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. 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. CLICK HERE. Officially, Arizona States Terrell Suggs holds the NCAAs single-season record with 24 sacks in 2002. Who holds it: Trevor Insley, 1996-99 I mean, when you talk to him theres one thing I love about him. Im going to go track that thing down. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Williams is on par with Cleveland Browns receiver Jakeem Grant as the fastest player he's ever coached. 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. 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. He is a graduate of Indiana University. He finished his college career ('03-05)averaging 25.5 yards per kickoff return and 15.6 per punt return, with six return touchdowns. Jameis Winston led Florida State to 29 consecutive victories during his tenure, an impressive streak snapped in violent fashion by Oregon in last years first College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl. Who holds it: David Klingler, Houston, 1991 College Football: The 15 Most Electrifying Kick Returners of the Last Some records are meant to be broken. Interpreted as: most kickoff return touchdowns by a playerin one regular-seasongame this season 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). 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. 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 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. Heisman Trophy Winners: D. Henry, B. Sanders, . "It's hard to ask a guy to do all those things at a really high level, and people dont realize that," Fipp said. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Could Top QB Fall To The Titans? 12 overall pick in 2023. 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. 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. Contact Dave Birkett atdbirkett@freepress.com. 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. Howard, the 1991 Heisman trophy winner, is the only return man to win the Super Bowl MVP. 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. 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. 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. Theres no way Im going to let that ball hit the ground. Good luck figuring out exactly what happened in November 2001 and why. Their role on special teams is more influenced by offense and defense than it is on what he can do on teams.". Barry Sanders' 1988 Heisman: 44 reasons it's the greatest ever - Banner Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. Those gargantuan numbers would only be approached within a pass-happy offense with literally two or fewer reliable targets. Brandon Jones, who physically looked the part, and Damien Nash were the only two real misses in this class. The following is a list of the NFL career punt return leaders ranked by punt return touchdowns. It shouldn't include Jalen Ramsey. Most rushing touchdowns, game [ edit] FBS: 8 - Howard Griffith, Illinois, 1990; Kalen Ballage, Arizona State, 2016; Jaret Patterson, Buffalo, 2020 FCS: 7 - Archie Amerson, Northern Arizona, 1996 Div II: 8 - Junior Wolf, Oklahoma Panhandle State, 1958 Div III: 8 - Donavan Henderson, Manchester, 2019; Carey Bender, Coe, 1994 You should have watched the Ohio Stadium crowd any time Ted Ginn Jr. went back to field a kick. You could still try to maintain possession of the ball. Find out more. Jackson is a pending free agent, while Raymond is coming off the best season of his career. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 6:41AM. As a West Coast resident and Pac-10 fan, I watched Reggie Bush do some incredible things. If any quarterback is going to approach this record in the future, hell be another Mike Leach understudy. Join our linker program. 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. And that wasn't even the most impressive part of the return. Here's a look at the 2005 draft class and its impact on the team. 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. Looking for a great NFL history book? Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? 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. I watched him do things in a USC uniform that Marcus Allen, O.J. Rocket Ismails record of most games with two kickoff returns for touchdowns set in 1989 still stands today. Find out more. 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. Racked up 1,522 kickoff return yards, 559 punt return yards and four kick-return touchdowns in three seasons. 7 college football records *we think* will never be broken "Hes done it. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Keenums NCAA record of 1,546 career completions also wont be touched. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. 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. UTEP has been on the wrong end of several FBS records former Houston quarterback Case Keenum holds the record for the most career passing yards gained against one opponent (1,882 yards against UTEP) and former TCU running back LaDainian Tomlinson has the record for career rushing yards against one opponent (788 yards against UTEP) but the Miners are also in the FBS record book for positive reasons, too. 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. In fact, he only scored two touchdowns in 2001, despite finishing the season with 53 receptions and 737 receiving yards. Two TD Kickoff Returns in One Game | The Game Before the Money We present them here for purely educational purposes. Twenty-five players in college football history have run two kickoffs back for touchdowns in the same game. Ten players have done that in NFL history. Or write about sports? Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. 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. NFL Kick Returns for Touchdown Single Game Leaders All-Time Kick Returns for Touchdown Leaders Build your own custom leaderboards with Stathead Football. 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. Cooper wouldve had to post last seasons jaw-dropping numbers three consecutive seasons to pass Insley. 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. 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. As good as Jones-Drew was, UCLA has never seen a return man as dangerous as Antonio Perkins. Build your own custom leaderboards with Stathead Football. 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. The Lions used backup receiver Kalif Raymond as their primary punt returner and No. Interview quotes are usually edited for length and clarity. 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. Williams returned two kicks for touchdowns in his one season at Alabama, when he averaged 35.2 yards on 10 kick returns. NFL Single Season Leaders - Kickoff Return Touchdowns The following is a list of the NFL single season kickoff returnleaders ranked by kickoff return touchdowns. 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. Klingler also holds the NCAA mark for most touchdown passes in one game (11). Jackson was one of the NFL's best return men early in his career, but less effective as a returner after taking on a bigger role at receiver. 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. "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. Read more about our data coverage. Or write about sports? Record: Six passesRecord-holder: Brooks Dawson, UTEPSeason: 1967. "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. Who holds it: Houston offense led by QB Andre Ware in 1990 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. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. 2020 NFL Team Kickoff Return Statistics | The Football Database 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. 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.