Yes, college kickers are getting better: data shows they’re scoring more from farther away than ever

For years, one of the more entertaining differences between watching the NFL and college football has been special teams, particularly when it comes to kicking field goals. There are only 32 teams in the NFL, and each carries only one kicker, so the competition for the few gigs available typically ensure only the best of the best got the chance.

There are far more teams in college, and kicking jobs have long been occupied by walk-ons with a future in accounting. All you had to do was occasionally manage to kick the ball between the uprights from 40 yards away, and you’d be rewarded with all the team-issued gear you could dream of. Maybe your teammates would invite you to some cool parties.

Like a lot of things about college athletics, things have changed.

Perhaps you noticed a prevalence of kickers drilling field goals from 50 yards or more this season and became confused. You may have asked, “are college kickers improving?”

Well, I’ve gone back and looked at the numbers. Your eyes didn’t deceive you.

Yes. the kickers are improving. In the NFL, kicks of 50 yards or more have become routine, and we’re even seeing guys attempt kicks of 60-plus. That trend is filtering down to the college ranks, where college kickers aren’t only making a higher rate of long field goals, but they’re attempting a lot more, too.

Last year’s numbers almost dwarf the others dating back to 2016, according to TruMedia’s database. The 360 attempts from the 2024 season were 84 more than we saw from teams in 2023. And kickers only twice hit nearly 48% of their attempts, let alone more than 50%. In those two seasons (2019, 2020), there were 362 combined attempts.

It’s important to remember that games during the 2020 season were played mostly in empty stadiums, which led to less pressure and a higher success rate. In 2019, there were seven teams responsible for 26 of the 96 makes (27.1%). Those seven made 78.8% of their attempts from 50-plus, while the rest of the country made 41.7% of theirs.

We saw that in 2024, too, but not to the same extreme. This past season, 10 teams accounted for 58 of the 194 (29.9%) made field goals. While they made 76.3% of their attempts, the rest of the country made 47.9% of their attempts — a rate still higher than anything we’ve seen in every other season since 2016.

Clearly, kickers are improving from long range at the college level, but the 2024 season wasn’t the best season overall in recent memory. College kickers made 75.6% of their field goal attempts in 2024, which was better than 2023 (75.2%) but not as high as the 76.6% they hit in 2022. However, this was the fourth straight season kickers made at least 75% of their attempts after making 73.9% of attempts in five seasons from 2016 to 2020.

Will the trend continue in 2025? Given recent results, it’s reasonable to expect it will. It’s also reasonable to think that, in the age of NIL and revenue sharing, kicking won’t be for walk-on accounting majors much longer.