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. 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. 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 (! The notion of putting up "video-game numbers" can be overstated at times, but a stat line like that to start a game is something you're far more likely to find in an arcade or a friend's basement than on the gridiron in an actual FBS game. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. Some school's results have been altered by retroactive NCAA penalties. Travis Williams (4/1967), 3. 44 touchdowns are tied with Kmic for the most ever and ahead of anyone else in NCAA history. 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. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Williams is on par with Cleveland Browns receiver Jakeem Grant as the fastest player he's ever coached. Those gargantuan numbers would only be approached within a pass-happy offense with literally two or fewer reliable targets. It's almost unfathomable to see a stat line of 12 receptions, 326 yards, 27.2 yards per reception andzero touchdowns. . For those that don't know, a kick return touchdown is when the kickoff retu. 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. Interpreted as: most kickoff return touchdowns by a playerin one regular-seasongame this season On one September day in 2003, Perkins tortured the Bruins for 277 yards on seven punt returns, scoring touchdowns from65, 74 and 84 yards out. With the game still tied between these two top-10 teams, Cam Newton did what he did best in 2010, take over a game with a game changing play. The score marked the first time an opening kickoff was returned for a touchdown in Super Bowl history. 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. Some school's results have been altered by retroactive NCAA penalties. Join our linker program. Kickoff Return Touchdowns Single Season Leaders and Records | College Football at Sports-Reference.com , Google Podcasts, or YouTube. 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. The record? Four games. Brandon Jones, who physically looked the part, and Damien Nash were the only two real misses in this class. Jameson also has to hold his part and make sure that hes doing everything that he needs to do. Hall started running backwards and crossed to the other side of the field, outrunning the entire Broncos unit before heading into the endzone untouched. Jackson is a pending free agent, while Raymond is coming off the best season of his career. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Not only did Sanders win the Heisman in the 1988 season with his all-time great junior campaign 2,628 rushing yards, 7.6 yards per carry, 37 rushing touchdowns, one punt return touchdown and one kick return touchdown but his brother, Byron, also turned in a 1,000-yard season with Northwestern the fall of '88. 4-ranked Auburn Tigers (10-1, 6-1 in the SEC). Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn content even if head coach jobs never materialize, Brad Holmes: 'I don't think the cupboard's bare on defense'. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. 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). 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. Record: 1,383 passing yardsRecord-holder: Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech (819 yards) and Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma (564 yards)Season: 2016. Boasting the speed and fluidity you'd expect from an All-American sprinter, Rossum owns the FBS career record with nine total return touchdownsthree on punts, three on kickoffs, three on interceptionsand ranks second in Notre Dame history with a 22.9 punt-return average. 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. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. 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. The guy loves playing. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. That season, he averaged 19.8 yards per kickoff return and scored three TDs on punt returns. Statistics are current through the 2022 NFL season and include stats accrued in NFL, AFL and APFA games. 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. See our list of forfeits and vacated games for more details. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. There have been 43 kickoffs returned for a touchdown since Patterson was drafted in 2013. Ismail dashed for 88 yards on that kickoff. Both of Ismails kickoffs returned for touchdowns were in the second half, the first coming on the second-half kickoff. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. 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. It takes speed to return kicks well, but it also takes field vision, anticipation, agility, and some video game-like juke moves. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. He made everybody miss twice against Michigan. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. 46. 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. 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. Simpson, Charles White and Anthony Davis wouldn't have imagined. 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'. Twenty-five players in college football history have run two kickoffs back for touchdowns in the same game. For his career, he scored six times on kick returns. And that really wasn't even his best year as a kick-returner. 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. Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp is open to the idea of incorporating Williams into a return role, and Williams himself has expressed . Who holds it: Connor Halliday, Washington State, 2014 In fact, he only scored two touchdowns in 2001, despite finishing the season with 53 receptions and 737 receiving yards. Active players are listed in bold. Racked up 1,522 kickoff return yards, 559 punt return yards and four kick-return touchdowns in three seasons. 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. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. He doesn't own any national kick return records, and apparently he only scored six return touchdowns in his college career. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. 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. 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.) Insane. SHAWN WINDSOR:Lions' brass has a plan. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Still, he has breakaway. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. The next year, in 1989, he returned to kickoffs for touchdowns against Michigan at Michigan in the Big House. 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. 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. A compilation of every kick return touchdown of the 2020 college football season. 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. Im going to go track that thing down. We present them here for purely educational purposes. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Have we mentioned this guys pretty good at returning kicks? 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. Both records have since been broken. 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. He ran for 92 yards on the second touchdown. Keenum was granted a medical hardship in 2010 after tearing a knee ligament, but his five touchdowns over three games prior to injury count. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Most games scoring a touchdown, career. 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. CLICK HERE. 1 pick in the NFL draft (Mayfield), the former of whom is arguably a generational talent at the position and the latter of whom was named the best player in the country one year later. Do you have a blog? 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. I watched him do things in a USC uniform that Marcus Allen, O.J. It'd be like turning a demolition crew on the Apollo Theater. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. "Theyre like, 'Well, just throw him back there.' So why is "Rocket" holding down the No. Career Leaders. 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. 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 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. 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. In an interview with an Atlanta radio station. Before there was Devin Hester, there was Dante Hall. 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. 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. Read more about our data coverage. Kick return touchdown in the Super Bowldoes it get any more exciting than that? For those that don't know, a kick return touchdown is when the kickoff retu. 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. MORE FROM THE COMBINE:Brad Holmes: 'I don't think the cupboard's bare on defense'. The Yellow Jackets posted two 63-point quarters in the first half during a beating that will never be forgotten. Williams returned two kicks for touchdowns in his one season at Alabama, when he averaged 35.2 yards on 10 kick returns. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. CLICK HERE````````````````````````, Titans Looking To Evolve Analytically: Changes in how the Titans view things are coming. 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 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. 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. Devin Hester (Miami) 11 of 15 Jamie. 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. Statistics are current through the 2022 NFL season and include stats accrued in NFL, AFL and APFA games. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Raghib "Rocket" Ismail Holds Record for Most Games With Two Kickoff Returns for Touchdowns 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. 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. Find out more. Please see our Contributors and Sources page for data source details. 5th down. As good as Jones-Drew was, UCLA has never seen a return man as dangerous as Antonio Perkins. He'd find the seam, hit the seam and just out-sprint the coverage like they were wearing snow shoes. Do you have a sports website? Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Williams returned two kicks for touchdowns in his one season at Alabama, when he averaged 35.2 yards on 10 kick returns. Here are seven FBS records that (we think) will never be broken. 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. The score set records for the longest kickoff return and longest play in Super Bowl history. As a senior in 1997, Rossum finished fourth nationally in kickoff-return average; as a junior he led the country in punt-return average. 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. + Indicates Hall of Famer, season age in parentheses, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Friday, March 3, 2:32PM. 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. Theres no way Im going to let that ball hit the ground. "Hes done it. 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. Feel free to disagree because that's part of what this is about. NFL Career Leaders - Kickoff Return Touchdowns. Twenty-six players have one, five players have two, and Patterson has seven, a total that accounts for. You can't knock Schiano for wanting to make the game safer. 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. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS. Offenses rarely get six possessions in a quarter, much less time to throw it to the end zone six different times. We're going to double dip with Barry Sanders but this time it's a family affair. 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. 14. . Mitchell was a full-time quarterback at Louisiana-Lafayette. 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. And unfortunately, its days may be numbered. 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. Cooper wouldve had to post last seasons jaw-dropping numbers three consecutive seasons to pass Insley. You could still try to maintain possession of the ball. "It's hard to ask a guy to do all those things at a really high level, and people dont realize that," Fipp said. That dipped last season with 13 returns for 270 yards and 20.8 yards. So its always an accountability factor on both sides, but we expect big things from him.". As a matter of policy, Sports Reference only reports the results of games as played on the field. It took about two years of post-Rocket recovery before I realized kick return TDs are actually a rare football gift. See our list of forfeits and vacated games for more details. Welker scored eight touchdowns on punt returns in his career ('00-03), tying the FBS record. Again, that's with Kmic playing in 3 more games. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. The Lions used backup receiver Kalif Raymond as their primary punt returner and No. Heisman Trophy, Walter Camp Award, Doak Walker Award, AP and Sporting News Player of the Year. But others, at least on the surface, appear untouchable. 1 on that list? 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. CRYSTAL BALL: 5 predictions for the 2021 college football season, Record: 36 attemptsRecord-holder: Dominique Davis, East CarolinaSeason: 2011. We support responsible gambling. Could Top QB Fall To The Titans? Contact Dave Birkett atdbirkett@freepress.com. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? ), is safe in our opinion. The former Seattle Seahawks running back was ready to go on the opening kickoff of this game against the San Diego Chargers. 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. Hundreds waited in line for Jamaal Williams to sign autographs at DC Sports on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. Patterson somehow broke through the throng of tacklers and then it became a track meetand he won. 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. Record: Four gamesRecord-holder: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma StateSeason: 1988. You should have watched the Ohio Stadium crowd any time Ted Ginn Jr. went back to field a kick. One college player tops everybody in this category because he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns twice! Ill be a gunner. Join our linker program. 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.