2025 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 2025, Dante Atton (36) led college football punters in fair catches forced, ahead of Cal Joseph (31) and Bronson Long (29). 161 punters qualify.

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

Rk	Player	Team	FC	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Dante Atton	Temple	36	62	42.2	41.4	26	43%	2%	80%	+5.7
2	Cal Joseph	Wake Forest	31	57	38.1	35.1	20	35%	4%	60%	−13.9
3	Bronson Long	Charlotte	29	70	42.7	38.4	19	28%	6%	48%	−5.4
4	Curtis Gerrand	Sam Houston	27	64	43.0	40.4	23	37%	3%	56%	+2.5
5	Oscar Doyle	Boise State	27	52	43.7	40.4	18	35%	10%	60%	+5.2
6	Pierse Stainton	Miami (OH)	26	59	41.9	40.0	25	43%	3%	60%	+11.1
7	Jack Stonehouse	Syracuse	24	60	46.5	41.6	15	26%	10%	52%	+8.9
8	Ian Ratliff	App State	24	54	43.9	41.1	11	20%	2%	52%	+6.0
9	Aidan Laros	Kentucky	24	50	44.5	38.6	20	39%	8%	51%	+2.1
10	Hudson Kaak	Auburn	24	49	42.0	40.7	13	27%	2%	63%	+4.2
11	Lachlan Carrigan	Memphis	24	42	43.4	41.2	20	47%	9%	67%	+7.4
12	Adam Saul	Ball State	23	70	40.7	37.4	17	24%	4%	44%	−12.8
13	Nick Verdugo	Fresno State	23	47	40.6	39.6	16	33%	2%	74%	+7.7
14	Emilio Duran	Toledo	22	60	40.6	37.3	23	38%	10%	47%	−5.4
15	Joshua Huiet	Kennesaw State	22	57	41.3	39.7	25	43%	4%	52%	+1.0
16	Tom Maginness	North Carolina	22	56	42.7	39.8	21	38%	2%	47%	+2.8
17	Trey Wilhoit	Florida International	22	50	43.5	38.6	14	28%	4%	52%	−3.1
18	Alex Bacchetta	Rice	21	60	44.6	39.5	20	32%	8%	42%	+3.3
19	Hunter Green	San Diego State	21	59	46.6	41.2	29	49%	17%	41%	+10.2
20	Nathan Totten	Marshall	21	55	44.9	40.4	26	45%	18%	47%	+10.4
21	Bryce McFerson	Maryland	21	56	44.2	40.4	20	36%	15%	47%	+0.5
22	Alex Smith	Georgia Southern	21	54	42.6	39.6	15	28%	6%	49%	−2.3
23	Ryan Harris	Washington State	21	51	40.9	38.3	18	35%	6%	58%	+0.1
24	Brett Thorson	Georgia	21	42	45.2	42.7	20	49%	10%	62%	+10.1
25	Damon Greaves	Colorado	20	64	43.7	38.3	16	25%	8%	35%	−2.6
26	Jack Bouwmeester	Texas	20	55	44.7	38.4	24	43%	15%	43%	+1.5
27	Caden Noonkester	NC State	20	52	43.6	39.0	23	45%	6%	48%	−1.5
28	Wade McSparron	SMU	20	52	42.4	39.1	16	31%	8%	45%	+2.1
29	Declan Duley	Central Michigan	20	50	40.9	36.7	18	37%	6%	59%	−6.2
30	Makenzie Ryan	UL Monroe	19	60	38.9	35.5	14	23%	5%	45%	−21.5
31	Grant Chadwick	LSU	19	59	45.3	38.2	21	36%	8%	35%	−4.8
32	Mason Love	South Carolina	19	53	45.1	41.4	18	33%	8%	39%	+6.9
33	Bailey Ettridge	Nevada	19	45	45.1	41.5	18	39%	4%	58%	+7.7
34	Jack Smith	Clemson	19	45	42.1	41.1	22	49%	4%	56%	+8.3
35	Max Morgan	Liberty	19	46	41.2	38.8	14	31%	9%	53%	−4.4
36	Blake Doud	Alabama	19	41	42.9	38.8	15	36%	2%	49%	−0.4
37	Sam Vander Haar	BYU	19	38	42.5	38.8	16	43%	3%	61%	+0.4
38	Keelan Crimmins	Illinois	19	35	44.0	38.5	9	25%	17%	56%	−0.8
39	Keegan Andrews	Massachusetts	18	69	46.5	41.7	32	45%	3%	39%	+5.0
40	Ashton Logan	Middle Tennessee	18	66	44.6	41.1	33	50%	11%	41%	+9.2
41	John Henderson	Bowling Green	18	59	40.5	35.4	20	34%	10%	43%	−18.4
42	Max Dean	New Mexico State	18	55	42.3	39.7	20	36%	5%	42%	−0.8
43	Ryan Millmore	Western Michigan	18	53	42.1	38.4	22	42%	10%	49%	+4.1
44	Conor Donaghy	Jacksonville State	18	47	39.6	37.1	17	37%	4%	53%	−3.0
45	Ian Brandt	Old Dominion	18	41	41.0	35.4	18	41%	7%	53%	−9.3
46	Patrick Rea	James Madison	18	43	40.7	38.9	17	40%	5%	62%	+0.1
47	Connor Weselman	Missouri	18	41	41.8	39.0	14	34%	7%	55%	−0.6
48	Kade Reynoldson	Duke	18	39	44.5	41.1	18	45%	5%	55%	+6.9
49	Rhys Dakin	Iowa	18	39	43.2	40.1	17	45%	8%	60%	+5.3
50	Jackson Ross	Tennessee	18	37	44.3	42.2	19	51%	5%	56%	+6.9
51	Jack McCallister	Purdue	17	50	43.2	40.8	24	48%	4%	44%	+6.5
52	Tommy Doman	Florida	17	50	44.0	41.1	18	38%	8%	45%	+3.0
53	Jack Burgess	Texas Tech	17	40	43.4	41.0	19	48%	5%	53%	+7.9
54	David Chapeau	Louisville	17	38	39.7	37.8	18	49%	8%	59%	+1.2
55	Wes Pahl	Oklahoma State	16	64	46.5	42.6	21	32%	6%	36%	+1.5
56	John Hoyet Chance	Louisiana Tech	16	58	47.0	42.9	27	47%	9%	33%	+11.3
57	Brenden Lach	Delaware	16	42	39.5	35.6	15	35%	2%	47%	−7.4
58	Tyler Perkins	Iowa State	16	42	42.4	40.9	19	45%	5%	57%	+5.5
59	Finn Lappin	Kansas	16	39	45.3	41.2	13	33%	3%	44%	+1.7
60	Mac Chiumento	Florida State	16	26	44.2	40.7	13	46%	4%	70%	+2.8
61	Emile Sebafundi	Coastal Carolina	15	62	42.5	37.1	17	27%	7%	31%	−11.2
62	Cole Maynard	Western Kentucky	15	51	48.7	42.4	14	27%	10%	33%	+3.7
63	Nathan Torney	Louisiana	15	50	42.1	39.4	10	20%	4%	37%	−6.7
64	Caleb Junko	Pittsburgh	15	48	44.5	40.7	12	25%	10%	41%	+0.3
65	Billy Gowers	Hawai'i	15	46	46.4	41.4	24	52%	4%	37%	+2.6
66	Connor Stutz	UConn	15	44	45.5	41.0	23	51%	13%	45%	+7.8
67	David Nunez	Texas State	15	36	40.4	38.2	12	32%	5%	58%	+0.4
68	Dylan Joyce	Miami	15	37	44.4	40.5	19	51%	14%	43%	+4.6
69	Tom Weston	Minnesota	14	59	42.8	39.5	19	33%	5%	31%	+1.4
70	Aidan Flintoft	Stanford	14	58	43.3	39.1	15	27%	2%	30%	−2.1
71	Liam Dougherty	Houston	14	50	44.3	37.0	18	35%	14%	36%	−9.2
72	Angus Davies	Tulsa	14	46	43.3	41.6	21	43%	0%	42%	+0.3
73	Anthony Venneri	UCF	14	48	40.7	35.6	19	40%	8%	36%	−9.3
74	Nick Veltsistas	Virginia Tech	14	47	45.4	37.3	18	38%	9%	36%	−7.3
75	Simon McClannan	Kansas State	14	48	42.5	39.5	19	40%	9%	39%	+2.4
76	Alec Clark	Tulane	14	45	46.8	43.4	17	38%	9%	38%	+13.1
77	Ethan Pulliam	Mississippi State	14	40	46.7	45.9	10	26%	0%	48%	+14.0
78	Isaac Lovison	Arizona	14	32	42.6	39.8	12	38%	6%	56%	−1.6
79	James Wagenseller	Army	14	32	43.1	40.8	15	47%	6%	48%	+5.6
80	Sawyer Evans	North Texas	14	28	40.8	39.8	10	38%	4%	61%	−0.5
81	Evan Crenshaw	Troy	13	65	45.8	41.7	32	49%	6%	30%	+5.8
82	Landon Rehkow	Utah State	13	61	42.7	38.5	19	31%	7%	32%	−6.8
83	Joseph Castle	Akron	13	48	42.8	36.6	17	35%	10%	35%	−5.5
84	Caile Hogan	UTSA	13	50	44.9	39.8	15	32%	6%	35%	−3.4
85	Michael Kern	California	13	38	41.6	38.7	9	24%	8%	42%	−3.7
86	Magnus Haines	Ohio	13	38	42.2	39.9	16	43%	5%	46%	+1.7
87	Gabriel Nwosu	Penn State	13	35	46.1	42.9	14	42%	9%	46%	+9.5
88	Jakob Anderson	Rutgers	13	33	44.2	41.8	12	36%	3%	62%	+4.6
89	Archie Wilson	Nebraska	13	32	38.9	37.6	14	44%	3%	48%	−1.8
90	Oliver Straw	West Virginia	12	66	42.5	38.9	17	26%	5%	22%	−7.0
91	Grayson Miller	Oklahoma	12	54	46.2	40.3	30	58%	12%	26%	+3.5
92	Will Karoll	UCLA	12	44	43.5	39.2	12	27%	5%	39%	−0.5
93	Ethan Craw	TCU	12	41	41.5	38.7	14	35%	10%	39%	+0.8
94	Daniel Hughes	New Mexico	12	35	45.5	42.1	11	29%	5%	41%	+7.9
95	Trent Carrizosa	San José State	12	39	45.6	40.1	12	32%	13%	44%	−6.1
96	Kanyon Floyd	Arizona State	12	36	41.4	34.5	8	22%	6%	36%	−13.7
97	Chase Leon	South Florida	12	32	43.0	39.2	15	47%	3%	44%	−2.9
98	James Ferguson-Reynolds	Oregon	12	29	42.1	39.9	13	46%	11%	55%	+1.4
99	Jackson Waller	Arkansas State	11	54	41.4	40.3	24	44%	4%	35%	+0.9
100	Mitchell Tomasek	Eastern Michigan	11	48	45.1	40.8	10	20%	14%	26%	+0.1
101	Tyler White	Texas A&M	11	44	44.4	40.9	18	41%	5%	42%	+4.0
102	Devin Bale	Arkansas	11	34	45.6	39.0	14	40%	12%	35%	−0.3
103	Orion Phillips	Utah	11	35	42.9	40.4	13	38%	9%	44%	+6.2
104	Joe McGuire	Ohio State	11	24	42.0	40.0	8	33%	8%	55%	+1.3
105	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	10	65	46.1	38.6	25	37%	17%	20%	+3.1
106	Ryan Eckley	Michigan State	10	49	48.5	40.8	21	42%	2%	27%	−8.0
107	Aleksi Pulkkinen	South Alabama	10	49	40.4	36.2	11	22%	6%	24%	−10.1
108	Charlie Durkin	Kent State	10	48	41.1	37.3	13	28%	4%	29%	−11.3
109	Cam Brown	UNLV	10	43	44.0	41.1	15	35%	7%	36%	−0.1
110	Hudson Hollenbeck	Michigan	10	38	43.0	37.8	11	28%	8%	32%	−2.1
111	Max Fletcher	Cincinnati	10	35	45.8	42.0	17	49%	3%	45%	−3.4
112	Jake Ference	Northern Illinois	10	30	43.7	39.9	7	23%	3%	48%	+0.3
113	Nick Haberer	Vanderbilt	10	23	46.7	43.0	10	43%	9%	50%	+7.0
114	Dylan Drennan	Buffalo	9	64	44.8	41.6	26	41%	8%	21%	+7.8
115	Shamus Florio	Boston College	9	49	39.7	38.3	16	31%	2%	27%	+0.8
116	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	9	42	42.7	36.1	13	32%	15%	29%	−11.2
117	Reed Harradine	Southern Miss	9	34	40.8	38.7	6	18%	3%	39%	−3.5
118	Luke Akers	Northwestern	9	32	45.4	40.7	10	32%	13%	39%	+6.8
119	Patrick Foley	UAB	9	30	41.6	34.2	6	19%	10%	33%	−17.6
120	James Rendell	Notre Dame	9	25	44.6	43.4	13	54%	4%	64%	+7.8
121	Ryan Leavy	East Carolina	9	20	39.1	37.6	4	20%	0%	50%	−2.7
122	Sam Johnson	USC	9	20	41.4	35.3	6	30%	5%	50%	−6.2
123	AJ Winsor	Oregon State	8	62	44.7	34.5	15	24%	8%	16%	−22.1
124	Reed Chandley	Georgia State	8	54	45.8	39.5	23	43%	4%	21%	−2.4
125	Oscar Bird	Ole Miss	8	32	45.9	43.8	10	31%	3%	29%	+11.0
126	Logan Lupo	Florida Atlantic	8	28	44.9	41.3	12	43%	0%	33%	+1.6
127	Mitch McCarthy	Indiana	8	27	39.8	37.7	11	41%	0%	36%	−0.5
128	Tomas O'Halloran	East Carolina	8	18	42.7	37.9	6	33%	6%	53%	−2.0
129	Bryan Hansen	Colorado State	6	57	47.9	44.1	15	26%	9%	19%	+17.4
130	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	6	35	47.5	37.9	14	40%	11%	19%	−0.4
131	Jacob Carlson	Navy	6	32	44.6	40.3	14	44%	13%	29%	+3.9
132	Marshall Nichols	Georgia Tech	6	31	47.3	42.0	13	42%	10%	29%	+7.7
133	Luke Dunne	Washington	6	28	40.2	33.6	7	23%	14%	26%	−8.5
134	Palmer Williams	Baylor	6	27	46.9	46.3	11	41%	4%	26%	+9.4
135	Luke Freer	Air Force	6	23	44.5	41.4	12	52%	4%	33%	+0.9
136	Carter Schwartz	Louisville	6	14	39.6	39.3	5	33%	0%	50%	−1.5
137	Sean West	Wisconsin	5	26	47.4	39.1	9	36%	8%	25%	0.0
138	Atticus Bertrams	Wisconsin	4	35	41.8	35.9	17	44%	5%	14%	−5.6
139	Daniel Vuckovic	Northern Illinois	4	25	42.3	35.0	10	36%	4%	22%	−5.4
140	Nathan Tiyce	Mississippi State	4	12	39.0	37.3	8	67%	8%	44%	+0.3
141	Matt McKenzie	Arizona State	4	10	35.2	32.8	1	10%	0%	50%	−5.7
142	Jack Murley	Southern Miss	3	23	36.5	34.5	14	58%	8%	18%	+0.3
143	Elijah Slibeck	Virginia	3	11	46.2	37.3	4	36%	9%	30%	−2.7
144	Cade Backe	Jacksonville State	3	7	40.3	37.3	2	29%	0%	50%	−2.1
145	Noah Botsford	UTEP	2	59	45.6	41.2	19	32%	7%	4%	+5.1
146	Brook Honore Jr.	California	2	20	41.4	35.4	6	27%	0%	12%	−6.8
147	Anthony Frederique	Missouri State	2	11	36.9	29.5	7	54%	0%	33%	−4.4
148	Jake Stoeckel	Kent State	2	9	31.3	31.7	3	30%	0%	29%	−0.6
149	Luke Goater	South Florida	2	9	36.2	34.0	2	22%	11%	29%	−3.3
150	Drew Miller	Georgia	2	6	48.0	42.3	3	50%	17%	40%	+2.1
151	Michael Salgado-Medina	Arizona	2	6	41.7	32.0	1	17%	20%	50%	−0.8
152	Grayden Addison	Kansas	2	3	43.0	43.0	0	0%	0%	67%	+1.3
153	Tashi Dorje	San Diego State	2	3	50.0	48.3	0	0%	0%	67%	+2.2
154	Brayden Johnson	Akron	1	12	40.1	36.4	7	58%	0%	14%	−5.5
155	David Barker	New Mexico State	1	6	44.5	40.5	2	33%	0%	17%	+0.4
156	Steve Angeli	Syracuse	1	2	36.0	43.3	2	50%	0%	33%	+2.2
157	Joe McFadden	Nevada	1	2	39.5	36.0	1	50%	0%	50%	−0.4
158	Brek Schultz	Louisiana	1	1	48.0	48.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.7
159	Fuller Shurtz	BYU	1	1	41.0	41.0	1	100%	0%	100%	+0.2
160	Jace Gilbert	Iowa State	1	1	33.0	33.0	1	100%	0%	100%	0.0
161	Nick McLarty	Ohio State	1	1	45.0	45.0	0	0%	0%	100%	+0.3

All 2025 College punter rankings

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

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