Bears game on Sunday. Who holds it: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin, 1996-99 Who holds it: Case Keenum, Houston, 2007-11 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. Klingler also holds the NCAA mark for most touchdown passes in one game (11). 1 on that list? Schiano, like anybody who cares about football, cares about the welfare of the players. One of his players, Eric LeGrand, remains paralyzed from the neck down today due to an injury suffered on a kickoff last October. I mean, when you talk to him theres one thing I love about him. From there it was a track meetand no one could catch Jones. "Obviously, it would be great to see him back there (as a returner) if thats what his role provides," Fipp said. It's impossible for someone to break Nevada punter Pat Brady's 99-yard punt without having a touchback, and similarly, no player will ever top the record of a 100-yard return of an extra-point attempt, which is held by eight different players. He is a graduate of Indiana University. "Theyre like, 'Well, just throw him back there.' document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Ismails first touchdown return against Michigan was the first kickoff returned for a touchdown against the Wolverines since 1957 over 30 years before Rockets epic launch. The Detroit Lions are reportedly considering using wide receiver Jameson Williams as a returner for the 2023 NFL season. That season, he averaged 19.8 yards per kickoff return and scored three TDs on punt returns. 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. And that really wasn't even his best year as a kick-returner. Division III Mount Union's Nate Kmic had 2,790 in 15 games in 2008, compared to Sanders' 12. Do you have a blog? Kickoff Return Touchdowns Single Season Leaders and Records | College Football at Sports-Reference.com , Google Podcasts, or YouTube. Here are seven FBS records that (we think) will never be broken. Why its untouchable: Houston quarterback David Klinglers single-game FBS passing record of 716 yards stood for nearly 25 years before Halliday, a lesser-known quarterback and Air Raid product, eclipsed the mark last season. 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. Or write about sports? 1990. ', "There's just a difference in there, and that difference makes an exponential difference on the field of play with the whole group.". About Saturday Down South | Ethics and Editorial Standards | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Other Conferences: Big Ten | ACC | Pac-12. 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. We present them here for purely educational purposes. "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. All NFL Teams. Leaders Since 1976 Share & Export Modify, Export & Share Table Get as Excel Workbook Hall was fasthe once recorded a 40-yard dash time of 4.29 secondsand his slender frame at 58, 187 pounds made it easy for him to slip around tacklers. Even as the length of the college football season has increased to 15 games for the teams that advance to the College Football Playoff National Championship, in order for Sanders' record to be broken, it would still require a player who plays for a national finalist to rush for at least 300 yards in one out of every three games in a single season. Find out more. There have been 43 kickoffs returned for a touchdown since Patterson was drafted in 2013. Grant, who is six inches shorter than the 6-foot-1 Williams, has made his biggest impact in the NFL as a return man. By any measure, it was a near-perfect performance and the one incompletion was a dropped pass. That same power, speed and aggressive running style that has made him a superstar every-down back in the NFL made him a lethal returner for UCLA. That dipped last season with 13 returns for 270 yards and 20.8 yards. 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. Some school's results have been altered by retroactive NCAA penalties. Before there was Devin Hester, there was Dante Hall. Ismail said his job was to find a crease, run through it, and make somebody miss. Keenum was granted a medical hardship in 2010 after tearing a knee ligament, but his five touchdowns over three games prior to injury count. NO REGRETS:Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn content even if head coach jobs never materialize. Jackson was one of the NFL's best return men early in his career, but less effective as a returner after taking on a bigger role at receiver. Raghib "Rocket" Ismail Holds Record for Most Games With Two Kickoff Returns for Touchdowns Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 6:41AM. Rushing for 1,500 yards in a season is a terrific accomplishment for a player one likely to earn the player all-conference, if not All-America, honors. But the NCAA told me none of it ever happened, so maybe I was just dreaming. (And the truth is that we could triple dip, quadruple dip, etc., with Sanders because he was that good and set that many records.) Raymond Clayborn (3/1977), 3. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. Both records have since been broken. Kick return touchdown in the Super Bowldoes it get any more exciting than that? 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. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Record: Four gamesRecord-holder: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma StateSeason: 1988. Travis Etienne. A kickoff return for a touchdown is one of the most exciting plays in football. He finished his college career ('03-05)averaging 25.5 yards per kickoff return and 15.6 per punt return, with six return touchdowns. The following is a list of the NFL career kickoff return leaders ranked by kickoff return touchdowns. Theres no way Im going to let that ball hit the ground. Because when I was a kid, he was the guy who made me think returners were supposed to take punts and kickoffs back for touchdowns on a regular basis. 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. NFL Kick Returns for Touchdown Single Game Leaders All-Time Kick Returns for Touchdown Leaders Build your own custom leaderboards with Stathead Football. Lions' brass has a plan. Why its untouchable: Insley, the NCAAs all-time receiving yards leader, managed just 574 yards as a freshman in 1996 before exploding for 4,431 yards and 30 touchdowns over his final three seasons. Here's a look at the 2005 draft class and its impact on the team. It'd be like turning a demolition crew on the Apollo Theater. Twenty-five players in college football history have run two kickoffs back for touchdowns in the same game. I expected him to score every time he touched the ball. Ouch. One of the most controversial endings in college football history, Colorado scored a last second touchdown on the last play of the game on mistakenly-given . Howard, the 1991 Heisman trophy winner, is the only return man to win the Super Bowl MVP. The score set records for the longest kickoff return and longest play in Super Bowl history. Thomas is a member of both the College Football and NFL Hall of Fame. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. It was potentially a perfect storm of a conference (Big 12) and its offensive philosophy (the air raid and spread offenses), a startling lack of defense (each team finished with 854 yards of offense) and two special quarterbacks. Kickoff Return Touchdowns Career Leaders and Records | College Football at Sports-Reference.com Kickoff Return Touchdowns Career Leaders and Records An asterisk (*) after a player's name indicates bowl stats are included. Javier owns the SEC career record with seven punt-return touchdowns, averaging 14.0 yards per punt return and 24.1 yards per kickoff return. "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. As a senior, Keenum was spectacular, throwing 48. Perkins wasn't ridiculously fast, but he mastered the art of being elusive in tight spaces. Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp is open to the idea of incorporating Williams into a return role, and Williams himself has expressed . As a junior in 2005, Jones-Drew set the FBS single-season markby averaging 28.5 yards per punt return. He took a kickoff in his own end zone with 4:31 . The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Career Leaders. 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. Notre Dame beat Michigan 24-19 on that day in a battle of the nations top two ranked teams. All rights reserved. (Looking at you, Liberty quarterback Malik Willis, Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder, and Ohio State wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.). Welker scored eight touchdowns on punt returns in his career ('00-03), tying the FBS record. Both of Ismails kickoffs returned for touchdowns were in the second half, the first coming on the second-half kickoff. All rights reserved. Patterson somehow broke through the throng of tacklers and then it became a track meetand he won. After a punt from the New Orleans Saints landed into the endzone, it appeared that the ball was going to bounce out of bounds, causing a touchback to the 20-yard linebut it didnt. We present them here for purely educational purposes. It took about two years of post-Rocket recovery before I realized kick return TDs are actually a rare football gift. Brown probably wouldn't have become the first receiver to win the Heisman (1987) without his contributions on special teams. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Ten players have done that in NFL history. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Could Top QB Fall To The Titans? 4-ranked Auburn Tigers (10-1, 6-1 in the SEC). For a few years in the early 2000s with the Kansas City Chiefs, Hall electrified the NFL with his dynamic speed and hard-to-believe kick and punt returns. O.J . Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Do you have a blog? Ron Brown (3/1985), 3. Simpson, Charles White and Anthony Davis wouldn't have imagined. The following is a list of the NFL career punt return leaders ranked by punt return touchdowns. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. 1 spot on this list? 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'. So its always an accountability factor on both sides, but we expect big things from him.". Who holds it: Derrick Thomas, Alabama, 1988 With just the kicker to beat, Washington pulled a fantastic stutter step to put him to the ground and ran his way into the endzone. 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. The team that would now be kicking off would have the option: They could punt the ball or they could go for it. Ten players have done that in NFL history. 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. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. The Yellow Jackets posted two 63-point quarters in the first half during a beating that will never be forgotten. But others, at least on the surface, appear untouchable. The record? 2,850 rushing yards is more than anyone's ever gained at any level of college or pro football. Rossum played 12 years in the NFL, where he made the Pro Bowl as a return specialist and ranks second all-time in combined kick return yardage. Feel free to disagree because that's part of what this is about. Start the video below at 1:11 for the amazing return. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. As a senior in 1997, Rossum finished fourth nationally in kickoff-return average; as a junior he led the country in punt-return average. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Jackson is a pending free agent, while Raymond is coming off the best season of his career. After a final lateralmaking for eight laterals in totalall the way across to the opposite side field, the Hurricanes took the ball up the sideline and found wide open space, scoring the game-winning touchdown. 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. The Lane College alum ratcheted up his speed at the 15-yard line and bursted through a small seam in between the 49ers special teams front line. Active players are listed in bold. Ismail dashed for 88 yards on that kickoff. NFL Career Leaders - Kickoff Return Touchdowns. There have been some amazing kick and punt returns in football over the years, here are the best of the best. Their role on special teams is more influenced by offense and defense than it is on what he can do on teams.". 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. 1 Georgia Tech trampled Cumberland Gap (Tenn.) 222-0 in 1916 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. Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn content even if head coach jobs never materialize, Brad Holmes: 'I don't think the cupboard's bare on defense'. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Williams is on par with Cleveland Browns receiver Jakeem Grant as the fastest player he's ever coached. Join our linker program. Well, in this case, its probably a good idea that Jones didnt listen to that advice. You could still try to maintain possession of the ball. Jameson also has to hold his part and make sure that hes doing everything that he needs to do. The option to go for it would replace the onside kickoff. Adams took one step back after receiving the kick and seemingly had nowhere to go as he got close to the right sidelinethree Tennessee tacklers got right in his facebut instead of giving up, he changed direction and ran backwards (something coaches say never to do on punt returns). MORE FROM THE COMBINE:Brad Holmes: 'I don't think the cupboard's bare on defense'. 5. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. 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. The Minnesota Vikings receiver was literally as far back into the endzone as he could be on an NFL field when he received this kickoff against the Green Bay Packers. The Irish victory at Michigan in front of over 105,000 fans made Norte Dame the first school to defeat Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler in three straight seasons. KEY: Gms = Games Played, Num = Kickoff Returns, Yds = Kickoff Return Yards, Avg = Kickoff Return Average, Lg = Longest Kickoff Return, TD = Kickoff Return Touchdowns, Yds/G = Kickoff Return Yards Per Game. As a sophomore, he led the nation in kickoff return yards with 442, while averaging 31.6 yards per return. 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. Devin Hester (Miami) 11 of 15 Jamie. The football gods skipped over this game pitting the nations best team against a small college from Tennessee at legendary Grant Field and let the bloodletting continue for four horrific quarters. 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. Offenses rarely get six possessions in a quarter, much less time to throw it to the end zone six different times. In fact, he only scored two touchdowns in 2001, despite finishing the season with 53 receptions and 737 receiving yards. Hester blew through an open lane to go basically untouched into the endzonehigh-stepping his way in all the way from the 20-yard line. As a senior, he won the Mosi Tatupu Award as the nation's top special teams player. Four games. Reaves led the SEC in passing yards and attempts all three seasons in Gainesville and is the leagues all-time leader in interceptions thrown with 59. In 1988, "Prime Time" led the nation in punt-return average and left FSU as the school's all-time leader in punt return yards. But to do so in just five games is potentially unsustainable, and that's why Sanders' record, amid a season in which he rushed for 2,628 yards in just 11 games (! 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. The longtime NFL cornerback made everyone look like a fool on this play while he was playing with the Los Angeles Rams. In the famous UCLA game, on his first punt return, he made about four or five moves in a five-yard area before finding daylight. Daynes record is safe. Burleson's effort against San Jose State ranks tied for eighth all-time in single-game receiving yards and yet, he never made it to the end zone. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. 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. 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. Enter your information to receive emails about offers, promotions from NCAA.com and our partners. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Greg Arias covers the Tennessee Titans for All Titans.com on Sports Illustrated/FanNation. Talk about making an impact in your NFL debut. The longtime Chicago Bears return man forced teams to think hard about kicking him the ballhis electrifying speed and agility made him arguably the best kick returner of all time. Hall backpedaled as he caught a booming punt, and then proceeded to embarrass the entire special teams unitHall was nearly consumed by three Broncos players, but he juked in and out of the way to avoid them.