most punt return yards in a career in college football history

Wes Welker has the most career punt-return yards, with 1,761 yards.

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Data note: Punt-Return Yards: player season data complete from 1977

	NAME	PR YDS	GP	KR	KR YDS	KR AVG	KR YDS/G	KR TD	PR	PR AVG	PR YDS/G	PR TD
1	Wes Welker W. Welker	1,761	49	21	341	16.2	7.0	0	152	11.6	35.9	8
2	Javier Arenas J. Arenas	1,755	52	90	2,166	24.1	41.7	0	123	14.3	33.8	7
3	Ryne Robinson R. Robinson	1,677	50	8	135	16.9	2.7	0	121	13.9	33.5	7
4	David Allen D. Allen	1,645	40	10	269	26.9	6.7	0	103	16.0	41.1	7
5	Steve Breaston S. Breaston	1,599	53	81	1,993	24.6	37.6	1	127	12.6	30.2	4
6	Leodis McKelvin L. McKelvin	1,471	45	99	2,346	23.7	52.1	1	112	13.1	32.7	7
7	Tyrone Thurman T. Thurman	1,466	44	37	743	20.1	16.9	0	126	11.6	33.3	4
8	Antonio Perkins A. Perkins	1,445	39	20	319	16.0	8.2	0	113	12.8	37.1	8
9	Deion Sanders D. Sanders	1,429	44	1	26	26.0	0.6	0	126	11.3	32.5	3
10	Brandon James B. James	1,383	52	115	2,796	24.3	53.8	1	118	11.7	26.6	4
11	Jim Leonhard J. Leonhard	1,347	39						105	12.8	34.5	3
12	Greg Myers G. Myers	1,333	43	6	75	12.5	1.7	0	101	13.2	31.0	3
13	Tony James T. James	1,332	44	78	1,862	23.9	42.3	0	121	11.0	30.3	3
14	Tim Gilligan T. Gilligan	1,329	43						116	11.5	30.9	1
15	Vai Sikahema V. Sikahema	1,312	49	42	973	23.2	19.9	0	153	8.6	26.8	3
16	Joe Burnett J. Burnett	1,304	49	28	791	28.3	16.1	2	96	13.6	26.6	3
17	Dexter Wynn D. Wynn	1,301	42	73	1,982	27.2	47.2	2	90	14.5	31.0	1
18	Jeremy Kerley J. Kerley	1,299	45	37	1,006	27.2	22.4	0	94	13.8	28.9	2
19	Eddie Royal E. Royal	1,296	51	59	1,386	23.5	27.2	0	111	11.7	25.4	3
20	Nathan Vasher N. Vasher	1,294	38	2	58	29.0	1.5	0	93	13.9	34.1	2
21	Danny Amendola D. Amendola	1,283	49	17	290	17.1	5.9	0	116	11.1	26.2	1
22	Andrew Mott A. Mott	1,280	44	54	1,150	21.3	26.1	0	117	10.9	29.1	3
23	Dante Pettis D. Pettis	1,274	53	0	0		0.0	0	90	14.2	24.0	9
24	Damien Gary D. Gary	1,273	47	8	143	17.9	3.0	1	115	11.1	27.1	2
25	Steve Suter S. Suter	1,271	36	52	1,259	24.2	35.0	0	121	10.5	35.3	6

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More Texas Tech Stats

Team Leaders

PASS

1,561

Hammond

RUSH

619

Williams

REC

499

Johnson

Team Rankings

PPG

35.9

27th

OPP PPG

20.4

41st

RUSH YDS/G

189.7

41st

PASS YDS/G

229.4

80th

2026 Big 12 Standings

	TEAM	CONF	OVERALL
2	BYU	3-1	6-1
3	Arizona	3-1	6-1
4	Texas Tech	3-1	6-1
5	Oklahoma State	3-1	5-2
6	Houston	3-2	6-2

Schedule

DATE	MATCHUP			TIME (ET)
Sat 10/31	ARIZ	@	TTU	12:00 PM
Sat 11/7	WVU	@	TTU	1:00 PM
Sat 11/14	TTU	@	OKST	1:00 PM
Sat 11/21	TTU	@	BAY	1:00 PM
Thu 11/26	TCU	@	TTU	8:00 PM

Last Game

Texas Tech

6 - 1

Final

Cincinnati

5 - 2

Sat 24 Oct 2026

CFB 2026 Leaders

Pass Yards Leaders

2,604

Atkinson

2,326

Mestemaker

2,303

Maiava

Rush Yards Leaders

963

Riley

957

Bishop

923

Cook

Rec Yards Leaders

1,040

Legree

984

Smith

952

Toney

Pass TD Leaders

24

Atkinson

22

Mensah

21

Stokes

Rush TD Leaders

16

Hawkins

16

Hellums

13

Baugh

Rec TD Leaders

14

Legree

12

Smith

11

Toney

QB Rating Leaders

204.6

Mensah

185.9

Stockton

184.5

Sayin

Sack Leaders

10.5

Simmons

9.0

Osunsanmi

8.5

Umanmielen

CFB 2026 Rankings

PPG Rankings

49.0

43.1

43.0

42.7

41.4

41.1

Opp PPG Rankings

11.3

12.0

12.5

13.4

13.9

Total Yards Rankings

551.9

529.1

527.0

525.7

517.7

510.0

Rush Yards Rankings

345.7

337.4

307.7

272.0

271.4

261.6

Pass Yards Rankings

384.9

341.0

340.7

323.1

318.0

Sack Leaders

35.0

34.0

29.0

28.0

27.0

CFB 2026 Standings

	Pac-12	W	L	PCT
1	Boise State	6	1	.857
2	Oregon State	5	2	.714
3	Texas State	4	3	.571
4	San Diego State	3	5	.375
5	Fresno State	4	3	.571
6	Colorado State	3	4	.429
7	Utah State	2	5	.286
8	Washington State	1	7	.125

	Big 10	W	L	PCT
1	UCLA	7	0	1.000
2	Ohio State	6	1	.857
3	Indiana	7	1	.875
4	Northwestern	6	1	.857
5	Minnesota	5	2	.714
6	Wisconsin	5	2	.714
7	USC	6	2	.750
8	Purdue	3	4	.429
9	Illinois	4	3	.571
10	Oregon	4	3	.571
11	Iowa	5	2	.714
12	Nebraska	5	2	.714
13	Michigan	4	3	.571
14	Washington	4	3	.571
15	Rutgers	2	5	.286
16	Penn State	3	4	.429
17	Maryland	2	5	.286
18	Michigan State	2	6	.250

	Southeastern	W	L	PCT
1	Kentucky	7	1	.875
2	Georgia	6	1	.857
3	Alabama	6	2	.750
4	Florida	5	2	.714
5	Ole Miss	5	2	.714
6	LSU	6	2	.750
7	Tennessee	6	2	.750
8	Oklahoma	4	3	.571
9	Missouri	5	2	.714
10	Texas	5	2	.714
11	Mississippi State	4	3	.571
12	Auburn	4	3	.571
13	South Carolina	4	3	.571
14	Arkansas	3	4	.429
15	Texas A&M	4	4	.500
16	Vanderbilt	3	5	.375

	Sun Belt	W	L	PCT
1	Louisiana Tech	5	2	.714
2	James Madison	7	1	.875
3	Appalachian State	5	2	.714
4	Georgia Southern	3	4	.429
5	South Alabama	4	3	.571
6	Louisiana	5	3	.625
7	Arkansas State	4	4	.500
8	Georgia State	4	3	.571
9	Troy	3	4	.429
10	Coastal Carolina	2	5	.286
11	Southern Miss	2	5	.286
12	Louisiana-Monroe	1	6	.143
13	Marshall	4	3	.571
14	Old Dominion	2	6	.250

	Atlantic Coast	W	L	PCT
1	Miami	7	0	1.000
2	SMU	6	1	.857
3	Wake Forest	6	1	.857
4	Virginia Tech	6	2	.750
5	Louisville	4	3	.571
6	Clemson	4	3	.571
7	North Carolina	4	3	.571
8	Duke	5	2	.714
9	Boston College	4	3	.571
10	Pittsburgh	5	3	.625
11	Stanford	4	4	.500
12	Virginia	4	4	.500
13	California	3	5	.375
14	Florida State	3	4	.429
15	NC State	3	4	.429
16	Georgia Tech	2	5	.286
17	Syracuse	3	4	.429

	Mountain West	W	L	PCT
1	New Mexico	6	1	.857
2	Wyoming	5	3	.625
3	UNLV	4	3	.571
4	North Dakota State	6	2	.750
5	Air Force	5	2	.714
6	Nevada	3	4	.429
7	San Jose State	4	4	.500
8	Hawai'i	2	6	.250
9	UTEP	1	6	.143
10	Northern Illinois	0	7	.000

	Independent	W	L	PCT
1	Notre Dame	6	1	.857
2	UConn	4	3	.571

	Mid-American	W	L	PCT
1	Ohio	6	2	.750
2	Toledo	6	2	.750
3	Western Michigan	5	3	.625
4	Buffalo	5	3	.625
5	Miami (OH)	5	3	.625
6	Eastern Michigan	4	5	.444
7	Kent State	3	5	.375
8	Ball State	3	5	.375
9	Bowling Green	2	6	.250
10	UMass	4	4	.500
11	Central Michigan	3	5	.375
12	Akron	1	7	.125
13	Sacramento State	1	7	.125

	American Athletic	W	L	PCT
1	UTSA	7	1	.875
2	North Texas	5	2	.714
3	Army	5	2	.714
4	Memphis	6	2	.750
5	Florida Atlantic	5	2	.714
6	UAB	4	3	.571
7	Charlotte	1	6	.143
8	Temple	2	5	.286
9	South Florida	5	2	.714
10	East Carolina	3	4	.429
11	Tulane	3	4	.429
12	Tulsa	4	4	.500
13	Navy	2	5	.286
14	Rice	1	7	.125

	Big 12	W	L	PCT
1	Utah	7	0	1.000
2	BYU	6	1	.857
3	Arizona	6	1	.857
4	Texas Tech	6	1	.857
5	Oklahoma State	5	2	.714
6	Houston	6	2	.750
7	Baylor	4	3	.571
8	Cincinnati	5	2	.714
9	Arizona State	4	3	.571
10	UCF	4	3	.571
11	West Virginia	5	3	.625
12	Kansas State	4	3	.571
13	Iowa State	3	4	.429
14	Kansas	3	4	.429
15	TCU	3	4	.429
16	Colorado	2	5	.286

	Conference USA	W	L	PCT
1	Jacksonville State	6	2	.750
2	Liberty	6	1	.857
3	Delaware	4	4	.500
4	New Mexico State	3	5	.375
5	Middle Tennessee	4	4	.500
6	Western Kentucky	3	5	.375
7	Missouri State	3	5	.375
8	Florida International	3	4	.429
9	Kennesaw State	2	6	.250
10	Sam Houston	1	7	.125