That's roughly what Nevada's Alex Van Dyke averaged during his two-year career Nevada. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. In the 2020 season, Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz completed his first 17 pass attempts in the Badgers' season-opener against Illinois as he finished 20-for-21 passing for 248 yards and five touchdowns. Kick return touchdown in the Super Bowldoes it get any more exciting than that? Like sports history? 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. It'd be like turning a demolition crew on the Apollo Theater. + Indicates Hall of Famer, season age in parentheses, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Friday, March 3, 2:32PM. Start the video below at 1:11 for the amazing return. Why its untouchable: The NCAA didnt start collecting sacks as an official FBS statistic until 2000, but were putting Thomas insane number of 27 quarterback faceplants with the Crimson Tide in 1988 inside the Top 10. 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. Record: Four gamesRecord-holder: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma StateSeason: 1988. In 2010, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Not that the Red Raiders' notoriously potent offense needed help putting points on the board, but Welker was an extra threat to score any time he fielded a kick. 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. Return to Top; Players. 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. 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. For his career, he scored six times on kick returns. INDIANAPOLIS The Detroit Lions are making big plans to get more out of explosive wide receiver Jameson Williams next season, and that could include using him on returns. Howard, the 1991 Heisman trophy winner, is the only return man to win the Super Bowl MVP. Do you have a blog? Recruited to play defensive back and run track, Ginn made an immediate impact with the ball, leading the nation in punt return average (25.6) as a freshman and scoring four touchdowns. And his most memorable returna 91-yard dash with one minute left in the 1991 Orange Bowl that (would have) dashed Colorado's national championshipdidn't even count due to a clipping penalty. Offenses rarely get six possessions in a quarter, much less time to throw it to the end zone six different times. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Williams is on par with Cleveland Browns receiver Jakeem Grant as the fastest player he's ever coached. Contact Dave Birkett
[email protected]. There have been 43 kickoffs returned for a touchdown since Patterson was drafted in 2013. 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. New Mock Thinks It Possible: CJ Stroud falls to Titans at No.6 overall in a trade-up scenario. 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. Williams returned two kicks for touchdowns in his one season at Alabama, when he averaged 35.2 yards on 10 kick returns. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Travis Etienne. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. Bears game on Sunday. Ismail dashed for 88 yards on that kickoff. Ginn visited the end zone four more times on kick returns over the next three seasonsincluding taking the opening kickoff back 92 yards in the 2007 BCS National Championship Gameand finished his career as the Big Ten's all-time leader in punt-return touchdowns. Please see our Contributors and Sources page for data source details. Beforehis breakout Heisman season (1988), Barry played backup to Thurman Thomas and made his mark on special teams. He doesn't own any national kick return records, and apparently he only scored six return touchdowns in his college career. You should have watched the Ohio Stadium crowd any time Ted Ginn Jr. went back to field a kick. This Big 12 shootout, which ended in a 66-59 win for Oklahoma, featured a future NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion(Mahomes) and a future Heisman Trophy winner and No. most kickoff return touchdowns in one game Kene Nwangwu, Cordarrelle Pattersonand Devin Duvernayare tied for the most kick-return touchdowns in a game this season, with 1 touchdown. Consider what we've seen from the most electrifying kick-returners to mark the college football landscape over the past quarter-century. All NFL TeamsNFL All NFL TeamsNFL Catch up on DI women's conference tourneys, There are a handful of FBS records and milestones that could be broken and reached this season, respectively. No one will forget the Heisman pose after the 93-yard punt return TD against Ohio State, but they also shouldn't forget the body of work that led to Howard's defining moment. The record? 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. 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. SEC Women's Basketball Tournament action suspended due to weather delay, Alabama basketball adds commitment from 4-star forward, 2 SEC players named to late-season watch list for Oscar Robertson Player of the Year Trophy, Bruce Pearl tosses headset during radio interview after Auburn-Alabama game, Overrated? 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. 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. So why is "Rocket" holding down the No. 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. He finished his college career ('03-05)averaging 25.5 yards per kickoff return and 15.6 per punt return, with six return touchdowns. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. 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. Schiano, like anybody who cares about football, cares about the welfare of the players. All rights reserved. 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. Of course, some records are literally unbreakable. But even if he'd been stopped for 10- and 12-yard gains every time, surely he'd find some way to remain memorable. CLICK HERE. The best kick-returners have a knack for making big plays in big games. Enter your information to receive emails about offers, promotions from NCAA.com and our partners. 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. Why its untouchable: Youve got to feel for Reaves, the Gators errant passer who tossed nine completions to the opposing defense at Auburn in 1969. Who holds it: Derrick Thomas, Alabama, 1988 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. These opinions are mine and mine alone. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Join our linker program. Those gargantuan numbers would only be approached within a pass-happy offense with literally two or fewer reliable targets. 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. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. For those that don't know, a kick return touchdown is when the kickoff retu. 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. Keenums NCAA record of 1,546 career completions also wont be touched. 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. Who holds it: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin, 1996-99 Welker scored eight touchdowns on punt returns in his career ('00-03), tying the FBS record. 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. Here are seven FBS records that (we think) will never be broken. "Hes done it. 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. We support responsible gambling. Record: 326 yardsRecord-holder: Nate Burleson, NevadaSeason: 2001. I expected him to score every time he touched the ball. Cordarrelle Patterson was tied for the most kick return touchdowns in NFL history entering Week 11 of the 2022 season. We do not target any individuals under the age of 21. Record: Six passesRecord-holder: Brooks Dawson, UTEPSeason: 1967. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. 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 . It shouldn't include Jalen Ramsey. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Ten players have done that in NFL history. 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. Roos and Stewart were bookend tackles throughout their career, and it's not often a team finds a pair of starting offensive tackles in the same draft. Why its untouchable: Coached by the legendary Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners won two national championships during their record-setting stretch in the mid 1950s. Their role on special teams is more influenced by offense and defense than it is on what he can do on teams.". That same season, his best game came in week 15 against Jacksonville, where he had an 83-yard interception return for a score, a 70-yard kick return, and broke up a touchdown pass to save the game. It takes speed to return kicks well, but it also takes field vision, anticipation, agility, and some video game-like juke moves. No. His 27.6 yards per kickoff and 13.6 yards per punt-return averages were solid but not eye-popping. 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. Build your own custom leaderboards with Stathead Football. (Looking at you, Liberty quarterback Malik Willis, Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder, and Ohio State wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.). The team that would now be kicking off would have the option: They could punt the ball or they could go for it. Do you have a sports website? Brown probably wouldn't have become the first receiver to win the Heisman (1987) without his contributions on special teams. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. There have been some amazing kick and punt returns in football over the years, here are the best of the best. Or write about sports? Another score against Missouri later that year gave Perkins the FBS single-season record for punt return TDs. Keenum was granted a medical hardship in 2010 after tearing a knee ligament, but his five touchdowns over three games prior to injury count.