2012 College Kickoff Touchback Percentage Leaders

The share of a kickoff specialist's kickoffs that were touchbacks. High means power; whether it is good depends on the rules and the coach's plan.

More is better under this season's rules: a touchback ends the play with no return. Only specialists with enough kickoffs are ranked. In 2012, Brandon McManus (76%) led college football kickoff specialists in kickoff touchback percentage, ahead of Jeff Locke (74%) and Quinn Sharp (72%). 119 kickoff specialists qualify (minimum 30 kickoffs). The median qualified kickoff specialist had 36%.

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

All 2012 College kickoff specialist rankings

Kickoff Touchback Percentage 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…