2026 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 2026, Bailey Ettridge (0.3) topped college football punters in average punt return allowed, ahead of William Hudlow (1.0) and Landon Rehkow (1.7). 94 punters qualify (minimum 5 returns). The median qualified punter had 9.3. This season is in progress (through Week 7), so the numbers change each week.

Data through Week 7 of the 2026 season, updated October 24, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	Avg ret	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Bailey Ettridge	Oregon	0.3	24	46.9	46.0	9	38%	4%	53%	+8.0
2	William Hudlow	Tulane	1.0	32	46.9	43.5	11	34%	16%	43%	+10.2
3	Landon Rehkow	Utah State	1.7	31	42.1	38.7	15	48%	6%	48%	+4.3
4	Gabe Russo	Pittsburgh	3.0	24	44.0	42.7	9	36%	8%	36%	+4.1
5	Tyler White	Texas A&M	3.4	25	49.5	45.8	7	29%	13%	33%	+11.5
6	Felix Visser	Florida International	3.6	20	38.6	36.7	7	35%	5%	56%	−3.7
7	Harrison Tuck	Memphis	3.9	30	40.8	39.2	10	36%	0%	44%	−2.0
8	Hudson Kaak	Auburn	4.0	27	40.3	39.4	14	52%	0%	55%	+2.1
9	Max Tulen	Tulsa	4.1	36	42.9	39.6	11	30%	6%	42%	−2.1
10	Conor Donaghy	Jacksonville State	4.2	16	47.3	45.9	9	56%	0%	55%	+7.1
11	Cam Brown	Michigan	4.3	30	41.9	39.3	13	43%	7%	54%	+4.5
12	Patrick Rea	James Madison	4.5	32	43.2	40.3	18	56%	6%	30%	+5.3
13	Jacob Ulrich	Oklahoma	4.5	19	44.4	41.5	4	21%	5%	50%	+2.4
14	Luke Goater	South Florida	4.7	24	45.5	42.5	13	54%	8%	40%	+4.9
15	Lexington Matthews	Louisiana Tech	4.9	19	44.7	40.0	7	37%	11%	22%	+1.4
16	Jake Stoeckel	Kent State	5.1	30	42.8	39.6	12	40%	7%	41%	+0.8
17	Matt Choules	UNLV	5.1	30	42.3	38.5	15	50%	7%	50%	+0.5
18	Niall Hayes	Louisville	5.2	25	40.0	38.0	7	28%	4%	35%	−5.1
19	Alex Asparuhov	Alabama	5.3	23	43.1	41.3	13	59%	0%	56%	+7.2
20	Daniel Hughes	Florida State	5.3	21	44.0	42.6	10	48%	0%	33%	+4.5
21	James Wagenseller	Army	5.5	20	46.5	43.9	9	45%	5%	29%	+5.6
22	Dusty Zimmer	Southern Miss	5.6	28	40.0	38.4	9	32%	0%	48%	+2.6
23	Jaxson Dunn	App State	5.7	35	41.9	40.4	12	34%	3%	32%	+3.9
24	Jack Smith	Clemson	5.8	30	38.6	37.6	13	43%	0%	70%	−2.2
25	Thomas O'Hara	Kentucky	5.8	17	40.7	37.5	4	24%	6%	31%	−2.0
26	Lachlan Carrigan	USC	6.0	12	49.8	44.0	5	42%	17%	22%	+2.9
27	Dylan Drennan	Purdue	6.3	20	47.0	43.8	7	35%	5%	40%	+4.1
28	Markus Meincke	Toledo	6.6	22	42.0	40.5	9	41%	0%	58%	+0.4
29	Dante Atton	Temple	6.7	23	42.5	40.8	9	39%	0%	47%	+1.1
30	Tom Weston	Minnesota	6.8	25	41.5	36.9	12	44%	0%	47%	−1.5
31	Matthew Gill	Kansas	7.0	20	39.9	37.1	3	15%	5%	44%	−1.2
32	Nathan Sutcliffe	Colorado State	7.1	21	42.9	37.4	5	25%	5%	17%	−3.6
33	Charlie Durkin	Rice	7.3	28	45.5	39.9	8	29%	7%	10%	−1.9
34	Nick Verdugo	Fresno State	7.4	25	42.0	40.5	17	68%	0%	74%	+4.2
35	Gehrig Heil	Hawai'i	7.4	35	43.4	40.3	16	46%	3%	37%	+3.7
36	Josh Cupitt	Delaware	7.7	34	42.0	39.7	17	50%	0%	52%	+1.8
37	Curtis Gerrand	UCLA	8.0	23	45.2	39.6	11	50%	5%	35%	+0.3
38	Daniel Vuckovic	Arkansas State	8.0	23	39.2	37.8	10	43%	4%	42%	−1.1
39	Aidan Flintoft	Stanford	8.1	43	43.0	40.6	13	30%	2%	66%	+3.4
40	Ryan Millmore	Western Michigan	8.3	27	43.7	40.4	12	44%	7%	36%	+2.7
41	Joe McGuire	Ohio State	8.4	19	43.8	39.5	10	53%	11%	50%	+3.7
42	John Hoyet Chance	TCU	8.5	25	43.5	41.5	15	60%	0%	39%	+1.9
43	Daniel Hull	Eastern Michigan	8.6	32	44.1	39.7	11	33%	6%	38%	0.0
44	Jackson Smith	Western Kentucky	8.8	39	43.7	38.7	9	23%	10%	29%	+0.7
45	Edward Phillipson	Massachusetts	8.9	32	45.1	38.1	12	34%	6%	56%	−1.0
46	Oliver Straw	UAB	9.2	21	45.4	41.4	12	57%	0%	28%	+0.7
47	Max Dean	Washington State	9.3	40	43.4	38.2	12	32%	8%	23%	−5.9
48	Tomas O'Halloran	East Carolina	9.4	29	46.9	42.9	11	38%	3%	52%	+4.9
49	AJ Winsor	Oregon State	9.4	18	42.7	40.1	8	44%	0%	60%	+4.5
50	Cal Joseph	Sam Houston	9.5	45	44.2	39.9	18	40%	9%	55%	+1.8
51	Liam Dougherty	Houston	9.5	16	45.6	39.5	8	50%	13%	17%	+1.7
52	Bryce McFerson	Maryland	9.7	30	41.6	36.5	11	37%	0%	44%	−8.4
53	Ethan Stumpf	Buffalo	9.9	44	45.5	38.9	13	30%	14%	30%	+1.2
54	Hunter Green	Washington	10.3	33	47.9	42.1	10	31%	6%	33%	+3.9
55	Tyler Ebel	Vanderbilt	10.3	27	47.0	39.7	11	41%	8%	15%	−3.2
56	Atticus Bertrams	UCF	10.4	22	46.3	39.3	7	32%	18%	33%	+1.1
57	Aeron Burrell	North Carolina	10.5	21	42.8	36.8	10	48%	0%	24%	−2.2
58	Brody Richter	New Mexico State	10.7	26	40.3	38.4	10	37%	0%	60%	−1.9
59	Kade Reynoldson	Duke	10.7	26	45.9	39.7	13	48%	12%	11%	+3.1
60	Stewart McDonald	Missouri State	10.9	23	41.2	36.0	7	30%	4%	41%	−3.6
61	Tashi Dorje	San Diego State	11.1	36	46.1	40.0	14	39%	6%	25%	+1.1
62	Jacob Carlson	Navy	11.2	12	39.6	33.3	3	25%	8%	18%	−5.9
63	Magnus Haines	Ohio	11.2	18	43.3	39.1	8	44%	6%	50%	+0.9
64	Grant Chadwick	LSU	11.2	22	38.7	35.5	10	45%	0%	44%	−1.9
65	Jonah DuPont	Iowa State	11.3	22	44.4	39.2	4	19%	0%	33%	+0.8
66	Evan Crenshaw	Troy	11.4	26	46.1	41.0	11	42%	8%	42%	−5.5
67	Damon Greaves	Colorado	11.7	29	45.3	37.9	13	45%	7%	22%	−3.0
68	Ian Brandt	Old Dominion	11.8	35	42.3	36.0	6	17%	11%	40%	−12.2
69	Caile Hogan	UTSA	12.0	27	41.4	37.8	10	36%	4%	33%	−3.3
70	Bart Edmiston	Wyoming	12.2	27	48.0	40.9	11	41%	15%	42%	+8.2
71	Angus Davies	California	12.4	32	41.0	37.6	11	35%	3%	44%	−5.5
72	Alex Bacchetta	Georgia Tech	12.5	21	43.3	37.0	7	32%	5%	39%	−1.3
73	Cooper Heimbach	Marshall	12.8	29	46.0	39.7	11	39%	7%	33%	+0.8
74	Mac Chiumento	Texas	13.0	24	43.0	38.9	8	33%	4%	55%	−4.7
75	Mason Golding	Louisiana	13.1	28	40.1	34.5	14	50%	0%	40%	−10.4
76	Ryan Kingston	Bowling Green	13.2	33	40.1	32.7	11	32%	6%	24%	−9.7
77	Nathan Totten	Virginia Tech	13.3	24	41.4	35.3	9	39%	9%	29%	−5.8
78	Aaron Bickerton	North Dakota State	13.4	24	45.5	37.9	9	38%	13%	22%	−1.0
79	Ian Kelly	Charlotte	13.9	26	45.0	39.4	10	38%	4%	50%	−5.9
80	Declan Duley	Central Michigan	14.5	32	43.9	37.2	11	34%	6%	31%	0.0
81	Bryce LaFollette	Boston College	14.6	23	41.0	31.1	2	9%	17%	24%	−9.2
82	Trent Carrizosa	San José State	14.8	35	42.9	36.3	17	49%	9%	38%	−1.4
83	Jackson Ross	Tennessee	15.0	28	44.8	40.6	14	50%	7%	67%	+2.5
84	Daniel Sparks	Virginia	16.1	36	51.1	43.7	16	44%	6%	30%	+0.9
85	Cole Stumbaugh	Ball State	16.1	33	43.2	36.7	12	36%	6%	33%	−3.6
86	Matt McKenzie	Kennesaw State	16.1	30	44.3	39.8	11	38%	3%	48%	−0.2
87	Joseph Castle	Akron	16.3	32	41.6	35.8	12	36%	3%	44%	−8.3
88	Brady Braun	UTEP	17.6	32	40.7	35.3	9	28%	6%	15%	−11.7
89	Ashton Logan	Middle Tennessee	17.6	34	49.2	38.4	12	35%	18%	21%	−1.3
90	Jake Ference	Northern Illinois	18.5	29	41.8	34.4	6	21%	11%	32%	−13.7
91	Dylan Joyce	Miami	21.0	16	44.6	36.8	5	31%	6%	60%	−0.7
92	Alex Smith	Georgia Southern	24.6	29	42.7	33.8	8	28%	10%	50%	−13.9
93	Nick McLarty	Arizona State	26.6	23	42.0	32.2	4	17%	13%	59%	−11.3
94	Makenzie Ryan	UL Monroe	27.9	33	41.4	31.8	7	22%	3%	39%	−23.5

All 2026 College punter rankings

Average Punt Return Allowed in other seasons: 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

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