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. "Theyre like, 'Well, just throw him back there.' 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. Brandon Jones, who physically looked the part, and Damien Nash were the only two real misses in this class. Find out more. For a quarterback to break East Carolina's Dominique Davis' record of 36 consecutive passes completed, he would have to double Mertz's streak of 17 completions in a row, then complete three additional passes for good measure. He doesn't own any national kick return records, and apparently he only scored six return touchdowns in his college career. But wiping out the kickoff? 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. most games with two kickoff returns for touchdowns, A Brief History of The 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers vs Houston Oilers Rivalry. 14. . Who holds it: John Reaves, Florida, 1969 All rights reserved. In an interview with an Atlanta radio station. And its like, 'Well, yeah, thats good, but what happens when the balls punted to that side of the field, we thought it was going to be over (on the other) side of the field and hes like, 'Oh, (expletive), I got to go over there.' Or write about sports? Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Who holds it: Connor Halliday, Washington State, 2014 Who holds it: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin, 1996-99 A kickoff return for a touchdown is one of the most exciting plays in football. Jameson also has to hold his part and make sure that hes doing everything that he needs to do. 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 . Why its untouchable: Coached by the legendary Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners won two national championships during their record-setting stretch in the mid 1950s. Missouri. I watched him do things in a USC uniform that Marcus Allen, O.J. Welker scored eight touchdowns on punt returns in his career ('00-03), tying the FBS record. Do you have a blog? CLICK HERE, Ranking Titans All-Time Draft Classes, No.4: "It's time for The Freak." 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. But the NCAA told me none of it ever happened, so maybe I was just dreaming. 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. Insane. 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. 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. ', "There's just a difference in there, and that difference makes an exponential difference on the field of play with the whole group.". Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. We do not target any individuals under the age of 21. He is a graduate of Indiana University. Leaders Since 1976 Share & Export 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. I got kick return, too, I would have housed that one.' Find out more. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Bears game on Sunday. 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. 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. (Jones-Drew's 91-yard kickoff return TD in that same game was understandably overshadowed.). Im going to go track that thing down. 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. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Jackson is a pending free agent, while Raymond is coming off the best season of his career. Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS. Consider what we've seen from the most electrifying kick-returners to mark the college football landscape over the past quarter-century. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. We present them here for purely educational purposes. If any quarterback is going to approach this record in the future, hell be another Mike Leach understudy. That's roughly what Nevada's Alex Van Dyke averaged during his two-year career Nevada. College Football at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. NFL Career Leaders - Kickoff Return Touchdowns. Kickoff Return Touchdowns Single Season Leaders and Records An asterisk (*) after a player's name indicates bowl stats are included. We support responsible gambling. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Williams is on par with Cleveland Browns receiver Jakeem Grant as the fastest player he's ever coached. Most episodes include stories from legendary football stars. Here are seven FBS records that (we think) will never be broken. The next year, his Heisman year, Sanders took the opening kickoff in the opening game back 100 yards for a score against Miami-Ohio. So well just see how it goes.". Racked up 1,522 kickoff return yards, 559 punt return yards and four kick-return touchdowns in three seasons. See our list of forfeits and vacated games for more details. 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'. The Cougars simply refused to run the football. Raymond Clayborn (3/1977), 3. Theres no way Im going to let that ball hit the ground. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Detroit Lions RB Jamaal Williams' autograph signing. Contact Dave Birkett atdbirkett@freepress.com. 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. As a junior in 2005, Jones-Drew set the FBS single-season markby averaging 28.5 yards per punt return. As a senior, Keenum was spectacular, throwing 48 touchdowns passes to just five interceptions a ratio of nearly 10:1. Hester danced his way around defenders like a true artistcutting side to side, running backwards, spinning out of tacklesbefore breaking free and taking the ball into the endzone. Four games. If you feel like you're losing control over your gambling experience, call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA, WV), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-888- 532-3500(Virginia) 1-800-522-4700 (NV, TN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO, TN), 1-855-2CALLGA (IL), 1-800-270-7117 (MI). Active players are listed in bold. Hall started running backwards and crossed to the other side of the field, outrunning the entire Broncos unit before heading into the endzone untouched. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions. From there it was a track meetand no one could catch Jones. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. 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. He tossed six touchdown passes in the second quarter of a blowout win over Louisiana Tech in 1991. 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. Find out more. Do you have a sports website? The Game Before the Money Radio Showshared outstanding college football records. The Detroit Lions are reportedly considering using wide receiver Jameson Williams as a returner for the 2023 NFL season. 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. CRYSTAL BALL: 5 predictions for the 2021 college football season, Record: 36 attemptsRecord-holder: Dominique Davis, East CarolinaSeason: 2011. The following are the 2020 NFL team kickoff return statistics. His career punt-return average (23.2) ranks second all-time nationally. 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. Here are 10 current college football records one man at SDS has deemed unbreakable: Who holds it: Oklahoma, from 1953-57 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. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Do you have a blog? Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. You want to see over 100,000 people afraid to move? Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. That will never be topped. Grant, who is six inches shorter than the 6-foot-1 Williams, has made his biggest impact in the NFL as a return man. 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. 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. The truth is, Florida didnt have a second-team quarterback to relieve Reaves of his obvious tragic afternoon on the Plains and let the future first-round pick heave it 66 times during the game. Ismail dashed for 88 yards on that kickoff. 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. Ill be a gunner. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Division III Mount Union's Nate Kmic had 2,790 in 15 games in 2008, compared to Sanders' 12. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. No one on the field noticed except for Bailey, who scooped up the ball and sped down the field completely untouched and unchallenged. Do you have a blog? In 2010, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. 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. It took about two years of post-Rocket recovery before I realized kick return TDs are actually a rare football gift. Keenum was granted a medical hardship in 2010 after tearing a knee ligament, but his five touchdowns over three games prior to injury count. Though I understand the safety concerns, it would be a shame to tear down a stage on which some of college football's most talented players have put in work. As good as Jones-Drew was, UCLA has never seen a return man as dangerous as Antonio Perkins. Cooper wouldve had to post last seasons jaw-dropping numbers three consecutive seasons to pass Insley. During the 2013 campaign at Washington State, Halliday also set a new NCAA record with 89 passing attempts at Oregon. Still, he has breakaway. The touchdown also helped Hester set an NFL record for the most return touchdowns by a player in a single season. You can't knock Schiano for wanting to make the game safer. Follow him on Twitter@davebirkett. Join our linker program. In fact, he only scored two touchdowns in 2001, despite finishing the season with 53 receptions and 737 receiving yards. 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. Another score against Missouri later that year gave Perkins the FBS single-season record for punt return TDs. Do you have a blog? Twenty-five players in college football history have run two kickoffs back for touchdowns in the same game. ), is safe in our opinion. 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. 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. Here's a look at the 2005 draft class and its impact on the team. 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.
