan	Buffalo	20.9%	64	44.8	41.6	26	41%	8%	+7.8
118	Reed Chandley	Georgia State	20.5%	54	45.8	39.5	23	43%	4%	−2.4
119	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	20.4%	65	46.1	38.6	25	37%	17%	+3.1
120	Bryan Hansen	Colorado State	19.4%	57	47.9	44.1	15	26%	9%	+17.4
121	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	18.8%	35	47.5	37.9	14	40%	11%	−0.4
122	AJ Winsor	Oregon State	15.7%	62	44.7	34.5	15	24%	8%	−22.1
123	Atticus Bertrams	Wisconsin	14.3%	35	41.8	35.9	17	44%	5%	−5.6
124	Noah Botsford	UTEP	4.3%	59	45.6	41.2	19	32%	7%	+5.1

All 2025 College punter rankings

Fair Catch Percentage in other seasons: 2026 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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