Poll Results: Best Miami Kick Returner of All-Time

Of all of our poll results articles, this one might be the easiest to determine who tops the list. We took a poll on our premium message board Canes Talk to find out who fans think is the best kick returner in the program's history.

Miami has had its fair share of top kick returners over the years, but only three received votes in our poll, including one who also made the list of top wide receivers.

Santana Moss is considered one of the Miami football program's most explosive and exciting players in its history; he is the only player among fan favorites for the wide receiver position and kick returner.

He is the school career leader in all-purpose yards (4,402 yards), receiving yards (2,546), punt return yards (1,196), and career punts returned for touchdowns (6). He set an NCAA record in 2000 with four punt returns for touchdowns on the year. That year, he also set the school single-season record for punt return yards (655).

Santana was named the 2000 BIG EAST Offensive AND Special Teams Players of the Year, the only player in league history to win both awards. He was named First-team All-BIG EAST in 1999 and 2000 (unanimous choice) and 2nd team in 1998. In 1999, he was named a Biletnikoff Award semi-finalist, and in his senior season, he finished 7th in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

In the history of University of Miami football, Kevin Williams ranks as one of the most explosive all-purpose offensive weapons ever to wear the orange and green. A native of Dallas, Williams averaged over 17 yards every time he touched the ball as a high school senior.

At Miami, Williams made significant contributions on punt and kickoff returns. As a sophomore in Miami’s 1991 National Championship season, he returned punts for touchdowns in 3 consecutive games to set a school record and also set a single-game record with 217 punt return yards against Penn State.

As a receiver, Williams caught 23 passes that season for 330 yards and three more touchdowns, including the opening touchdown against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl Classic national championship game.

Williams finished the season named the BIG EAST Special Teams Player of the Year, First Team All-BIG EAST, First Team All-American by The Sporting News, and Punt Returner of the Year by the Football Writers Association of America. Williams added 40 more receptions in his senior season of 1992 and was named Second Team All-BIG EAST.

Devin Hester is one of the most electrifying players to ever put on a Miami uniform. He started to make his mark by taking the opening kickoff in the 2003 game against Florida, streaking untouched for a 97-yard touchdown return.

He would finish that freshman season with 517 kickoff return yards, the third-highest season total in school history. Just for good measure, that Spring, he won the 2004 Big East Indoor Long Jump title in track. In 2004, he set a school record with four return touchdowns (three punts and one kickoff), including a school record-tying 100-yard kickoff return against N.C. State and a record-tying 92-yard punt return versus Louisiana Tech…his 2nd punt return touchdown of the game.

Though most teams kicked away from him during the second half of the season, he finished ranked fifth nationally with a 17.2-yard average on punt returns and ninth in the NCAA with a 26.9-yard average on kickoffs.

He played nickel back on defense and led the team in interceptions (4) and sacks (4). As a kick returner, Hester was named a 2004 All-American by the Football Writers Association, Walter Camp Foundation, The Sporting News, and first-team All-ACC.

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