2012 College Average Kickoff Return Allowed Leaders

Return yards divided by returns. It shows how well his kicks and coverage contain returners.

Lower is better. Only specialists with enough returns are ranked. In 2012, Alejandro Maldonado (0.0) topped college football kickoff specialists in average kickoff return allowed, ahead of Matt Nelson (0.0) and Drew Basil (0.0). 146 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 10 returns). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 0.0.

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.

Rk	Player	Team	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Returns	Points
1	Alejandro Maldonado	Oregon	91	59.5	13%	79	−7.0
2	Matt Nelson	Louisiana Tech	94	58.3	20%	67	−2.4
3	Drew Basil	Ohio State	69	60.7	19%	55	+3.6
4	Justin Haig	Marshall	65	56.6	6%	55	−15.1
5	Anthony Cantele	Kansas State	85	61.1	34%	53	+4.8
6	Jake Wieclaw	Miami	64	60.2	14%	53	+7.8
7	Garrett Swanson	Fresno State	73	61.3	23%	52	+4.7
8	Scott Secor	Ball State	75	60.6	25%	52	+11.7
9	Casey Barth	North Carolina	68	60.9	22%	51	+7.9
10	Cade Foster	Alabama	89	63.1	44%	50	+13.5
11	Thomas Meadows	Purdue	62	58.4	15%	50	−9.6
12	Carlos Lopez	Middle Tennessee	60	60.9	12%	49	−5.8
13	Steve Flaherty	Northwestern	65	59.4	18%	49	+2.0
14	Dustin Hopkins	Florida State	88	63.0	43%	48	+17.4
15	Jeremiah Detmer	Toledo	72	61.3	28%	48	+5.7
16	Sean Galvin	UCF	80	62.0	35%	48	+10.8
17	Harrison Waid	San José State	74	60.8	26%	47	−3.9
18	James Hairston	LSU	68	60.8	28%	47	+12.0
19	Kevin Harper	Pittsburgh	62	58.7	19%	47	−0.4
20	Aaron Jones	Baylor	83	57.6	40%	46	−11.7
21	Kramer Fyfe	Texas Tech	68	58.8	31%	46	−5.8
22	Freddy Cortez	Kent State	73	61.0	38%	43	+1.6
23	John Wallace	Louisville	48	60.1	6%	43	−8.9
24	Tyler Wedel	Northern Illinois	63	58.0	27%	43	+2.3
25	Colin Ditsworth	Nevada	62	59.5	31%	42	−10.6
26	Devon Bell	Mississippi State	55	60.6	20%	42	+10.7
27	Nick Rose	Texas	67	60.6	34%	42	−5.7
28	Trevor Harman	Boise State	50	59.9	16%	42	+6.3
29	Kyle Brindza	Notre Dame	63	62.5	35%	41	+1.0
30	Michael Palardy	Tennessee	70	61.3	33%	41	+3.0
31	Brad Craddock	Maryland	46	59.5	9%	40	−4.7
32	Matt Wile	Michigan	62	60.3	34%	40	−4.8
33	Travis Coons	Washington	52	58.4	19%	40	−7.5
34	Carey Spear	Vanderbilt	60	60.9	33%	39	+4.5
35	David Scully	Georgia Tech	56	61.0	29%	39	+0.9
36	Richie Leone	Houston	67	61.7	36%	39	−2.9
37	Warren Harvey	East Carolina	63	62.7	35%	39	+0.6
38	Alex Garoutte	Arizona State	74	61.0	43%	38	+8.3
39	Tyler Hadden	Hawai'i	48	60.0	19%	38	+3.5
40	Cole Way	Tulsa	73	61.7	48%	37	+13.7
41	Colin Amerau	Navy	52	61.1	29%	37	−1.9
42	Matt Weller	Ohio	58	61.4	34%	37	+4.7
43	Ross Martin	Duke	63	62.6	37%	37	+1.7
44	Edwin Arceo	Iowa State	59	63.2	39%	36	−1.0
45	Jesse Roy	Western Kentucky	46	57.6	7%	36	−4.0
46	Justin Manton	UL Monroe	51	58.4	25%	36	−7.4
47	Sam Ficken	Penn State	62	61.8	40%	36	+1.9
48	Trevor Romaine	Oregon State	69	61.2	42%	36	+4.3
49	Anthony Farinella	Bowling Green	42	58.2	14%	35	−9.8
50	John Bonano	Arizona	70	59.2	46%	35	−1.1
51	Jordan Williamson	Stanford	66	63.7	41%	35	+13.5
52	Kody Fulkerson	Eastern Michigan	46	58.1	7%	35	−2.5
53	Corey Smith	West Virginia	47	60.6	28%	34	−6.0
54	Jaron Bentrude	Utah State	57	63.7	40%	34	+10.8
55	Mike Loftus	SMU	60	62.9	40%	34	+4.0
56	Taylor Bertolet	Texas A&M	92	63.3	63%	34	+6.8
57	Vincenzo D'Amato	California	51	60.7	29%	34	−2.4
58	Mason Krysinski	Miami (OH)	50	55.8	28%	33	−17.7
59	Ryan Norton	Syracuse	58	61.8	43%	33	+8.7
60	Mitch Ewald	Indiana	64	61.6	45%	32	−6.0
61	Seamus McMorrow	San Diego State	65	63.0	48%	32	+2.1
62	Spencer Benton	Clemson	64	63.2	50%	32	+10.6
63	Andrew Haldeman	Western Michigan	41	57.1	17%	31	−7.7
64	Jaden Oberkrom	TCU	56	62.4	45%	31	+9.6
65	Nick Marsh	Utah	50	62.6	38%	31	+14.6
66	Caleb Sturgis	Florida	58	62.8	43%	30	+11.5
67	Patrick Clarke	Buffalo	44	51.8	25%	30	−19.9
68	Corey Acosta	Southern Miss	36	53.9	14%	29	−15.8
69	Justin Martin	Wyoming	53	60.1	42%	29	−7.0
70	Pat O'Donnell	Cincinnati	59	63.6	49%	29	+8.6
71	Briceton Cannada	Air Force	53	60.7	45%	28	−1.7
72	Mike Meyer	Iowa	47	62.7	40%	28	+4.2
73	Mitch Anderson	Florida Atlantic	39	61.7	28%	28	+5.9
74	Nate Freese	Boston College	45	60.2	36%	28	−0.5
75	Jared Roberts	Colorado State	45	60.2	36%	27	−5.5
76	Justin Sorensen	BYU	48	63.6	44%	27	+7.2
77	Tyler Bitancurt	West Virginia	31	57.7	10%	27	−7.2
78	Brett Baer	Louisiana	33	58.1	18%	26	+1.8
79	Brett Maher	Nebraska	80	62.4	64%	26	+9.7
80	Jamie Lindley	Georgia	49	62.9	45%	26	+4.3
81	Luke Ferguson	Arkansas State	41	55.9	24%	26	−4.8
82	Michel Chapuseaux	South Alabama	41	59.0	27%	26	−7.7
83	Nick Prolago	Kansas	32	55.8	13%	26	−3.7
84	Patrick O'Hara	Oklahoma	44	62.1	39%	26	+7.3
85	Ty Long	UAB	60	63.3	52%	26	−5.5
86	Brooks Abbott	Virginia Tech	33	61.6	21%	25	−3.6
87	Chad Christen	UConn	39	62.5	36%	25	+4.3
88	David Harman	Central Michigan	42	61.7	26%	25	+0.6
89	Jed Solomon	Troy	39	57.1	28%	25	−12.8
90	Michael Bowlin	Washington State	43	62.8	37%	25	+6.9
91	Trey Farquhar	Idaho	36	60.9	28%	25	−4.6
92	Andre Heidari	USC	33	61.2	27%	24	+1.4
93	Anthony DiPaula	Rutgers	30	56.4	7%	24	−4.3
94	Chase Lansford	UNLV	40	59.6	25%	24	−11.9
95	Chris Boswell	Rice	66	63.6	62%	24	+8.6
96	Greg Rivara	New Mexico	48	63.3	42%	24	−2.1
97	Ian Frye	Virginia	40	60.3	40%	24	−8.8
98	Kevin Muma	Michigan State	48	63.0	46%	24	−0.1
99	Trey Barrow	Missouri	28	58.7	11%	24	−2.2
100	Jack Griffin	Florida International	55	62.3	51%	23	+1.1
101	Jack Russell	Wisconsin	24	56.5	0%	23	−2.9
102	Jordan Wettstein	Minnesota	41	62.4	46%	22	+10.9
103	Quinn Sharp	Oklahoma State	82	63.0	72%	22	−3.9
104	Zach Olen	North Texas	46	63.2	46%	22	−0.8
105	Bryson Rose	Ole Miss	41	61.6	44%	21	+0.9
106	Hunter Stover	Louisiana	28	62.5	25%	21	+6.3
107	Michael Hunnicutt	Oklahoma	29	62.0	28%	21	+6.2
108	Brian Davis	Arkansas State	28	56.4	25%	20	+0.8
109	Eric Osteen	Army	48	62.8	54%	20	+2.1
110	Jeff Locke	UCLA	77	63.9	74%	20	+6.5
111	Niklas Sade	NC State	55	64.0	64%	20	+10.3
112	Adam Yates	South Carolina	53	62.6	55%	19	−3.0
113	Taylor Zalewski	Illinois	40	60.4	50%	19	−5.0
114	Steven Valadez	UTEP	37	60.8	49%	18	+1.8
115	Will Scott	Troy	27	60.6	33%	18	+4.3
116	Andrew Baggett	Missouri	27	60.3	33%	17	+1.6
117	Craig McMahon	USC	34	60.8	47%	17	−0.8
118	Kyle French	Wisconsin	44	63.5	57%	17	+6.0
119	Josh Ward	UTSA	27	57.6	33%	16	−1.4
120	Joshua Appleby	Louisville	17	58.1	6%	16	−6.5
121	Marshall Morgan	Georgia	26	62.8	38%	16	+4.5
122	Zach Hocker	Arkansas	54	64.1	67%	16	+5.5
123	Marvin Kloss	South Florida	51	63.6	65%	15	+1.9
124	Thomas Moore	North Carolina	18	56.8	6%	15	+1.0
125	Jason Dann	Texas State	17	61.5	18%	14	−2.4
126	Jimmy Newman	Wake Forest	37	61.2	57%	14	+2.6
127	Robert Stein	Akron	16	43.9	13%	14	−8.8
128	Trent Martin	Marshall	19	53.1	11%	14	−5.6
129	Cairo Santos	Tulane	41	64.0	59%	13	−5.2
130	Chris Tanner	Georgia Tech	15	57.1	7%	13	−7.0
131	Cody Parkey	Auburn	41	64.2	66%	13	+5.4
132	Will Johnson	Texas State	32	64.3	56%	13	+2.2
133	Zach Paul	Akron	28	61.0	54%	13	−2.0
134	Brandon McManus	Temple	49	64.4	76%	12	+5.5
135	Joe Mansour	Kentucky	22	59.4	45%	12	−5.4
136	Paulo Henriques	Memphis	45	63.4	64%	12	+1.5
137	Zach Grossnickle	Colorado	18	57.2	33%	12	−6.1
138	Brendon Levengood	Massachusetts	17	61.6	35%	11	+3.2
139	Dan Goodale	Boise State	13	54.1	15%	11	−0.1
140	Brock Baca	New Mexico State	20	61.2	50%	10	+1.6
141	Justin Castor	Colorado	16	63.4	31%	10	−3.3
142	Kristian Stern	UTSA	14	60.2	14%	10	+2.3
143	Landon Ard	South Carolina	12	54.7	8%	10	−4.0
144	Riley Stephenson	BYU	11	59.6	9%	10	+2.3
145	Ryan Wilbourn	Arkansas State	11	55.6	0%	10	+0.8
146	Sean Ianno	UTSA	15	59.6	20%	10	+0.6

All 2012 College kickoff specialist rankings

Average Kickoff Return Allowed in other seasons: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2011

More 2012 College kickoff specialist leaderboards

Other 2012 College rankings

Loading the interactive stats…