He took a kickoff in his own end zone with 4:31 . Keenum was granted a medical hardship in 2010 after tearing a knee ligament, but his five touchdowns over three games prior to injury count. None of the members of this class will ever hear their names called in Canton, but as a group, and what they provided for the Titans, even though small in some cases, was a solid class top to bottom that played some excellent football and were part of some good, but not great Titans teams. Good luck figuring out exactly what happened in November 2001 and why. 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. There have been 43 kickoffs returned for a touchdown since Patterson was drafted in 2013. Roby was a miss for the Titans, but he was ultimately the only member of his class to play a prominent role on a team and win a Super Bowl. As good as Jones-Drew was, UCLA has never seen a return man as dangerous as Antonio Perkins. Hundreds waited in line for Jamaal Williams to sign autographs at DC Sports on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. 1-ranked and two-time defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide (11-0, 7-0 in the SEC) as a 10-point favorite over the No. 2,850 rushing yards is more than anyone's ever gained at any level of college or pro football. Travis Etienne. For a few years in the early 2000s with the Kansas City Chiefs, Hall electrified the NFL with his dynamic speed and hard-to-believe kick and punt returns. A kickoff return for a touchdown is one of the most exciting plays in football. I got kick return, too, I would have housed that one.' As a matter of policy, Sports Reference only reports the results of games as played on the field. And unfortunately, its days may be numbered. 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 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. That dipped last season with 13 returns for 270 yards and 20.8 yards. "I dont totally know the answer to it, only because he is just kind of coming back," Fipp said when asked if he's open to using Williams as a kick returner in 2023. 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. For those that don't know, a kick return touchdown is when the kickoff retu. 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). It's almost unfathomable to see a stat line of 12 receptions, 326 yards, 27.2 yards per reception andzero touchdowns. Raghib Rocket Ismail from Notre Dame returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in a 1988 game against Rice. From there it was a track meetand no one could catch Jones. 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. It would take a dynamic talent like Randy Moss, who was interested in playing four seasons, to come close. 4-ranked Auburn Tigers (10-1, 6-1 in the SEC). 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. Find out more. Listen to The Game Before the Money Podcast! Active players are listed in bold. I think it would start the game in similar field position. Like sports history? "The goal when we originally drafted him, we didnt know really how much we were going to get out of him but it was good to have him get some kind of game experience to kind of feel the speed of the game," Holmes said. Statistics are current through the 2022 NFL season and include stats accrued in NFL, AFL and APFA games. 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. As a sophomore, he led the nation in kickoff return yards with 442, while averaging 31.6 yards per return. Keenum was granted a medical hardship in 2010 after tearing a knee ligament, but his five touchdowns over three games prior to injury count. Who holds it: Derrick Thomas, Alabama, 1988 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. All rights reserved. Most games scoring two or more touchdowns, season. That's roughly what Nevada's Alex Van Dyke averaged during his two-year career Nevada. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. 1 Georgia Tech trampled Cumberland Gap (Tenn.) 222-0 in 1916 He made everybody miss twice against Michigan. In 2010, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Build your own custom leaderboards with Stathead Football, Frequently Asked Questions about the NFL and Football, Pro-Football-Reference.com Blog and Articles, Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREE. Find out more. Howard, the 1991 Heisman trophy winner, is the only return man to win the Super Bowl MVP. Check out The Game Before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL available at Amazon.comBarnes and NobleUniversity of Nebraska Press. 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. The guy loves playing. For those that don't know, a kick return touchdown is when the kickoff retu. Greg Arias covers the Tennessee Titans for All Titans.com on Sports Illustrated/FanNation. You should have watched the Ohio Stadium crowd any time Ted Ginn Jr. went back to field a kick. Looking for a great NFL history book? NFL Single Season Leaders - Kickoff Return Touchdowns The following is a list of the NFL single season kickoff returnleaders ranked by kickoff return touchdowns. The Cougars simply refused to run the football. Ten players have done that in NFL history. Start the video below at 1:11 for the amazing return. 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.' The Yellow Jackets posted two 63-point quarters in the first half during a beating that will never be forgotten. + Indicates Hall of Famer, season age in parentheses, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Friday, March 3, 2:32PM. Join our linker program. But wiping out the kickoff? It'd be like turning a demolition crew on the Apollo Theater. Cooper wouldve had to post last seasons jaw-dropping numbers three consecutive seasons to pass Insley. 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. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? 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. A compilation of every kick return touchdown of the 2021 college football season. All NFL TeamsNFL All NFL TeamsNFL NFL Kick Returns for Touchdown Single-Season Leaders | Pro-Football-Reference.com 1. 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. Or write about sports? Record: Six passesRecord-holder: Brooks Dawson, UTEPSeason: 1967. Have we mentioned this guys pretty good at returning kicks? 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. ROAD WARRIORS: College football's longest active road winning streaks, Record: 3,690 rushing yardsRecord-holder: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State and Byron Sanders, NorthwesternSeason: 1988. One college player tops everybody in this category because he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns twice! 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. The touchdown also helped Hester set an NFL record for the most return touchdowns by a player in a single season. Klingler also holds the NCAA mark for most touchdown passes in one game (11). 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. 12 overall pick in 2023. Twenty-five players in college football history have run two kickoffs back for touchdowns in the same game. Who holds it: No. 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. That will never be topped. 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. Or write about sports? 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. 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. He ran for 92 yards on the second touchdown. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. 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. 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. College Football at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. Join our linker program. His 27.6 yards per kickoff and 13.6 yards per punt-return averages were solid but not eye-popping. Im going to go track that thing down. Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp is open to the idea of incorporating Williams into a return role, and Williams himself has expressed . The score set records for the longest kickoff return and longest play in Super Bowl history. Interview quotes are usually edited for length and clarity. The Detroit Lions are reportedly considering using wide receiver Jameson Williams as a returner for the 2023 NFL season. 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. Ismail could dance away from contact when he had to, and he had the strength to break tackles, but his style was more like Eric Dickerson. As a senior, Keenum was spectacular, throwing 48 touchdowns passes to just five interceptions a ratio of nearly 10:1. Do you have a sports website? 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. Racked up 1,522 kickoff return yards, 559 punt return yards and four kick-return touchdowns in three seasons. 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. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. + Indicates Hall of Famer, season age in parentheses, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Friday, March 3, 2:32PM. For his career, he scored six times on kick returns. CLICK HERE. No. Record: Four gamesRecord-holder: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma StateSeason: 1988. Hail Mary passes, knockout tackles, and deep throws down the sideline are all cool plays in football, but there's nothing quite as exciting as a kick return touchdown. 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. Ismail dashed for 88 yards on that kickoff. 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. And that really wasn't even his best year as a kick-returner. Williams returned two kicks for touchdowns in his one season at Alabama, when he averaged 35.2 yards on 10 kick returns. Here are 10 current college football records one man at SDS has deemed unbreakable: Who holds it: Oklahoma, from 1953-57 CRYSTAL BALL: 5 predictions for the 2021 college football season, Record: 36 attemptsRecord-holder: Dominique Davis, East CarolinaSeason: 2011. "Theyre like, 'Well, just throw him back there.' The Lions used backup receiver Kalif Raymond as their primary punt returner and No. It takes speed to return kicks well, but it also takes field vision, anticipation, agility, and some video game-like juke moves. 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. Of course, some records are literally unbreakable. 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. was better than Barry when it came to returning kicks. Before Hester was torching NFL special teams units in the pros, he was making complete fools of his fellow college players while playing at the University of Miami. NASHVILLE - It's time to reveal our No.3 class in the top-ten draft classes of the Titans history countdown. 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. 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. Brian Mitchell, the three-time All-Pro who, interestingly enough, never once returned a punt or kickoff in college. Before there was Devin Hester, there was Dante Hall. 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. Oklahoma freshman Samaje Perine eclipsed the total the following week after the Kansas Jayhawks forgot how to tackle, carrying the pill 27 times for a new NCAA-record 427 yards. 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. 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. 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. In 2019, Wright finished with 10 returns for 380 yards, 38 yards per return and two touchdowns. Devin Hester (Miami) 11 of 15 Jamie. In this post, we talk about kickoff returns for touchdowns. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 6:41AM. "But Ive said this all along a million times is it just depends on their role on offense and defense to what their role is going to be on special teams. Notre Dame beat Michigan 24-19 on that day in a battle of the nations top two ranked teams. (Looking at you, Liberty quarterback Malik Willis, Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder, and Ohio State wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.). 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 blog? 44 touchdowns are tied with Kmic for the most ever and ahead of anyone else in NCAA history. Who holds it: David Klingler, Houston, 1991 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. "It's hard to ask a guy to do all those things at a really high level, and people dont realize that," Fipp said. Do you have a blog? 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. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. 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. His career punt-return average (23.2) ranks second all-time nationally. Why its untouchable: Coached by the legendary Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners won two national championships during their record-setting stretch in the mid 1950s. He is a former college linebacker, a longtime coach and a parent. CLICK HERE````````````````````````, Titans Looking To Evolve Analytically: Changes in how the Titans view things are coming. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. 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. Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS. Simpson, Charles White and Anthony Davis wouldn't have imagined. 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. 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. "Obviously, it would be great to see him back there (as a returner) if thats what his role provides," Fipp said.