BYU wide receiver Parker Kingston turned a mistake into the best punt return of the 2024 college football season late Saturday night.
Kingston officially returned a punt 90 yards for a touchdown in the Cougars’ upset win over No. 13 Kansas State but he ran a lot more than that. Take a look at how his return unfolded after he dropped the punt while on the run and put himself in a precarious position at he start of the return.
The width of a football field is just over 53 yards and Kingston first touched the punt at his own 22 yard-line before picking the ball up at the 10. That’s 12 yards and we estimate that he ran about 48 yards or so across the field as he went from the near sideline to the far sideline.
Add those numbers together with the official yardage of his punt return and it’s safe to say that Kingston did a 150-yard sprint or so after touching the ball to get to the end zone.
He also nearly committed another horrible mistake at the end of the punt return too. If you watch closely, Kingston dropped the ball right after he crossed the goal line. Thankfully, a BYU teammate picked the ball up in the end zone as Kingston celebrated, so even if he had dropped the ball too early, the TD would have counted.
The return extended BYU’s lead to 31-6 in the 38-9 rout. Kansas State turned the ball over three times over the second and third quarters as BYU turned all three of those scores into points. The Wildcats led 6-3 before their first turnover and BYU ripped off 28 straight points thanks to the three turnovers and the punt return.
