Interpreted as: most kickoff return touchdowns by a playerin one regular-seasongame this season Every Kick Return Touchdown of the 2020 College Football Season New Mock Thinks It Possible: CJ Stroud falls to Titans at No.6 overall in a trade-up scenario. 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. A kickoff return for a touchdown is one of the most exciting plays in football. The following is a list of the NFL career punt return leaders ranked by punt return touchdowns. It is the most violent, video-friendly, terrifying, electrifying, dangerous and dramatic play in football. 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. Here's a look at the 2005 draft class and its impact on the team. Interview quotes are usually edited for length and clarity. 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. Career Leaders. Still, he has breakaway. 4-ranked Auburn Tigers (10-1, 6-1 in the SEC). 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. 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 (! 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. Check out The Game Before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL available at Amazon.comBarnes and NobleUniversity of Nebraska Press. I sat in awe, refreshing ESPN.coms GameTracker last season after every carry from Melvin Gordon, waiting on Wisconsins star running back to surpass the 400-yard barrier and inch closer to Ladainian Tomlinsons all-time mark. 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. Rocket Ismails record of most games with two kickoff returns for touchdowns set in 1989 still stands today. Josh Cribbs (3/2009), Sports Reference Baseball Football(college) Basketball(college) Hockey Ftbol Blog Stathead Questions or Comments? Join our linker program. A kickoff return for a touchdown is one of the most exciting plays in football. It'd be like turning a demolition crew on the Apollo Theater. 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. On Wednesday, Lions general manager Brad Holmes praised Williams' "rare talent, rare ability (and) serious passion for the game," and said the team was "expecting big things" from last year's No. The Detroit Lions are reportedly considering using wide receiver Jameson Williams as a returner for the 2023 NFL season. 'Be a gunner? Offenses rarely get six possessions in a quarter, much less time to throw it to the end zone six different times. The Cougars simply refused to run the football. Thomas is a member of both the College Football and NFL Hall of Fame. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. I expected him to score every time he touched the ball. The 11 Best Kick Return Touchdowns in Football History - Men's Journal NFL Career Leaders - Punt Return Touchdowns. Missouri. Brown probably wouldn't have become the first receiver to win the Heisman (1987) without his contributions on special teams. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Williams is on par with Cleveland Browns receiver Jakeem Grant as the fastest player he's ever coached. "Hes done it. Some school's results have been altered by retroactive NCAA penalties. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Whether it be a kickoff return or a punt return, football players put their amazing athletic ability on display as they weave in and out of tacklers, rushing down the field after receiving a kick. College Football at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. Statistics are current through the 2022 NFL season and include stats accrued in NFL, AFL and APFA games. Hester may not be the fastest person to ever play football, but I don't think I've seen anybody run faster on a football field. Record: Four gamesRecord-holder: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma StateSeason: 1988. Weaving through traffic and toeing the sidelines in ways that would make Kyle Busch and Cris Carter smile, Javier showed anybody who watched him serve four years ('06-09) as Alabama's home run threat that he is more than just Gilbert Arenas' little cousin. Travis Williams (4/1967), 3. Who holds it: No. Hundreds waited in line for Jamaal Williams to sign autographs at DC Sports on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. 20 college football teams we aren't sold on in 2023, SEC Basketball Power Rankings: Mizzou shocks Tennessee, Alabama downs Auburn and more, SEC Basketball Power Rankings: Alabama stays unbeaten in SEC play, Tennessee outlasts Auburn and more, SEC Basketball Power Rankings: A new top team emerges, Alabama loses in blowout fashion, Mizzou lights it up again. Notre Dame beat Michigan 24-19 on that day in a battle of the nations top two ranked teams. 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? 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. As a West Coast resident and Pac-10 fan, I watched Reggie Bush do some incredible things. Twenty-six players have one, five players have two, and Patterson has seven, a total that accounts for. 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. Two TD Kickoff Returns in One Game | The Game Before the Money 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. Build your own custom leaderboards with Stathead Football. But scan through the FBS record book and you'll find other records in the highest level of college football that are likely so untouchable either due to rule changes and the evolution of the game, or due to a flash of brilliance (or the opposite of brilliance) that we think they'll stand in the history books forever. We support responsible gambling. 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. 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. He'd find the seam, hit the seam and just out-sprint the coverage like they were wearing snow shoes. + Indicates Hall of Famer, season age in parentheses, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Friday, March 3, 2:32PM. He is a graduate of Indiana University. Andy Wittry has written for Stadium, SI.com, Sporting News, the Indianapolis Star, Louisville Courier-Journal and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. NCAA Individual Records for Scoring | College Football at Sports Consider what we've seen from the most electrifying kick-returners to mark the college football landscape over the past quarter-century. 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. Do you have a sports website? Jameson also has to hold his part and make sure that hes doing everything that he needs to do. 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. He ran for 92 yards on the second touchdown. (Looking at you, Liberty quarterback Malik Willis, Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder, and Ohio State wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.). We do not target any individuals under the age of 21. 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. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. 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. Except C.J. Over the past eight months, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano has become the public face of a movement to eliminate the kickoff from college football. Again, that's with Kmic playing in 3 more games. For his career, he scored six times on kick returns. "Obviously, it would be great to see him back there (as a returner) if thats what his role provides," Fipp said. Do you have a blog? (And the truth is that we could triple dip, quadruple dip, etc., with Sanders because he was that good and set that many records.) Elite running backs rarely play four seasons in todays game where the shelf life for ballcarriers has diminished and players arent often asked to carry it 30 times-plus every Saturday to save tread. Williams missed most of last season due to an ACL injury but is expected to be fully healthy by the start of the next season. 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. 7 college football records *we think* will never be broken 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. As good as Jones-Drew was, UCLA has never seen a return man as dangerous as Antonio Perkins. Grant, who is six inches shorter than the 6-foot-1 Williams, has made his biggest impact in the NFL as a return man. 2,850 rushing yards is more than anyone's ever gained at any level of college or pro football. Most kick return TDs in NFL history: Falcons' Cordarrelle Patterson 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. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Green Bay Packers wideout Randall Cobb was anxious to get his pro career startedso anxious that he brought out a kickoff after receiving it eight yards deep in the end zone. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. College Football at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles; We're Social.for Statheads . The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. 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. Build your own custom leaderboards with Stathead Football. 2023 NFL combine: Current drill record-holders and candidates to break Detroit Lions RB Jamaal Williams' autograph signing. 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. 1 Georgia Tech trampled Cumberland Gap (Tenn.) 222-0 in 1916 Bears game on Sunday. 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. There have been some amazing kick and punt returns in football over the years, here are the best of the best. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. So its always an accountability factor on both sides, but we expect big things from him.". Adams slipped through a couple tackles and appeared to be at a dead end againbut with blazing speed he darted up the sideline and got a key block, sending him straight towards the end zone with nearly the entire Tennessee team chasing him, but all coming up short. 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. In 2010, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. 3 running back Justin Jackson as their top kick returner last season. See our list of forfeits and vacated games for more details. Twenty-five players in college football history have run two kickoffs back for touchdowns in the same game. Theres no way Im going to let that ball hit the ground. Or write about sports? 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. 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. You could still try to maintain possession of the ball. + Indicates Hall of Famer, season age in parentheses, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Friday, March 3, 2:32PM. The return marked the longest punt return touchdown in NFL history. Brian Mitchell, the three-time All-Pro who, interestingly enough, never once returned a punt or kickoff in college. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. 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. 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. 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. Active players are listed in bold. 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. The Human Joystick made video-game like moves on the field and one of his most impressive returns came against the Denver Broncos in 2003the same season in which he set a record by returning a kickoff or a punt for a touchdown four games in a row. Michigan State must replace All-American punter and fix disastrous Insane. In this post, we talk about kickoff returns for touchdowns. It would take a dynamic talent like Randy Moss, who was interested in playing four seasons, to come close. 46. In fact, he only scored two touchdowns in 2001, despite finishing the season with 53 receptions and 737 receiving yards. I got kick return, too, I would have housed that one.' 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. Whether it's football, fashion or just breathing, it's tough to make any "Most Electrifying" list without including Deion. Top 10 returning college football players to score special - 247Sports Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Good luck figuring out exactly what happened in November 2001 and why. NASHVILLE - It's time to reveal our No.3 class in the top-ten draft classes of the Titans history countdown. Cordarrelle Patterson Is the Kick Return King and the Last - The Ringer The guy loves playing. Ron Brown (3/1985), 3. Contact Dave Birkett atdbirkett@freepress.com. A compilation of every kick return touchdown of the 2021 college football season. Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp embraced the idea of incorporating Williams into a return role next season, when the team expects him fully healthy after missing most of last season while rehabbing from a torn ACL. Williams returned two kicks for touchdowns in his one season at Alabama, when he averaged 35.2 yards on 10 kick returns. 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. Read more about our data coverage. 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. I mean, when you talk to him theres one thing I love about him. Gordons incredible 408-yard performance through three quarters, no less against Nebraska was short-lived. Mitchell was a full-time quarterback at Louisiana-Lafayette. These opinions are mine and mine alone. 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. Some school's results have been altered by retroactive NCAA penalties. 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. Washington took the kick from one yard inside the endzone and proceeded to juke his way past the front line of the Chargers special teams unit. Join our linker program. Who holds it: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin, 1996-99 Officially, Arizona States Terrell Suggs holds the NCAAs single-season record with 24 sacks in 2002. Who holds it: Trevor Insley, 1996-99 So well just see how it goes.". One of the college football's best receivers in 2021, Williams. The University of Miami alum was in his first season of the NFL, and he made the Rams pay for kicking him the ball. There have been 43 kickoffs returned for a touchdown since Patterson was drafted in 2013. As a senior in 1997, Rossum finished fourth nationally in kickoff-return average; as a junior he led the country in punt-return average. If any quarterback is going to approach this record in the future, hell be another Mike Leach understudy. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Do you have a blog? Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Another score against Missouri later that year gave Perkins the FBS single-season record for punt return TDs. No one on the field noticed except for Bailey, who scooped up the ball and sped down the field completely untouched and unchallenged. Like, 'Damn, I dont think I got that in me right now,' as opposed to the guy whos coming off the bench and like, 'Dude, I just want to play right now. Keenums NCAA record of 1,546 career completions also wont be touched. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Here are seven FBS records that (we think) will never be broken. Kickoff Return Touchdowns Single Season Leaders and Records | College Football at Sports-Reference.com , Google Podcasts, or YouTube. Listen to The Game Before the Money Podcast! Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS. ruled that the play should have been blown dead. The return went for 109 yards, setting a record for the longest play in NFL history. Raghib Rocket Ismail from Notre Dame returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in a 1988 game against Rice. Davis' record stretched across back-to-back games against Memphis and Navy (he completed his first 26 attempts against the Midshipmen), and given the number of passes Davis completed in a row, it would likely force a potential record-breaker to complete 37 or more passes against two different opponents, which means two different schemes and opposing rosters to diagnose and dominate. Lions' brass has a plan. 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. He doesn't own any national kick return records, and apparently he only scored six return touchdowns in his college career. "It's hard to ask a guy to do all those things at a really high level, and people dont realize that," Fipp said. Only twice since the turn of the century has a team surpassed 30 or more straight wins USC and Miami. Enter your information to receive emails about offers, promotions from NCAA.com and our partners. Beforehis breakout Heisman season (1988), Barry played backup to Thurman Thomas and made his mark on special teams. But even if he'd been stopped for 10- and 12-yard gains every time, surely he'd find some way to remain memorable.