2012 College Kickoff Specialist Rankings

Every college football kickoff specialist with enough work in the 2012 regular season (at least 30), ranked by kickoff points added. Each kickoff's expected-points result compared with the league-average kickoff, added up over the season. Onside kicks are left out. It credits the kicker and the coverage team together.

College rule from 2012 to 2017: a kickoff touchback started the receiving team at its 25, so a touchback was a good result for the kicking team. Kickoff Points Added accounts for the rule, so it is the fair way to compare kickoff specialists across leagues and seasons.

Final 2012 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

2012 College Leaders

Kickoff Touchback Percentage

Brandon McManus (Temple): 76% 37 of 49
Jeff Locke (UCLA): 74% 57 of 77
Quinn Sharp (Oklahoma State): 72% 59 of 82
Zach Hocker (Arkansas): 67% 36 of 54
Cody Parkey (Auburn): 66% 27 of 41

Full Kickoff Touchback Percentage leaderboard

Average Kickoff Return Allowed

Alejandro Maldonado (Oregon): 0.0 79 returns
Matt Nelson (Louisiana Tech): 0.0 67 returns
Drew Basil (Ohio State): 0.0 55 returns
Justin Haig (Marshall): 0.0 55 returns
Anthony Cantele (Kansas State): 0.0 53 returns

Full Average Kickoff Return Allowed leaderboard

Kickoff Points Added

Dustin Hopkins (Florida State): +17.4 88 kickoffs
Nick Marsh (Utah): +14.6 50 kickoffs
Cole Way (Tulsa): +13.7 73 kickoffs
Cade Foster (Alabama): +13.5 89 kickoffs
Jordan Williamson (Stanford): +13.5 66 kickoffs

Full Kickoff Points Added leaderboard

Average Kickoff Distance

Brandon McManus (Temple): 64.4 49 kickoffs
Will Johnson (Texas State): 64.3 32 kickoffs
Cody Parkey (Auburn): 64.2 41 kickoffs
Zach Hocker (Arkansas): 64.1 54 kickoffs
Niklas Sade (NC State): 64.0 55 kickoffs

Full Average Kickoff Distance leaderboard

Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage

Taylor Bertolet (Texas A&M): 0.0% 0 of 92
Alejandro Maldonado (Oregon): 0.0% 0 of 91
Cade Foster (Alabama): 0.0% 0 of 89
Jeff Locke (UCLA): 0.0% 0 of 77
Kramer Fyfe (Texas Tech): 0.0% 0 of 68

Full Kickoff Out of Bounds Percentage leaderboard

30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed

Alejandro Maldonado (Oregon): 0.0% 0 of 79
Matt Nelson (Louisiana Tech): 0.0% 0 of 67
Drew Basil (Ohio State): 0.0% 0 of 55
Justin Haig (Marshall): 0.0% 0 of 55
Anthony Cantele (Kansas State): 0.0% 0 of 53

Full 30+ Yard Return Percentage Allowed leaderboard

All 2012 College Kickoff Specialist Leaderboards

Kickoffs by Points Added

119 kickoff specialists qualify.

Rk	Player	Team	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Dustin Hopkins	Florida State	88	63.0	43%	48	+17.4
2	Nick Marsh	Utah	50	62.6	38%	31	+14.6
3	Cole Way	Tulsa	73	61.7	48%	37	+13.7
4	Cade Foster	Alabama	89	63.1	44%	50	+13.5
5	Jordan Williamson	Stanford	66	63.7	41%	35	+13.5
6	James Hairston	LSU	68	60.8	28%	47	+12.0
7	Scott Secor	Ball State	75	60.6	25%	52	+11.7
8	Caleb Sturgis	Florida	58	62.8	43%	30	+11.5
9	Jordan Wettstein	Minnesota	41	62.4	46%	22	+10.9
10	Sean Galvin	UCF	80	62.0	35%	48	+10.8
11	Jaron Bentrude	Utah State	57	63.7	40%	34	+10.8
12	Devon Bell	Mississippi State	55	60.6	20%	42	+10.7
13	Spencer Benton	Clemson	64	63.2	50%	32	+10.6
14	Niklas Sade	NC State	55	64.0	64%	20	+10.3
15	Brett Maher	Nebraska	80	62.4	64%	26	+9.7
16	Jaden Oberkrom	TCU	56	62.4	45%	31	+9.6
17	Ryan Norton	Syracuse	58	61.8	43%	33	+8.7
18	Chris Boswell	Rice	66	63.6	62%	24	+8.6
19	Pat O'Donnell	Cincinnati	59	63.6	49%	29	+8.6
20	Alex Garoutte	Arizona State	74	61.0	43%	38	+8.3
21	Casey Barth	North Carolina	68	60.9	22%	51	+7.9
22	Jake Wieclaw	Miami	64	60.2	14%	53	+7.8
23	Patrick O'Hara	Oklahoma	44	62.1	39%	26	+7.3
24	Justin Sorensen	BYU	48	63.6	44%	27	+7.2
25	Michael Bowlin	Washington State	43	62.8	37%	25	+6.9
26	Taylor Bertolet	Texas A&M	92	63.3	63%	34	+6.8
27	Jeff Locke	UCLA	77	63.9	74%	20	+6.5
28	Trevor Harman	Boise State	50	59.9	16%	42	+6.3
29	Kyle French	Wisconsin	44	63.5	57%	17	+6.0
30	Mitch Anderson	Florida Atlantic	39	61.7	28%	28	+5.9
31	Jeremiah Detmer	Toledo	72	61.3	28%	48	+5.7
32	Zach Hocker	Arkansas	54	64.1	67%	16	+5.5
33	Brandon McManus	Temple	49	64.4	76%	12	+5.5
34	Cody Parkey	Auburn	41	64.2	66%	13	+5.4
35	Anthony Cantele	Kansas State	85	61.1	34%	53	+4.8
36	Garrett Swanson	Fresno State	73	61.3	23%	52	+4.7
37	Matt Weller	Ohio	58	61.4	34%	37	+4.7
38	Carey Spear	Vanderbilt	60	60.9	33%	39	+4.5
39	Trevor Romaine	Oregon State	69	61.2	42%	36	+4.3
40	Jamie Lindley	Georgia	49	62.9	45%	26	+4.3
41	Chad Christen	UConn	39	62.5	36%	25	+4.3
42	Mike Meyer	Iowa	47	62.7	40%	28	+4.2
43	Mike Loftus	SMU	60	62.9	40%	34	+4.0
44	Drew Basil	Ohio State	69	60.7	19%	55	+3.6
45	Tyler Hadden	Hawai'i	48	60.0	19%	38	+3.5
46	Michael Palardy	Tennessee	70	61.3	33%	41	+3.0
47	Jimmy Newman	Wake Forest	37	61.2	57%	14	+2.6
48	Tyler Wedel	Northern Illinois	63	58.0	27%	43	+2.3
49	Will Johnson	Texas State	32	64.3	56%	13	+2.2
50	Eric Osteen	Army	48	62.8	54%	20	+2.1
51	Seamus McMorrow	San Diego State	65	63.0	48%	32	+2.1
52	Steve Flaherty	Northwestern	65	59.4	18%	49	+2.0
53	Marvin Kloss	South Florida	51	63.6	65%	15	+1.9
54	Sam Ficken	Penn State	62	61.8	40%	36	+1.9
55	Steven Valadez	UTEP	37	60.8	49%	18	+1.8
56	Brett Baer	Louisiana	33	58.1	18%	26	+1.8
57	Ross Martin	Duke	63	62.6	37%	37	+1.7
58	Freddy Cortez	Kent State	73	61.0	38%	43	+1.6
59	Paulo Henriques	Memphis	45	63.4	64%	12	+1.5
60	Andre Heidari	USC	33	61.2	27%	24	+1.4
61	Jack Griffin	Florida International	55	62.3	51%	23	+1.1
62	Kyle Brindza	Notre Dame	63	62.5	35%	41	+1.0
63	David Scully	Georgia Tech	56	61.0	29%	39	+0.9
64	Bryson Rose	Ole Miss	41	61.6	44%	21	+0.9
65	Warren Harvey	East Carolina	63	62.7	35%	39	+0.6
66	David Harman	Central Michigan	42	61.7	26%	25	+0.6
67	Kevin Muma	Michigan State	48	63.0	46%	24	−0.1
68	Kevin Harper	Pittsburgh	62	58.7	19%	47	−0.4
69	Nate Freese	Boston College	45	60.2	36%	28	−0.5
70	Craig McMahon	USC	34	60.8	47%	17	−0.8
71	Zach Olen	North Texas	46	63.2	46%	22	−0.8
72	Edwin Arceo	Iowa State	59	63.2	39%	36	−1.0
73	John Bonano	Arizona	70	59.2	46%	35	−1.1
74	Briceton Cannada	Air Force	53	60.7	45%	28	−1.7
75	Colin Amerau	Navy	52	61.1	29%	37	−1.9
76	Greg Rivara	New Mexico	48	63.3	42%	24	−2.1
77	Vincenzo D'Amato	California	51	60.7	29%	34	−2.4
78	Matt Nelson	Louisiana Tech	94	58.3	20%	67	−2.4
79	Kody Fulkerson	Eastern Michigan	46	58.1	7%	35	−2.5
80	Richie Leone	Houston	67	61.7	36%	39	−2.9
81	Adam Yates	South Carolina	53	62.6	55%	19	−3.0
82	Brooks Abbott	Virginia Tech	33	61.6	21%	25	−3.6
83	Nick Prolago	Kansas	32	55.8	13%	26	−3.7
84	Quinn Sharp	Oklahoma State	82	63.0	72%	22	−3.9
85	Harrison Waid	San José State	74	60.8	26%	47	−3.9
86	Jesse Roy	Western Kentucky	46	57.6	7%	36	−4.0
87	Anthony DiPaula	Rutgers	30	56.4	7%	24	−4.3
88	Trey Farquhar	Idaho	36	60.9	28%	25	−4.6
89	Brad Craddock	Maryland	46	59.5	9%	40	−4.7
90	Matt Wile	Michigan	62	60.3	34%	40	−4.8
91	Luke Ferguson	Arkansas State	41	55.9	24%	26	−4.8
92	Taylor Zalewski	Illinois	40	60.4	50%	19	−5.0
93	Cairo Santos	Tulane	41	64.0	59%	13	−5.2
94	Jared Roberts	Colorado State	45	60.2	36%	27	−5.5
95	Ty Long	UAB	60	63.3	52%	26	−5.5
96	Nick Rose	Texas	67	60.6	34%	42	−5.7
97	Kramer Fyfe	Texas Tech	68	58.8	31%	46	−5.8
98	Carlos Lopez	Middle Tennessee	60	60.9	12%	49	−5.8
99	Mitch Ewald	Indiana	64	61.6	45%	32	−6.0
100	Corey Smith	West Virginia	47	60.6	28%	34	−6.0
101	Justin Martin	Wyoming	53	60.1	42%	29	−7.0
102	Alejandro Maldonado	Oregon	91	59.5	13%	79	−7.0
103	Tyler Bitancurt	West Virginia	31	57.7	10%	27	−7.2
104	Justin Manton	UL Monroe	51	58.4	25%	36	−7.4
105	Travis Coons	Washington	52	58.4	19%	40	−7.5
106	Andrew Haldeman	Western Michigan	41	57.1	17%	31	−7.7
107	Michel Chapuseaux	South Alabama	41	59.0	27%	26	−7.7
108	Ian Frye	Virginia	40	60.3	40%	24	−8.8
109	John Wallace	Louisville	48	60.1	6%	43	−8.9
110	Thomas Meadows	Purdue	62	58.4	15%	50	−9.6
111	Anthony Farinella	Bowling Green	42	58.2	14%	35	−9.8
112	Colin Ditsworth	Nevada	62	59.5	31%	42	−10.6
113	Aaron Jones	Baylor	83	57.6	40%	46	−11.7
114	Chase Lansford	UNLV	40	59.6	25%	24	−11.9
115	Jed Solomon	Troy	39	57.1	28%	25	−12.8
116	Justin Haig	Marshall	65	56.6	6%	55	−15.1
117	Corey Acosta	Southern Miss	36	53.9	14%	29	−15.8
118	Mason Krysinski	Miami (OH)	50	55.8	28%	33	−17.7
119	Patrick Clarke	Buffalo	44	51.8	25%	30	−19.9

Points compare each kickoff's expected-points result with the league-average kickoff (for college, expected points come from where the receiving team started its first play). Onside kicks are listed separately and left out of points. Average distance is measured from the kicking spot to where the ball was caught or reached the goal line; a touchback counts the full distance. Returns exclude touchbacks, out-of-bounds kicks and fair catches. Minimum 30 kickoffs.

Kickoff Specialist Rankings in Other Seasons

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Other 2012 College Rankings

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