Keenums NCAA record of 1,546 career completions also wont be touched. Single game leaders only reflect years for which we have complete boxscore data (1950 onward), all playoff games, and all 100 yard rushing/receiving or 300 yard passing games from 1940-1959. By any measure, it was a near-perfect performance and the one incompletion was a dropped pass. Playing on Sunday Night Football in front of a national television audience, the ridiculously fast return manhe posted a 4.42-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combinetook the ball and ran straight up the middle of the field into what looked like a barrage of Packers players. East Carolina's Bryson Worrell kicked off the first round of the DI baseball tournament with a bang, not once, but twice against Greenville Regional opponent Coppin State. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Find out more. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. 1 Georgia Tech trampled Cumberland Gap (Tenn.) 222-0 in 1916 Four games. Michigan had narrowed Notre Dames lead to a single point right before halftime, but Rockets first touchdown returned stretched the Irishs lead to 14-6. During the 2013 campaign at Washington State, Halliday also set a new NCAA record with 89 passing attempts at Oregon. Good luck figuring out exactly what happened in November 2001 and why. 2023 NCAA | Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. College football bold predictions with B/R's Adam Kramer, FBS records and milestones that could be broken and reached this season, 5 predictions for the 2021 college football season, College football's longest active road winning streaks, Georgia wins the 2023 CFP National Championship, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. It was a challenging discussion, but in the end, the Titans 2005 class grabbed this position despite some of the antics of their first-round pick, Adam "Pacman" Jones. Miami kick returner Jakeem Grant, in his fourth NFL season, had a 101-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in Week 11, his second career kick-return touchdown of at least . Twelve players, including 2014 Biletnikoff winner Amari Cooper from Alabama, have surpassed the lofty 1,700-mark in a single season since 2008, but that often means NFL dollars will soon come calling once the three-year removed from high school rule has passed. For those that don't know, a kick return touchdown is when the kickoff retu. As a senior, Keenum was spectacular, throwing 48 touchdowns passes to just five interceptions a ratio of nearly 10:1. In an interview with an Atlanta radio station. A compilation of every kick return touchdown of the 2021 college football season. Heisman Trophy Winners: D. Henry, B. Sanders, . An asterisk (*) after a player's name indicates bowl stats are included.Read more about our data coverage. Consider what we've seen from the most electrifying kick-returners to mark the college football landscape over the past quarter-century. That year, he took the opening kickoff of the opening game back for a TD against Tulsa. Again, that's with Kmic playing in 3 more games. Find out more. Add Roydell Williams for the time he was here, Scaife, and the first two seasons, of Hill, and this draft provided five starters and two dependable backups in Fuller and Loper from its eleven members. During his freshman and sophomore seasons, Jones-Drew averaged over 26 yards per kickoff return, and by the time he went pro, he had scored seven return touchdowns. It takes speed to return kicks well, but it also takes field vision, anticipation, agility, and some video game-like juke moves. It took about two years of post-Rocket recovery before I realized kick return TDs are actually a rare football gift. "I dont totally know the answer to it, only because he is just kind of coming back," Fipp said when asked if he's open to using Williams as a kick returner in 2023. Find out more. Or write about sports? In todays game, for the most part, teams take their foot off the gas once they hit the 63-point plateau and play out the stretch. (Jones-Drew's 91-yard kickoff return TD in that same game was understandably overshadowed.). Devin Hester (Miami) 11 of 15 Jamie. None of the members of this class will ever hear their names called in Canton, but as a group, and what they provided for the Titans, even though small in some cases, was a solid class top to bottom that played some excellent football and were part of some good, but not great Titans teams. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. Active players are listed in bold. The day before Halloween 2004, from the press box at Washington State's Martin Stadium, I watched him run into a crowd on a punt return on a wet field, then with one cut, leave a trail of flailing arms and jockstraps on his way to the end zone. Spiller racked up 2,052 yards and seven touchdowns (an FBS record) on kickoff returns and added 569 yards and a score on punt returns for good measure. Ten players have done that in NFL history. Division III Mount Union's Nate Kmic had 2,790 in 15 games in 2008, compared to Sanders' 12. Recently, Oregon and Baylor have each topped the 700-yard mark with their no-huddle attacks, but hitting quadruple digits in a single game just seems unfathomable. Oklahoma freshman Samaje Perine eclipsed the total the following week after the Kansas Jayhawks forgot how to tackle, carrying the pill 27 times for a new NCAA-record 427 yards. Raghib "Rocket" Ismail Holds Record for Most Games With Two Kickoff Returns for Touchdowns It's also worth noting that numerous Nevada players from the 1990s and early 2000s hold FBS passing and receiving records, so Van Dyke's record might be a case of the right player in the right system in the right era, which is why it may never be topped. I got kick return, too, I would have housed that one.' NFL Career Leaders - Kickoff Return Touchdowns. 1990. The following is a list of the NFL career kickoff return leaders ranked by kickoff return touchdowns. Down three points with just six seconds left in this ACC matchup against Duke, the Miami Hurricanes were in a desperate positionthey needed to find a way to score a touchdown after a late score by the Blue Devils. You can't knock Schiano for wanting to make the game safer. Not only is it remarkable that Burleson didn't reach the end zone that day, but in his previous game, he didn't catch a single pass, and in the game after he set this record, he had a pedestrian four catches for 23 yards. Dwight's style wasn't gracefulhe was reminiscent of one of those old NFL Films segments starring Crazy Legs Hirschbut he got where he needed to go in a hurry. All NFL Teams. As a freshman in just his second game for the Hurricanes, against rival Florida, Hester took the opening kickoff 98 yards to the house. Contact Dave Birkett atdbirkett@freepress.com. Washington also returned a punt 99 yards for a touchdown later in that game, setting a team record with two return scores in the same game. Hester set the NFL record for most return touchdowns (combining kickoffs and punts) with 20 over the course of his career, and one of his best came in Super Bowl XLIwhich was played in Miami, where Hester went to collegeagainst the Indianapolis Colts. Cecil Turner (4/1970), 1. Record: 36 attempts Record-holder: Dominique Davis, East Carolina Season: 2011 In the 2020 season, Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz completed his first 17 pass attempts in the Badgers'. And that really wasn't even his best year as a kick-returner. It's an impressive genetic and familial accomplishment to have siblings that play at the FBS level, but for them to play the same position in the same season, as starters, and both rush for more than 1,000 yards requires countless stars to align. Keenum was granted a medical hardship in 2010 after tearing a knee ligament, but his five touchdowns over three games prior to injury count. As a receiver, Williams caught one pass for a 41-yard touchdown last season, had three drops on nine targets and had one carry for 40 yards. When we went through and ranked these classes, there was a lot of debate as to who and which classes should be in what positions. Here are 10 current college football records one man at SDS has deemed unbreakable: Who holds it: Oklahoma, from 1953-57 All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Cooper wouldve had to post last seasons jaw-dropping numbers three consecutive seasons to pass Insley. One of the college football's best receivers in 2021, Williams tore his ACL in Alabama's national championship game loss to Georgia and played limited snaps in six games with the Lions last season. As a sophomore, he led the nation in kickoff return yards with 442, while averaging 31.6 yards per return. Some school's results have been altered by retroactive NCAA penalties. It shouldn't include Jalen Ramsey. This might be the most controversial of all our classes to be No.3, but this class had depth and a star on the field, and a headache off it all rolled into one class. Kick return touchdown in the Super Bowldoes it get any more exciting than that? Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. The national leader in receiving yards per game during the 2020 season was Ole Miss' consensus All-American wide receiver Elijah Moore, who averaged 149.1 yards per game. The University of Miami alum was in his first season of the NFL, and he made the Rams pay for kicking him the ball. Do you have a blog? Just look at Moore's freshman (36.2 receiving yards per game) and sophomore (70.8 yards per game) seasons to see that it took Moore time (and potentially a coaching change to offensive mind Lane Kiffin) for him to develop into a receiver who could average that many yards per game. Why its untouchable: College footballs Heisman winner in 1999, Dayne topped 2,000 yards for the second time in his Big Ten career to finish with an incredible NCAA-record 7,125 yards on the ground on a record-breaking 1,220 carries. Beforehis breakout Heisman season (1988), Barry played backup to Thurman Thomas and made his mark on special teams. As good as Jones-Drew was, UCLA has never seen a return man as dangerous as Antonio Perkins. 2022 The Game Before the Money All Rights Reserved. The Kick Six (also known as Kick Bama Kick) was the final play of the 78th Iron Bowl college football game played on November 30, 2013 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama.The game featured the No. But even if he'd been stopped for 10- and 12-yard gains every time, surely he'd find some way to remain memorable. I expected him to score every time he touched the ball. Some school's results have been altered by retroactive NCAA penalties. Schiano referenced a statistic that more than 15 percent of the catastrophic injuries suffered on the football field happen on kickoffs, even though there are only a handful of kickoffs per game. Jameson also has to hold his part and make sure that hes doing everything that he needs to do. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? If any quarterback is going to approach this record in the future, hell be another Mike Leach understudy. He still showed game-breaking ability at times last season but had two punt return touchdowns wiped out due to penalties while averaging 8.8 yards on 13 attempts with a long of 19. The notion of putting up "video-game numbers" can be overstated at times, but a stat line like that to start a game is something you're far more likely to find in an arcade or a friend's basement than on the gridiron in an actual FBS game. 1977 1976 1947 NFL Punt Returns for Touchdown Single Game Leaders All-Time Punt Returns for Touchdown Leaders Players must meet the minimum requirements to show up on this leaderboard. "It's hard to ask a guy to do all those things at a really high level, and people dont realize that," Fipp said. NO REGRETS:Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn content even if head coach jobs never materialize. Who holds it: No. The option to go for it would replace the onside kickoff. The return went for 109 yards, setting a record for the longest play in NFL history. His 27.6 yards per kickoff and 13.6 yards per punt-return averages were solid but not eye-popping. In fact, he only scored two touchdowns in 2001, despite finishing the season with 53 receptions and 737 receiving yards. Williams returned two kicks for touchdowns in his one season at Alabama, when he averaged 35.2 yards on 10 kick returns. Join our linker program. Why its untouchable: Kevin Sumlins facilitator of the Air Raid during his time in college, Keenum was fearless from the pocket channeled visions of high-powered Cougars offenses of old, slinging it around like record-setting quarterbacks Andre Ware and David Klingler before him. Twenty-five players in college football history have run two kickoffs back for touchdowns in the same game. So, Sanders' Heisman-winning season in '88 when he ran for 332 yards against Texas Tech, 320 yards against Kansas State, 312 yards against Kansas and 304 yards against Tulsa hasn't been matched by any other running back in their career, let alone a single season. With the game still tied between these two top-10 teams, Cam Newton did what he did best in 2010, take over a game with a game changing play. Hall started running backwards and crossed to the other side of the field, outrunning the entire Broncos unit before heading into the endzone untouched. He doesn't own any national kick return records, and apparently he only scored six return touchdowns in his college career. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Racked up 1,522 kickoff return yards, 559 punt return yards and four kick-return touchdowns in three seasons. Looking for a great NFL history book? Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. As a senior, Keenum was spectacular, throwing 48. All rights reserved. Mitchell was a full-time quarterback at Louisiana-Lafayette. Hundreds waited in line for Jamaal Williams to sign autographs at DC Sports on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. Career Leaders. CLICK HERE. Please see our Contributors and Sources page for data source details. Stats: 2,854 passing yards, 30 passing touchdowns, 1,473 rushing yards, 20 rushing touchdowns, 42 receiving yards, receiving touchdown Newton got his one SEC chance after his troubled time. 1 on that list? "White Lightning" was another dual-sport football/track star who finished his Iowa career ('94-97) as the Big Ten's all-time leader in punt-return yardage and touchdowns. Fipp said it sometimes makes more sense to use a complmentary player in a return role so they can devote more energy to the craft, and he cited former NFL receiver DeSean Jackson, who he coached with the Philadelphia Eagles, as an example. ), is safe in our opinion. College Football at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. Sanders, the 1988 Heisman Trophy winner and College Football Hall of Fame inductee, also holds the career record for most games with at least 300 rushing yards. Hester set the NFL record for most return touchdowns (combining kickoffs and punts) with 20 over the course of his career, and one of his best came in Super Bowl XLIwhich was played in. Do you have a sports website? O.J . Raymond Clayborn (3/1977), 3. Join our linker program. A compilation of every kick return touchdown of the 2020 college football season. The score set records for the longest kickoff return and longest play in Super Bowl history. Learn how your comment data is processed. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Do you have a sports website? On one September day in 2003, Perkins tortured the Bruins for 277 yards on seven punt returns, scoring touchdowns from65, 74 and 84 yards out. He was a man among boys off the edge in Tuscaloosa and later set an NFL record with seven sacks in a single game for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1990. One of his players, Eric LeGrand, remains paralyzed from the neck down today due to an injury suffered on a kickoff last October. Fast, flashy and fearless, Howardaveraged 27.9 yards per kickoff return and 16.2 per punt return in his Wolverines career ('89-91), scoring three return TDs. Statistics are current through the 2022 NFL season and include stats accrued in NFL, AFL and APFA games. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. "Theyre like, 'Well, just throw him back there.' And unfortunately, its days may be numbered. One of the college football's best receivers in 2021, Williams. It would take a dynamic talent like Randy Moss, who was interested in playing four seasons, to come close. Check out The Game Before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL available at Amazon.comBarnes and NobleUniversity of Nebraska Press. Here's a look at the 2005 draft class and its impact on the team. Brown probably wouldn't have become the first receiver to win the Heisman (1987) without his contributions on special teams. Imagine if the fantasy football owners who covet Jones-Drew so much now could have had him in college, where in addition to his rushing and receiving exploits,he was also a record-setting kick-returner. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. 2,850 rushing yards is more than anyone's ever gained at any level of college or pro football. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 6:41AM. Not only did Sanders win the Heisman in the 1988 season with his all-time great junior campaign 2,628 rushing yards, 7.6 yards per carry, 37 rushing touchdowns, one punt return touchdown and one kick return touchdown but his brother, Byron, also turned in a 1,000-yard season with Northwestern the fall of '88. Leaders Since 1976 Share & Export Modify, Export & Share Table Get as Excel Workbook We present them here for purely educational purposes. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. NFL Career Leaders - Punt Return Touchdowns. The record? Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. While his special teams coach may have been upset, Cobb rewarded him with a dazzling play, using his 4.46-second 40-yard dash time to blaze by the New Orleans Saints defense. Watching Spiller make defenders look like clowns while flying down the field in Clemson's orange unis, it was easy to recall images of Barry Sanders at Oklahoma State. There have been 43 kickoffs returned for a touchdown since Patterson was drafted in 2013. Most episodes include stories from legendary football stars. Kickoff Return Touchdowns Single Season Leaders and Records An asterisk (*) after a player's name indicates bowl stats are included. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Lions coach Dan Campbell said he planned to use Williams as a gunner on punt team in his first NFL game, but the Lions never got the opportunity as the Jacksonville Jaguars failed to force a punt. Twenty-five players in college football history have run two kickoffs back for touchdowns in the same game. Statistics are current through the 2022 NFL season and include stats accrued in NFL, AFL and APFA games. Read more about our data coverage. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. A kickoff return for a touchdown is one of the most exciting plays in football. We do not target any individuals under the age of 21. He is a former college linebacker, a longtime coach and a parent.