{"id":89119,"date":"2026-07-15T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=89119"},"modified":"2026-07-14T22:11:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T02:11:01","slug":"accs-top-returning-specialists-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/07\/15\/accs-top-returning-specialists-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC’s Top Returning Specialists In 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Here they are the ACC’s top returning specialists in 2026. Welcome back to our summer tradition, counting down the best returning players in college football. This is the third in our series focusing on the Power Four conferences. In our first installment, we counted down the best of the Big 10.<\/a><\/span> From there, <\/span>we moved to the Big 12.\u00a0<\/a><\/span> Today, our focus shifts to the ACC, a league loaded with great special teams players. As we always say, you may not pay attention to special teams. However, if they are struggling, you\u2019ll certainly know. Let\u2019s start the ACC’s Top Returning Specialists in 2026 with the kickers. One note: if a player transferred to the ACC from another conference, they don\u2019t count for this list. However, players transferring within the league are allowed. Another thing you\u2019ll notice is that there are only three returning players <\/span>from last year’s list.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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ACC’s Top Returning Specialists In 2026<\/span><\/h2>\n

Coming Through In The Clutch<\/span><\/h3>\n
3. <\/span>Luca Lombardo<\/a><\/span>– Boston College- There weren’t a whole lot of highlights for the Eagles last season after going 2-10. However, Lombardo was one of them. For the year, he hit all 35 extra points and made 16 of 17 field goals. In fact, his 94% field goal average led the league. As a result, he was a Lou Groza Award semi-finalist. Lombardo was also an Honorable Mention All-ACC selection.<\/span><\/div>\n
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2. <\/span>Nolan Hauser<\/a><\/span>– Clemson- Much like the Tigers, Hauser’s numbers were down some from 2024. However, he’s still one of the best in the conference. Last season, he hit on all 38 extra points and 17 of 21 field goals in addition to punting twice. Of course, he burst onto the scene as a freshman with a huge year highlighted by nailing a 56-yarder as time expired to give Clemson the ACC title over SMU.<\/span><\/div>\n
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1. <\/span>Aidan Birr<\/a><\/span>– Georgia Tech- Last year’s All-ACC first-team kicker is back for his final season. In 2025, he had arguably the best year in school history, connecting on all 45 extra points. Furthermore, he led the league and was third in the nation with 25 field goals. His made field goals and 120 points were both school records. He was also a finalist for the <\/span>Lou Groza Award.\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Birr starts the year at the top of every All-ACC list, and that includes ours.<\/span><\/div>\n
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As we continue with the ACC’s Top Returning Specialists in 2026, let’s move to the punters.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Big Game Boomers<\/span><\/h3>\n
3. <\/span>Kade Reynoldson<\/a><\/span>– Duke- Due to the Blue Devils’ potent offense, Reynoldson’s number of punts was down significantly from 75 in 2024 to 44 in 2025. However, he still averaged a hefty 44.6 yards per punt. That ranked him fifth in the league. In addition, he had 21 kicks downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line against just two touchbacks with 22 fair catches. He wrapped up the year as the Special Teams Player of the Game in Duke’s epic win over Arizona State <\/span>in the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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2. <\/span>Dylan Joyce<\/a><\/span>– Miami- Heading into his senior campaign, Joyce has been a very steady player for the Hurricanes. Last season, he averaged 44.4 yards per punt and 2,395 total yards. That placed him fifth in the league. Joyce had a season-long punt of 73 yards against SMU. In addition, he had 13 punts of more than 50 yards and landed 23 punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line with only six touchbacks.<\/span><\/div>\n
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1. <\/span>Daniel Sparks<\/a><\/span>– Virginia- It’s hard to believe Sparks started his college career back in 2020 at Louisiana-Monroe. He comes into his final season off a strong 2025 campaign. Sparks punted 37 times for 1,745 yards, and his 47.2 average per punt put him second in the ACC. He had a season-long 65-yard punt against Washington State and landed 14 punts inside the 20. As a result, he finished as a second-team All-ACC. He starts 2026 as our top punter in the ACC.<\/span><\/div>\n
We have one category left as we’re unveiling The ACC’s Top Returning Specialists in 2026.<\/span><\/div>\n

Ace Return Men<\/span><\/h3>\n
3. <\/span>Jayden Scott<\/a><\/span>– North Carolina State- Our first player is a true dual-threat player as he also appears on the <\/span>top returning running backs\u00a0<\/a><\/span>list. Last season, “Duke” averaged 21.3 yards per kick return on 11 attempts. His average would have been fourth in the ACC if he had qualified. He had a season-high 136 return yards against Pittsburgh.<\/span><\/div>\n
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2. <\/span>Carlos Hernandez<\/a><\/span>– Wake Forest- In his first season playing for the Demon Deacons, Hernandez was third in the league with 22 punt returns. In addition, his 253 return yards and 11.5 yards per return placed him fourth and fifth, respectively. Hernandez had his high-water mark in Wake’s 16-9 win over Virginia, where he gained 124 yards on three returns, including an 88-yarder he took to the house.<\/span><\/div>\n
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1. <\/span>Malachi Toney<\/a><\/span>– Miami- The second of our players who appear on <\/span>two of our lists.\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Our top return man had one of the best freshman seasons in recent memory. He ranked second across the board with 23 punt returns, 298 yards, and a 13-yard average per return. Toney averaged more than 20 yards in four of the Hurricanes’ games last season. He’s a threat to take it to the house anytime he gets the ball for a Hurricanes squad we think will be <\/span>playing for the national championship again.<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
Thanks for checking out the ACC’s Top Returning Specialists in 2026 here at Last Word On College Football.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Main Photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here they are the ACC’s top returning specialists in 2026. Welcome back to our summer tradition, counting down the best returning players in college football. This is the third in our series focusing on the Power Four conferences. In our first installment, we counted down the best of the Big 10. From there, we moved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":89160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,35644,35645,35646,2,35633,35634,35635,35642,35643],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acc","category-boston-college-eagles","category-clemson-tigers","category-duke-blue-devils","category-featured","category-georgia-tech-yellow-jackets","category-miami-hurricanes","category-nc-state-wolfpack","category-virginia-cavaliers","category-wake-forest-demon-deacons"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89119"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89161,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89119\/revisions\/89161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}