2023 Spotlight: Top 5 Kickoff Returners

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Not only is the return game very different from what it used to be, but players seemingly do not appear to hold the same ability to return kicks, and read kickoff coverages the same as they used to. Players in the past like Devin Hester, and Deion Sanders used to break games open due to their elusiveness, speed, and ability to change direction on a dime. Players like the legends previously listed not only set the bar high for returners, but they ignited the desire for returners of all generations to take the ball to the house every chance that they would get. Nowadays, as kickoffs have been moved up due to safety reasons, we do not see the same electric kickoff returns as we used to. Regardless, there are still some players out there who still find ways to make a name for themselves by making a huge impact on their team through special teams. </span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Lennard Benniefield- Hendersonville</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Even through the challenges of returning kickoffs, Benniefield still found a way to have success last season, as he totaled around 327 yards of kickoff return yards in the span of 12 games. In this span, he averaged around 40 yards a return, with only about 8 total returns the entire season. With this, Benniefield also showed that he can take any kick the distance, as he had a season long of 78 yards on a single return.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Ahkee Lyons- North Edgecombe</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Lyons also had his fair share of success last season, as he totaled around 377 yards from all of his returns. This, paired with his versatility from playing both sides of the ball made him fun to watch, especially since he managed to accumulate this total in only 12 games, and 10 return attempts. As he continue to serve as a versatile part of his team, look for him to continue to add on to each of these categories next year.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Coleson Fields-Heritage</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">In only 10 games last season, Fields proved that kickoff returners are still existent, as he totaled around 330 yards by the end of the year with an average of around 37 yards a return attempt. Lyons put his versatile movement skills to use, as he did all of this on only 9 attempts. Due to this high success rate for Lyons in the kickoff return game, expect him to see a piece of the action again next season, and to create an incredible highlight reel while doing so.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">[player_tooltip player_id="121427" first="Que’Sean" last="Brown"]- East Forsyth</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Out of all 2023 prospects in North Carolina, Brown had the most amount of return yards, as he totaled around 486 total return yards last season, in 13 games. This put his average amount of yards per return to around 37 yards. In addition to this, by the end of the season, Brown also proved to be a very explosive player, as he had a season long of 88 yards on one return.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Alex Sanchez- Owen</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Just like the others, Sanchez also had a large amount of success as a returner for his team, as he managed to average around 35 yards a return by the end of the season. This average, paired with the 9 returns he had all season long ended up equaling around 317 yards by the end of the season, with his longest return being 95 yards. This explosive ability will most definitely make him an electrifying player to track next season.</span>