VOTE: Who was the best Northwestern kick returner over the last 25 years?

It's been 25 years since Northwestern's magical run to the Rose Bowl in 1995. WildcatReport is celebrating that Silver Anniversary by finding out who's been the best player at each position since that legendary team revitalized Wildcat football.

BEST IN 25 YEARS SERIES

OFFENSE: QB Dan Persa l RB Justin Jackson l WR D'Wayne Bates l TE Drake Dunsmore l T Zach Strief l G Ryan Padgett l C Rob Johnson

DEFENSE: DE Corey Wootton l DT Matt Rice l MLB Pat Fitzgerald l OLB Napoleon Harris l CB Sherrick McManis l S Ibraheim Campbell

SPECIAL TEAMS: PR Venric Mark

Kickoff returns are one of the most electric plays in college football, and we have a list of three of the highest-voltage players to ever wear Purple.

Our trio of dynamos includes Northwestern's all-time leader in kick return yards (Stephen Simmons), the player who had the greatest single game for a kick returner in school history (Venric Mark), and the returner who got to the end zone on a kickoff return more often than any other Wildcat (Solomon Vault).

These are men who could change the complexion of a game in about 14 seconds, or the amount of time it took them to dodge tacklers, run the length of the field and put a charge into everyone in the stadium.

Read about the careers of our three candidates below, and then vote for the player you think was the best kickoff returner over the last 25 years on the WildcatReport Football Board. You'll find the link at the end of this story.

Reason he deserves it: Simmons is the most prolific kick returner in Northwestern history, holding school records for returns and return yards.

The skinny: No Wildcat returned more kicks for more yards than Simmons. Period.

Talk about a quick starter: Simmons got his lone career kickoff return for a touchdown in his first Big Ten game in 2007, when he went 99 yards for a score on the second-half kickoff against No. 8 Ohio State. He spun out of a tackle at the 20, got to the sideline and then juked the kicker at midfield before reaching the end zone. (Unfortunately, it was NU's first and only score of the game in a 58-7 drubbing.)

Simmons' best year was 2009, when, as a junior, he set personal records for returns (26), yards (657) and yards per return (25.3).

By the end of his career, Simmons had established Northwestern records for returns (84), and yards (1,995), as well as returns per game (2.1) and yards per game (49.88). He still holds all of those marks today.

Reason he deserves it: Mark is second to only Simmons in Northwestern's major career categories and owns the greatest game by a Wildcat kick returner of all-time.

The skinny: Though he was already voted as Northwestern's best punt returner over the last 25 years, Mark was also a dynamite kick returner. Like Simmons, his greatest highlight as a kick returner came as a freshman, and, also like Simmons, it came in a blowout defeat.

Mark set school records for returns (nine) and return yards (273) in an embarrassing 70-23 loss to Wisconsin in the last game of the 2010 regular season. He had a winding 94-yard return when he got to the sideline and bolted past everyone for the only kickoff-return TD of his career. To put his 273-yard total in perspective, it's 82 more than No. 2 Jason Wright (191).

2011 was Mark's best year, when he set school records for both kickoffs (40) and kickoff-return yards (915) in a single season.

Mark, who only played three years plus three games, ranks second to only Simmons in kick returns (83) and return yards (1,909) in Northwestern history.

Reason he deserves it: Vault took four kickoffs back for touchdowns, the most in Northwestern and Big Ten history.

The skinny: If you judge kick returners by the number of touchdowns they score, Vault is your man.

Vault brought four kickoffs back for touchdowns in his career. His first one came as a true freshman -- what is it with these young guys? -- in 2014. He added two in 2015 to become the only man in Northwestern history with more than one in a season. He then added a final one in 2016 to put it out of reach for the foreseeable future. His four KOR TDs are also the most in Big Ten history.

How impressive is Vault's accomplishment? The next man on Northwestern's all-time kickoff-return TD list is Pug Rentner, with two, and those came in 1930 and 1931.

Vault got his money's worth on his scoring returns, too: three of the four went for 95 or more yards. His average per return of 25.3 yards is the highest number on this list and ranks fourth in school history.

Go to our Football Board to cast your vote. You can vote for Simmons, Mark or Vault, or you can vote for "Other" and identify your write-in candidate in your reply the message.

Hurry! The poll will close on Monday at noon.

Ready? CLICK HERE TO VOTE