In an interview with an Atlanta radio station last week, he again laid out his proposal: "Instead of having a kickoff, every place where you would have a kickoff now, you would put in place a 4th-and-15 situation. 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. "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. The following is a list of the NFL career kickoff return leaders ranked by kickoff return touchdowns. But even if he'd been stopped for 10- and 12-yard gains every time, surely he'd find some way to remain memorable. The following are the 2020 NFL team kickoff return statistics. "Hes done it. Active players are listed in bold. Again, that's with Kmic playing in 3 more games. 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'. CLICK HERE. Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp is open to the idea of incorporating Williams into a return role, and Williams himself has expressed . Or write about sports? ), is safe in our opinion. 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. 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. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. 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. 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. Cordarrelle Patterson was tied for the most kick return touchdowns in NFL history entering Week 11 of the 2022 season. 44 touchdowns are tied with Kmic for the most ever and ahead of anyone else in NCAA history. Could Top QB Fall To The Titans? New Mock Thinks It Possible: CJ Stroud falls to Titans at No.6 overall in a trade-up scenario. 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. Record: 326 yardsRecord-holder: Nate Burleson, NevadaSeason: 2001. One college player tops everybody in this category because he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns twice! Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Andy Wittry has written for Stadium, SI.com, Sporting News, the Indianapolis Star, Louisville Courier-Journal and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Talk about making an impact in your NFL debut. Ron Brown (3/1985), 3. Learn how your comment data is processed. During the 2013 campaign at Washington State, Halliday also set a new NCAA record with 89 passing attempts at Oregon. All NFL TeamsNFL All NFL TeamsNFL Join our linker program. Here are seven FBS records that (we think) will never be broken. Insane. 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. UTEP quarterback Brooks Dawson once threw a touchdown pass on six consecutive attempts against New Mexico and what makes it really unbreakable is that he started the game 6-for-6 with six touchdowns. 14. . Both of Ismails kickoffs returned for touchdowns were in the second half, the first coming on the second-half kickoff. The Hurricanes star did some impressive work in the NFL, but his best return ever might be from his days at The U. Hesters return against Duke was like a work of artif there were a museum honoring returns in football, this one might be considered the Mona Lisa of punt returns. Those gargantuan numbers would only be approached within a pass-happy offense with literally two or fewer reliable targets. Like, he wants to do everything. In 2019, Wright finished with 10 returns for 380 yards, 38 yards per return and two touchdowns. After receiving the pooch kick at their own 25-yard line, Miami started lateraling the ball to keep it alive, eventually getting all the way back to their own 3-yard line before making their way upfield again. An asterisk (*) after a player's name indicates bowl stats are included.Read more about our data coverage. Keenum was granted a medical hardship in 2010 after tearing a knee ligament, but his five touchdowns over three games prior to injury count. Some school's results have been altered by retroactive NCAA penalties. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Start the video below at 1:11 for the amazing return. Brian Mitchell, the three-time All-Pro who, interestingly enough, never once returned a punt or kickoff in college. Interview quotes are usually edited for length and clarity. Jameson also has to hold his part and make sure that hes doing everything that he needs to do. He is a graduate of Indiana University. Join our linker program. 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. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. That season, he averaged 19.8 yards per kickoff return and scored three TDs on punt returns. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. + Indicates Hall of Famer, season age in parentheses, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Friday, March 3, 2:32PM. 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. Lions' brass has a plan. He made everybody miss twice against Michigan. I expected him to score every time he touched the ball. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Missouri. Who holds it: Houston offense led by QB Andre Ware in 1990 Division III Mount Union's Nate Kmic had 2,790 in 15 games in 2008, compared to Sanders' 12. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. 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. 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. But we're putting these types of records off to the side, because they're unbreakable based on the size of the playing field and the rules of the game. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. 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. 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. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. I mean, when you talk to him theres one thing I love about him. 2022 The Game Before the Money All Rights Reserved. Have we mentioned this guys pretty good at returning kicks? As a senior, Keenum was spectacular, throwing 48. 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. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. 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. From there it was a track meetand no one could catch Jones. As a West Coast resident and Pac-10 fan, I watched Reggie Bush do some incredible things. That will never be topped. 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. (Looking at you, Liberty quarterback Malik Willis, Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder, and Ohio State wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.). Most episodes include stories from legendary football stars. Statistics are current through the 2022 NFL season and include stats accrued in NFL, AFL and APFA games. 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. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. 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. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Of course, some records are literally unbreakable. As a senior, he won the Mosi Tatupu Award as the nation's top special teams player. NFL Career Leaders - Kickoff Return Touchdowns. There have been 43 kickoffs returned for a touchdown since Patterson was drafted in 2013. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. 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. 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. He has been covering the NFL for various outlets since 2000. 3 running back Justin Jackson as their top kick returner last season. He took a kickoff in his own end zone with 4:31 . Some records are meant to be broken. He ran for 92 yards on the second touchdown. 1 spot on this list? Record: 1,383 passing yardsRecord-holder: Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech (819 yards) and Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma (564 yards)Season: 2016. 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). Enter your information to receive emails about offers, promotions from NCAA.com and our partners. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Who holds it: Case Keenum, Houston, 2007-11 CLICK HERE, Ranking Titans All-Time Draft Classes, No.4: "It's time for The Freak." 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. The option to go for it would replace the onside kickoff. No. "Obviously, it would be great to see him back there (as a returner) if thats what his role provides," Fipp said. Kickoff Return Touchdowns Single Season Leaders and Records An asterisk (*) after a player's name indicates bowl stats are included. was better than Barry when it came to returning kicks. Thomas is a member of both the College Football and NFL Hall of Fame. Klingler also holds the NCAA mark for most touchdown passes in one game (11). Follow him on Twitter@davebirkett. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. Return to Top; Players. (And the truth is that we could triple dip, quadruple dip, etc., with Sanders because he was that good and set that many records.) In order for this record to fall and reminder, this is two brothers and even a family with three active FBS running backs would struggle to best the Sanders' combined total it would likely take a pair of brothers to each make a run at a 2,000-yard season in the same season. 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. The Cougars simply refused to run the football. Both records have since been broken. As a freshman in just his second game for the Hurricanes, against rival Florida, Hester took the opening kickoff 98 yards to the house. 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. Good luck figuring out exactly what happened in November 2001 and why. Check out The Game Before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL available at Amazon.comBarnes and NobleUniversity of Nebraska Press. That's not happening. 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. 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. Kick return touchdown in the Super Bowldoes it get any more exciting than that? + 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. 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. A kickoff return for a touchdown is one of the most exciting plays in football. Attaboy, Leach. 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. The raw video game-like numbers nearly 20,000 yards passing and 155 touchdowns jump off the page. We're going to double dip with Barry Sanders but this time it's a family affair. Williams returned two kicks for touchdowns in his one season at Alabama, when he averaged 35.2 yards on 10 kick returns. 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. Who holds it: Connor Halliday, Washington State, 2014 And that wasn't even the most impressive part of the return. Record: Four gamesRecord-holder: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma StateSeason: 1988. 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. 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. 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. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 6:41AM. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. It was reported that Georgia Tech coach John Heisman didnt let up after Cumberland Gap had beaten the Yellow Jackets in baseball, 22-0, earlier that year. To start things off, Jones commited what many special teams coaches say is the biggest mistake for all return mendont take the ball out of the endzone if you catch it over five yards deep. His 65-yard catch-and-run score against Kansas State, 82-yard punt return touchdown against Texas Tech, and 80-yard jet sweep touchdown in 2022 are plenty of evidence that he could rewrite the . 2,850 rushing yards is more than anyone's ever gained at any level of college or pro football. 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. Raghib Rocket Ismail from Notre Dame returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in a 1988 game against Rice. His career punt-return average (23.2) ranks second all-time nationally. 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 (! 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. Except C.J. 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. 4-ranked Auburn Tigers (10-1, 6-1 in the SEC). For his career, he scored six times on kick returns. Heisman Trophy, Walter Camp Award, Doak Walker Award, AP and Sporting News Player of the Year. Find out more. 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. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. 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. Making the play even more amazing: The Saints basically had Cobb wrapped up, but he was able to spin out, flipping nearly upside downbreaking multiple tackles along the way to the Packers win in his first-ever NFL game. Join our linker program. I watched him do things in a USC uniform that Marcus Allen, O.J. It would take a dynamic talent like Randy Moss, who was interested in playing four seasons, to come close. As a sophomore, he led the nation in kickoff return yards with 442, while averaging 31.6 yards per return. Ismail said his job was to find a crease, run through it, and make somebody miss. All rights reserved. Keenums NCAA record of 1,546 career completions also wont be touched. 46. Here are 10 current college football records one man at SDS has deemed unbreakable: Who holds it: Oklahoma, from 1953-57 Most games scoring two or more touchdowns, season. 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. All rights reserved. The return went for 109 yards, setting a record for the longest play in NFL history. 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. Contact Dave Birkett atdbirkett@freepress.com. So why is "Rocket" holding down the No. You could still try to maintain possession of the ball. 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. 1990. 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. Some might argue how much of a hit Jones really was, but he produced on the field, and if he had spent his off-field time as efficiently, who knows where he might rank with the all-time greats of the game. The touchdown also helped Hester set an NFL record for the most return touchdowns by a player in a single season. The score marked the first time an opening kickoff was returned for a touchdown in Super Bowl history. 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. Hester took the opening kickoff from his own 10-yard line and darted through the first wave of would-be tacklers with a fantastic juke step, and he was offHester made it 90 yards before anyone on the Colts touched him, but by then he was already in the endzone. In 2010, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He left Oklahoma as the school's career leader in punt return yards and tied Wes Welker and Ted Ginn Jr. for the FBS career record with eight total kick return touchdowns. And before Hester made his name in the biggest game by returning the opening kickoff for a TD in Super Bowl XLI, he showed similarly great timing in college. But the NCAA told me none of it ever happened, so maybe I was just dreaming. Do you have a blog? The Game Before the Money Radio Showshared outstanding college football records. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? By any measure, it was a near-perfect performance and the one incompletion was a dropped pass. Jacoby Jones has had a few standout returns in his career, and this one against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII might be his most impressive. 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