2012 College Kickoff Returns Allowed Leaders

Kickoffs the receiving team brought out of the end zone. More returns mean more chances for a big return, but also more chances to be tackled short.

Compare with return yards allowed. In 2012, Alejandro Maldonado (79) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff returns allowed, ahead of Matt Nelson (67) and Drew Basil (55). 229 kickoff specialists qualify.

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	Returns	Kickoffs	Avg dist	TB%	Points
1	Alejandro Maldonado	Oregon	79	91	59.5	13%	−7.0
2	Matt Nelson	Louisiana Tech	67	94	58.3	20%	−2.4
3	Drew Basil	Ohio State	55	69	60.7	19%	+3.6
4	Justin Haig	Marshall	55	65	56.6	6%	−15.1
5	Anthony Cantele	Kansas State	53	85	61.1	34%	+4.8
6	Jake Wieclaw	Miami	53	64	60.2	14%	+7.8
7	Scott Secor	Ball State	52	75	60.6	25%	+11.7
8	Garrett Swanson	Fresno State	52	73	61.3	23%	+4.7
9	Casey Barth	North Carolina	51	68	60.9	22%	+7.9
10	Cade Foster	Alabama	50	89	63.1	44%	+13.5
11	Thomas Meadows	Purdue	50	62	58.4	15%	−9.6
12	Steve Flaherty	Northwestern	49	65	59.4	18%	+2.0
13	Carlos Lopez	Middle Tennessee	49	60	60.9	12%	−5.8
14	Dustin Hopkins	Florida State	48	88	63.0	43%	+17.4
15	Sean Galvin	UCF	48	80	62.0	35%	+10.8
16	Jeremiah Detmer	Toledo	48	72	61.3	28%	+5.7
17	Harrison Waid	San José State	47	74	60.8	26%	−3.9
18	James Hairston	LSU	47	68	60.8	28%	+12.0
19	Kevin Harper	Pittsburgh	47	62	58.7	19%	−0.4
20	Aaron Jones	Baylor	46	83	57.6	40%	−11.7
21	Kramer Fyfe	Texas Tech	46	68	58.8	31%	−5.8
22	Freddy Cortez	Kent State	43	73	61.0	38%	+1.6
23	Tyler Wedel	Northern Illinois	43	63	58.0	27%	+2.3
24	John Wallace	Louisville	43	48	60.1	6%	−8.9
25	Nick Rose	Texas	42	67	60.6	34%	−5.7
26	Colin Ditsworth	Nevada	42	62	59.5	31%	−10.6
27	Devon Bell	Mississippi State	42	55	60.6	20%	+10.7
28	Trevor Harman	Boise State	42	50	59.9	16%	+6.3
29	Michael Palardy	Tennessee	41	70	61.3	33%	+3.0
30	Kyle Brindza	Notre Dame	41	63	62.5	35%	+1.0
31	Matt Wile	Michigan	40	62	60.3	34%	−4.8
32	Travis Coons	Washington	40	52	58.4	19%	−7.5
33	Brad Craddock	Maryland	40	46	59.5	9%	−4.7
34	Richie Leone	Houston	39	67	61.7	36%	−2.9
35	Warren Harvey	East Carolina	39	63	62.7	35%	+0.6
36	Carey Spear	Vanderbilt	39	60	60.9	33%	+4.5
37	David Scully	Georgia Tech	39	56	61.0	29%	+0.9
38	Alex Garoutte	Arizona State	38	74	61.0	43%	+8.3
39	Tyler Hadden	Hawai'i	38	48	60.0	19%	+3.5
40	Cole Way	Tulsa	37	73	61.7	48%	+13.7
41	Ross Martin	Duke	37	63	62.6	37%	+1.7
42	Matt Weller	Ohio	37	58	61.4	34%	+4.7
43	Colin Amerau	Navy	37	52	61.1	29%	−1.9
44	Trevor Romaine	Oregon State	36	69	61.2	42%	+4.3
45	Sam Ficken	Penn State	36	62	61.8	40%	+1.9
46	Edwin Arceo	Iowa State	36	59	63.2	39%	−1.0
47	Justin Manton	UL Monroe	36	51	58.4	25%	−7.4
48	Jesse Roy	Western Kentucky	36	46	57.6	7%	−4.0
49	John Bonano	Arizona	35	70	59.2	46%	−1.1
50	Jordan Williamson	Stanford	35	66	63.7	41%	+13.5
51	Kody Fulkerson	Eastern Michigan	35	46	58.1	7%	−2.5
52	Anthony Farinella	Bowling Green	35	42	58.2	14%	−9.8
53	Taylor Bertolet	Texas A&M	34	92	63.3	63%	+6.8
54	Mike Loftus	SMU	34	60	62.9	40%	+4.0
55	Jaron Bentrude	Utah State	34	57	63.7	40%	+10.8
56	Vincenzo D'Amato	California	34	51	60.7	29%	−2.4
57	Corey Smith	West Virginia	34	47	60.6	28%	−6.0
58	Ryan Norton	Syracuse	33	58	61.8	43%	+8.7
59	Mason Krysinski	Miami (OH)	33	50	55.8	28%	−17.7
60	Seamus McMorrow	San Diego State	32	65	63.0	48%	+2.1
61	Mitch Ewald	Indiana	32	64	61.6	45%	−6.0
62	Spencer Benton	Clemson	32	64	63.2	50%	+10.6
63	Jaden Oberkrom	TCU	31	56	62.4	45%	+9.6
64	Nick Marsh	Utah	31	50	62.6	38%	+14.6
65	Andrew Haldeman	Western Michigan	31	41	57.1	17%	−7.7
66	Caleb Sturgis	Florida	30	58	62.8	43%	+11.5
67	Patrick Clarke	Buffalo	30	44	51.8	25%	−19.9
68	Pat O'Donnell	Cincinnati	29	59	63.6	49%	+8.6
69	Justin Martin	Wyoming	29	53	60.1	42%	−7.0
70	Corey Acosta	Southern Miss	29	36	53.9	14%	−15.8
71	Briceton Cannada	Air Force	28	53	60.7	45%	−1.7
72	Mike Meyer	Iowa	28	47	62.7	40%	+4.2
73	Nate Freese	Boston College	28	45	60.2	36%	−0.5
74	Mitch Anderson	Florida Atlantic	28	39	61.7	28%	+5.9
75	Justin Sorensen	BYU	27	48	63.6	44%	+7.2
76	Jared Roberts	Colorado State	27	45	60.2	36%	−5.5
77	Tyler Bitancurt	West Virginia	27	31	57.7	10%	−7.2
78	Brett Maher	Nebraska	26	80	62.4	64%	+9.7
79	Ty Long	UAB	26	60	63.3	52%	−5.5
80	Jamie Lindley	Georgia	26	49	62.9	45%	+4.3
81	Patrick O'Hara	Oklahoma	26	44	62.1	39%	+7.3
82	Luke Ferguson	Arkansas State	26	41	55.9	24%	−4.8
83	Michel Chapuseaux	South Alabama	26	41	59.0	27%	−7.7
84	Brett Baer	Louisiana	26	33	58.1	18%	+1.8
85	Nick Prolago	Kansas	26	32	55.8	13%	−3.7
86	Michael Bowlin	Washington State	25	43	62.8	37%	+6.9
87	David Harman	Central Michigan	25	42	61.7	26%	+0.6
88	Chad Christen	UConn	25	39	62.5	36%	+4.3
89	Jed Solomon	Troy	25	39	57.1	28%	−12.8
90	Trey Farquhar	Idaho	25	36	60.9	28%	−4.6
91	Brooks Abbott	Virginia Tech	25	33	61.6	21%	−3.6
92	Chris Boswell	Rice	24	66	63.6	62%	+8.6
93	Greg Rivara	New Mexico	24	48	63.3	42%	−2.1
94	Kevin Muma	Michigan State	24	48	63.0	46%	−0.1
95	Chase Lansford	UNLV	24	40	59.6	25%	−11.9
96	Ian Frye	Virginia	24	40	60.3	40%	−8.8
97	Andre Heidari	USC	24	33	61.2	27%	+1.4
98	Anthony DiPaula	Rutgers	24	30	56.4	7%	−4.3
99	Trey Barrow	Missouri	24	28	58.7	11%	−2.2
100	Jack Griffin	Florida International	23	55	62.3	51%	+1.1
101	Jack Russell	Wisconsin	23	24	56.5	0%	−2.9
102	Quinn Sharp	Oklahoma State	22	82	63.0	72%	−3.9
103	Zach Olen	North Texas	22	46	63.2	46%	−0.8
104	Jordan Wettstein	Minnesota	22	41	62.4	46%	+10.9
105	Bryson Rose	Ole Miss	21	41	61.6	44%	+0.9
106	Michael Hunnicutt	Oklahoma	21	29	62.0	28%	+6.2
107	Hunter Stover	Louisiana	21	28	62.5	25%	+6.3
108	Jeff Locke	UCLA	20	77	63.9	74%	+6.5
109	Niklas Sade	NC State	20	55	64.0	64%	+10.3
110	Eric Osteen	Army	20	48	62.8	54%	+2.1
111	Brian Davis	Arkansas State	20	28	56.4	25%	+0.8
112	Adam Yates	South Carolina	19	53	62.6	55%	−3.0
113	Taylor Zalewski	Illinois	19	40	60.4	50%	−5.0
114	Steven Valadez	UTEP	18	37	60.8	49%	+1.8
115	Will Scott	Troy	18	27	60.6	33%	+4.3
116	Kyle French	Wisconsin	17	44	63.5	57%	+6.0
117	Craig McMahon	USC	17	34	60.8	47%	−0.8
118	Andrew Baggett	Missouri	17	27	60.3	33%	+1.6
119	Zach Hocker	Arkansas	16	54	64.1	67%	+5.5
120	Josh Ward	UTSA	16	27	57.6	33%	−1.4
121	Marshall Morgan	Georgia	16	26	62.8	38%	+4.5
122	Joshua Appleby	Louisville	16	17	58.1	6%	−6.5
123	Marvin Kloss	South Florida	15	51	63.6	65%	+1.9
124	Thomas Moore	North Carolina	15	18	56.8	6%	+1.0
125	Jimmy Newman	Wake Forest	14	37	61.2	57%	+2.6
126	Trent Martin	Marshall	14	19	53.1	11%	−5.6
127	Jason Dann	Texas State	14	17	61.5	18%	−2.4
128	Robert Stein	Akron	14	16	43.9	13%	−8.8
129	Cairo Santos	Tulane	13	41	64.0	59%	−5.2
130	Cody Parkey	Auburn	13	41	64.2	66%	+5.4
131	Will Johnson	Texas State	13	32	64.3	56%	+2.2
132	Zach Paul	Akron	13	28	61.0	54%	−2.0
133	Chris Tanner	Georgia Tech	13	15	57.1	7%	−7.0
134	Brandon McManus	Temple	12	49	64.4	76%	+5.5
135	Paulo Henriques	Memphis	12	45	63.4	64%	+1.5
136	Joe Mansour	Kentucky	12	22	59.4	45%	−5.4
137	Zach Grossnickle	Colorado	12	18	57.2	33%	−6.1
138	Brendon Levengood	Massachusetts	11	17	61.6	35%	+3.2
139	Dan Goodale	Boise State	11	13	54.1	15%	−0.1
140	Brock Baca	New Mexico State	10	20	61.2	50%	+1.6
141	Justin Castor	Colorado	10	16	63.4	31%	−3.3
142	Sean Ianno	UTSA	10	15	59.6	20%	+0.6
143	Kristian Stern	UTSA	10	14	60.2	14%	+2.3
144	Landon Ard	South Carolina	10	12	54.7	8%	−4.0
145	Riley Stephenson	BYU	10	11	59.6	9%	+2.3
146	Ryan Wilbourn	Arkansas State	10	11	55.6	0%	+0.8
147	Michael Branthover	Virginia Tech	9	17	59.2	35%	+1.8
148	Nathan Noble	Ole Miss	8	17	63.6	47%	+2.9
149	Connor Gagnon	Central Michigan	8	15	58.7	27%	−1.6
150	Craig McIntosh	Kentucky	8	13	63.0	31%	+1.6
151	Maxwell Johnson	New Mexico State	8	13	63.2	31%	+1.1
152	Bradley Pinion	Clemson	7	22	63.9	68%	−4.2
153	Kyle Federico	Rutgers	7	12	59.0	33%	+0.2
154	Jesse Boulnemour	Western Michigan	7	10	59.4	20%	−3.6
155	Ryan Fowler	Vanderbilt	7	8	52.1	0%	−1.1
156	Stephen Stein	Bowling Green	7	8	47.5	0%	−3.5
157	Hendrix Brakefield	Western Kentucky	6	11	57.1	18%	−4.3
158	Brian Egan	Mississippi State	6	9	59.7	33%	+2.4
159	Parker Cundiff	UTSA	6	8	55.5	25%	−1.8
160	Chance Marden	San Diego State	6	6	50.0	0%	−2.1
161	Kaleb Patterson	Miami (OH)	6	6	50.5	0%	+0.1
162	Rob Beard	Oregon	6	6	57.8	0%	−1.2
163	Tony Miliano	Cincinnati	5	6	58.7	17%	−0.3
164	Allen Hardison	Nevada	5	5	51.4	0%	−3.9
165	Wes Feer	San Diego State	5	5	54.0	0%	−5.1
166	Will Oliver	Colorado	4	7	58.0	29%	−0.5
167	Ron Doherty	Kansas	4	6	62.2	0%	−2.0
168	Mathew Sims	Northern Illinois	4	5	61.0	20%	+0.9
169	Alex Howell	Boston College	4	4	60.0	0%	−1.4
170	Anthony Melchiori	Kent State	4	4	61.5	0%	−1.6
171	Jeff Budzien	Northwestern	4	4	59.8	0%	+1.4
172	Nolan Kohorst	UNLV	4	4	43.8	0%	−2.3
173	Zach Hoffman	Air Force	4	4	50.0	0%	+0.9
174	Drew Jarrett	Virginia	3	6	63.8	50%	+1.0
175	Sean Kelley	Florida Atlantic	3	5	61.4	40%	−1.4
176	Wil Baumann	NC State	3	5	66.4	40%	−1.1
177	Bobby Puyol	UConn	3	4	53.5	0%	−2.7
178	Sam Martin	Houston	3	4	56.0	25%	+0.7
179	Chandler Catanzaro	Clemson	3	3	64.3	0%	+0.9
180	Justin Doerner	Rutgers	3	3	56.7	0%	+1.6
181	Justin Moore	Georgia Tech	3	3	58.0	0%	−3.8
182	Bobby Stonebraker	Oklahoma State	2	5	62.2	60%	+0.9
183	Maurice Poyadue	Fresno State	2	4	64.3	50%	+1.4
184	Austin Lopez	San José State	2	3	61.3	33%	−0.5
185	Cody Journell	Virginia Tech	2	3	53.3	33%	−0.6
186	Ryan DeNucci	TCU	2	3	61.7	33%	+1.0
187	Anthony Betters	Baylor	2	2	52.5	0%	−0.1
188	Brock Warren	Utah State	2	2	62.5	0%	+0.3
189	Cory Hanson	Northern Illinois	2	2	59.5	0%	+0.8
190	Derrick Brodus	Tennessee	2	2	62.5	0%	+0.2
191	Gerald Levano	Boston College	2	2	42.0	0%	−0.4
192	Jason Dunn	Texas State	2	2	63.0	0%	−0.2
193	Justin Sims	Southern Miss	2	2	46.0	0%	−3.1
194	Kyle Niiro	Hawai'i	2	2	58.5	0%	−0.2
195	Nick Hodgson	Oklahoma	2	2	64.0	0%	+0.7
196	Quinton Spain	West Virginia	2	2	63.5	0%	+0.1
197	Tress Way	Oklahoma	2	2	42.0	0%	−3.6
198	William Russ	Texas	2	2	64.0	0%	+1.0
199	Jordan Wetstein	Minnesota	1	4	56.3	50%	−2.0
200	Brad Phillips	Florida	1	3	62.7	67%	−0.1
201	E.J. Scott	Virginia	1	3	64.7	67%	+0.9
202	Chad McCloskey	Temple	1	2	61.5	50%	+0.1
203	Dominic Twitty	New Mexico	1	2	60.5	0%	−0.1
204	Josh Thompson	Utah State	1	2	55.0	50%	−0.8
205	Kyle Clinton	Ohio State	1	2	63.5	50%	+0.5
206	Matt Goudis	Miami	1	2	55.0	0%	−0.4
207	Matt Green	Oklahoma State	1	2	65.0	50%	+0.8
208	Ammon Lakip	Clemson	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.6
209	Andrew Bowman	Texas Tech	1	1	61.0	0%	−0.6
210	Andrew Furney	Washington State	1	1	64.0	0%	+1.0
211	Andrew Shapiro	Fresno State	1	1	52.0	0%	+0.3
212	Chris Hawthorne	Minnesota	1	1	65.0	0%	−0.7
213	Chris Winkler	Baylor	1	1	51.0	0%	+0.5
214	Dakota Warren	UTEP	1	1	65.0	0%	+0.5
215	Evans Okotcha	UTSA	1	1	84.0	0%	−0.2
216	Gabe Loper	South Alabama	1	1	54.0	0%	−0.5
217	Jake Capraro	New Mexico State	1	1	9.0	0%	−3.0
218	Kirby Van Der Kamp	Iowa State	1	1	46.0	0%	−1.6
219	Lamarcus Farmer	UAB	1	1	65.0	0%	−2.2
220	Matt Johns	Virginia	1	1	61.0	0%	+0.8
221	Neely Sullivent	Arkansas State	1	1	64.0	0%	−0.2
222	Nick Jordan	Texas	1	1	56.0	0%	−1.4
223	Noah Beito	California	1	1	64.0	0%	+0.6
224	Parker Herrington	Air Force	1	1	51.0	0%	−1.0
225	Ryan Neir	Northern Illinois	1	1	43.0	0%	−1.8
226	Ryan Rodwell	Georgia Tech	1	1	49.0	0%	−1.8
227	Ryan Rome	Tulane	1	1	60.0	0%	+0.1
228	Sean Poole	Georgia Tech	1	1	39.0	0%	−2.2
229	Seth Broekhuizen	Michigan	1	1	65.0	0%	0.0

All 2012 College kickoff specialist rankings

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

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