2011 College Fair Catch Percentage Leaders

The share of a punter's punts that the returner fair caught instead of running back. Public play-by-play does not record hang time, so the fair-catch rate is the best available stand-in: a punt that hangs long enough for the coverage team to arrive leaves the returner no choice but to wave for a fair catch.

Higher usually means better hang time, though a returner who is no threat also calls for more fair catches. College punts whose play text does not say how they ended are left out of the count. In 2011, Ryan Neir (67.6%) led college football punters in fair catch percentage, ahead of Cody Mandell (66.7%) and Ryan Doerr (65.9%). 115 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 37.0%.

Final 2011 regular-season numbers, updated October 23, 2026.

Rk	Player	Team	FC %	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	Points
1	Ryan Neir	Northern Illinois	67.6%	47	35.8	35.8	15	28%	0%	−6.6
2	Cody Mandell	Alabama	66.7%	36	38.9	37.7	11	32%	6%	−1.3
3	Ryan Doerr	Kansas State	65.9%	59	40.5	38.9	18	30%	7%	−4.2
4	Ryan Quigley	Boston College	63.8%	69	38.5	37.9	30	43%	3%	−0.4
5	Dalton Botts	Miami	63.3%	48	42.7	41.4	13	28%	6%	+6.7
6	Wil Baumann	NC State	63.0%	64	37.4	36.6	21	33%	5%	−7.2
7	Steven Clark	Auburn	62.5%	69	40.5	39.8	32	48%	3%	+8.1
8	Alex Dunnachie	Hawai'i	61.9%	56	39.7	40.3	21	41%	0%	+7.4
9	Ben Buchanan	Ohio State	60.0%	65	40.8	40.2	27	42%	3%	+6.1
10	Justin Tucker	Texas	59.5%	55	38.5	37.6	17	30%	2%	−13.9
11	Brad Nortman	Wisconsin	58.6%	44	42.1	39.9	20	44%	7%	+2.8
12	Cole Way	Tulsa	58.3%	34	38.0	36.2	9	25%	3%	−12.4
13	Josh Hubner	Arizona State	56.8%	56	41.8	39.1	22	40%	11%	+6.3
14	Dylan Breeding	Arkansas	56.5%	49	45.2	44.6	18	38%	4%	+5.5
15	Eric Guthrie	Iowa	55.9%	47	40.8	40.0	21	46%	7%	+4.9
16	Cole Wagner	UConn	55.0%	80	41.1	39.9	27	34%	6%	+3.6
17	Jacob Schum	Buffalo	53.8%	61	39.0	38.4	13	22%	2%	−9.7
18	Jackson Rice	Oregon	53.6%	45	45.8	45.2	20	44%	4%	+10.4
19	Dawson Zimmerman	Clemson	52.8%	59	42.0	38.6	21	36%	17%	−4.4
20	Ryan Epperson	Texas A&M	52.6%	48	40.9	38.9	20	42%	10%	+0.1
21	Kyle Christy	Florida	52.4%	27	41.3	40.4	10	33%	7%	−0.7
22	Justin Brockhaus-Kann	South Florida	51.0%	62	36.3	35.3	23	38%	7%	−4.0
23	Ryan Allen	Louisiana Tech	50.0%	78	46.3	44.5	39	53%	7%	+16.3
24	Brian Stahovich	San Diego State	50.0%	57	43.4	39.8	20	36%	18%	+12.6
25	Josh Bleser	Louisville	50.0%	42	38.5	35.9	18	46%	8%	+1.0
26	Bobby Cowan	Idaho	49.1%	87	46.5	44.2	19	22%	11%	+21.0
27	Andrew Shapiro	Fresno State	49.0%	66	39.7	38.2	23	35%	8%	−2.6
28	Mickey Groody	Florida Atlantic	48.9%	68	42.0	40.1	18	23%	7%	−5.2
29	Alex Wulfeck	Wake Forest	48.6%	62	39.7	38.4	15	25%	7%	−8.5
30	Paul Hershey	Ohio	48.6%	48	39.5	36.7	24	49%	10%	+4.7
31	Joey Scribner-Howard	South Carolina	48.5%	47	38.9	37.5	11	24%	5%	−10.8
32	Kiel Rasp	Washington	48.0%	36	45.1	42.9	9	26%	9%	+1.4
33	Pablo Beltran	Navy	46.4%	35	37.5	35.9	11	31%	6%	−2.1
34	Adam Pines	Indiana	46.3%	71	38.4	37.9	18	26%	1%	−8.7
35	David Green	Stanford	46.2%	32	41.7	37.9	15	43%	14%	−0.4
36	Richie Hogan	Central Michigan	45.9%	64	39.4	37.9	22	35%	6%	−16.1
37	Baker Swedenburg	Mississippi State	44.2%	66	41.9	40.1	22	33%	11%	+5.7
38	Jonathan Fisher	Syracuse	44.0%	43	39.3	38.0	10	23%	7%	−7.8
39	Jake Capraro	New Mexico State	43.9%	74	39.3	38.9	20	30%	3%	−8.5
40	Matt Darr	Tennessee	42.9%	40	38.1	37.3	12	33%	6%	−1.6
41	Aaron Munoz	UL Monroe	42.3%	51	37.3	35.4	13	23%	4%	−25.2
42	Sean Sellwood	Utah	41.9%	42	44.2	41.3	14	33%	14%	+9.5
43	Nick Ferrara	Maryland	41.9%	57	39.5	38.4	22	39%	4%	+4.8
44	Anson Kelton	TCU	41.4%	42	39.8	37.1	12	29%	14%	−0.4
45	Kyle Negrete	USC	41.4%	39	40.1	40.3	22	58%	0%	+3.9
46	Thomas Hibbard	North Carolina	41.2%	47	38.4	37.5	14	30%	4%	−6.4
47	Ryan Erxleben	Texas Tech	40.5%	57	41.7	39.2	20	36%	11%	+2.8
48	Kyle Martens	Rice	40.4%	78	43.6	42.2	25	34%	8%	+10.6
49	Dan Orseske	Minnesota	39.6%	57	37.0	35.2	13	23%	9%	−15.5
50	Jay Karutz	Eastern Michigan	39.5%	58	38.8	38.0	30	47%	5%	+3.4
51	Ben Turk	Notre Dame	39.4%	46	40.2	38.5	15	33%	9%	−4.6
52	Matt Yoklic	Pittsburgh	38.9%	57	40.9	39.1	20	35%	9%	+0.9
53	Justin DuVernois	Illinois	38.5%	53	38.3	37.3	18	33%	5%	−9.5
54	Trey Ragland	UAB	38.5%	55	40.6	38.7	21	38%	9%	−1.2
55	Drew Butler	Georgia	37.9%	51	44.3	42.7	20	39%	8%	+10.8
56	Darragh O'Neill	Colorado	37.5%	74	42.6	41.7	26	36%	3%	−0.5
57	Jonathan Ginsburgh	Tulane	37.5%	59	41.7	39.6	16	28%	7%	+0.1
58	Will Atterberry	North Texas	37.0%	74	43.5	41.6	29	39%	9%	+7.5
59	Anthony Fera	Penn State	36.6%	55	42.0	37.9	21	39%	20%	+4.5
60	Pete Kontodiakos	Colorado State	36.4%	57	43.6	42.4	14	25%	5%	+10.3
61	Brad Wing	LSU	36.1%	50	43.9	41.6	26	51%	8%	+15.5
62	Josh Brisk	Florida International	35.9%	49	42.2	38.5	14	26%	19%	−2.1
63	Tress Way	Oklahoma	35.6%	57	41.2	39.1	33	58%	11%	+3.2
64	Nathaniel Toulson	Middle Tennessee	35.0%	49	40.2	36.9	17	39%	5%	−6.6
65	Ron Doherty	Kansas	34.9%	64	42.8	40.9	17	27%	9%	−0.2
66	Tyler Campbell	Ole Miss	34.7%	72	43.6	41.5	28	39%	10%	+8.4
67	Richie Leone	Houston	34.4%	45	41.1	37.9	12	27%	16%	+0.8
68	Kase Whitehead	Marshall	33.3%	69	40.0	38.4	19	31%	5%	−11.1
69	Jeff Locke	UCLA	33.3%	56	44.1	42.9	25	45%	7%	+6.9
70	Justin Doerner	Rutgers	33.3%	58	39.3	38.0	22	39%	9%	−2.0
71	Ben Armer	Western Michigan	33.3%	39	41.2	39.0	23	56%	12%	+5.1
72	Mike Sadler	Michigan State	32.6%	53	39.8	37.4	25	45%	9%	−2.6
73	Cody Webster	Purdue	30.0%	44	43.3	42.5	18	39%	0%	+5.2
74	Riley Stephenson	BYU	29.6%	38	42.8	39.5	15	39%	16%	+1.6
75	Austin McCoy	Wyoming	29.2%	72	40.3	38.1	22	31%	11%	−0.9
76	Hendrix Brakefield	Western Kentucky	28.9%	64	41.6	40.0	28	44%	8%	+1.2
77	Bryan Anger	California	28.6%	46	44.6	42.0	19	41%	9%	+3.2
78	David Bohner	UCF	28.6%	42	41.2	38.5	17	41%	15%	+1.1
79	Sean Poole	Georgia Tech	28.6%	31	38.7	38.1	5	16%	3%	−4.8
80	Harrison Waid	San José State	28.1%	52	42.8	40.8	17	34%	10%	+4.3
81	Ben Skaer	New Mexico	27.9%	73	39.7	38.8	21	29%	4%	−17.8
82	Scott Kovanda	Ball State	27.3%	57	43.6	41.5	23	39%	7%	+10.3
83	Brett Maher	Nebraska	26.7%	54	45.0	43.8	26	49%	6%	+8.1
84	Quinn Sharp	Oklahoma State	26.7%	42	46.6	43.0	15	37%	17%	+7.1
85	Daniel Wagner	Washington State	26.5%	55	40.8	38.7	16	29%	4%	−4.4
86	Jake Hurst	Nevada	26.5%	48	41.9	40.3	22	46%	8%	−2.9
87	Brett Baer	Louisiana	25.9%	75	40.5	38.6	28	38%	7%	+2.6
88	Brandon Williams	Northwestern	25.7%	44	40.5	35.8	12	29%	17%	+0.4
89	Kirby Van Der Kamp	Iowa State	25.6%	64	42.7	39.8	21	33%	16%	+2.3
90	Zack Campbell	Akron	25.0%	77	38.1	37.5	16	23%	4%	−18.5
91	Jimmy Howell	Virginia	25.0%	61	39.4	37.8	23	38%	8%	−3.7
92	Brian Schmiedebusch	Bowling Green	25.0%	57	45.3	42.4	19	34%	14%	+12.2
93	Richard Kent	Vanderbilt	25.0%	55	43.3	42.2	20	38%	8%	+10.4
94	Matt Stone	SMU	25.0%	51	36.9	35.6	12	29%	5%	−16.1
95	Ian Campbell	UTEP	23.8%	48	46.1	44.4	15	36%	12%	+8.3
96	Ryan Tydlacka	Kentucky	23.3%	79	43.6	42.0	19	25%	9%	+10.5
97	Vince Penza	Toledo	21.4%	40	37.9	35.9	10	24%	7%	−12.0
98	Michael Molinari	West Virginia	20.8%	30	37.2	35.9	11	37%	7%	−1.4
99	Brad Elkin	Boise State	20.7%	41	41.8	40.4	24	59%	7%	+5.6
100	Alex King	Duke	20.0%	50	42.1	39.7	18	35%	8%	+0.7
101	Pat O'Donnell	Cincinnati	19.4%	56	43.9	41.0	25	46%	13%	+11.4
102	Trey Barrow	Missouri	17.8%	60	45.0	38.8	12	20%	30%	+7.2
103	Will Goggans	Troy	17.4%	63	41.2	38.7	21	33%	8%	+1.0
104	Tom Hornsey	Memphis	17.1%	95	42.0	41.0	18	24%	5%	−17.9
105	Chase Lansford	UNLV	17.1%	75	41.2	40.7	17	24%	3%	−5.1
106	Johnny Hekker	Oregon State	16.2%	50	44.0	42.7	22	48%	13%	+12.9
107	Kyle Dugandzic	Arizona	16.0%	40	46.0	41.0	15	38%	25%	+7.8
108	Peter Boehme	Southern Miss	15.4%	38	42.8	40.1	14	36%	13%	+4.9
109	Ben Ryan	East Carolina	13.0%	42	40.0	38.1	13	33%	10%	−4.5
110	Shawn Powell	Florida State	12.9%	49	47.0	45.3	23	47%	10%	+17.6
111	Matt Rinehart	Kent State	12.5%	78	42.8	39.6	23	28%	13%	−12.7
112	Zac Murphy	Miami (OH)	11.8%	56	39.1	36.8	17	30%	5%	−9.0
113	Chris Boldt	Army	9.5%	31	39.8	38.6	11	37%	7%	−1.3
114	Brandon McManus	Temple	7.7%	43	46.2	40.8	15	35%	26%	+3.2
115	Tyler Bennett	Utah State	6.3%	53	44.2	42.4	19	37%	12%	+3.7

All 2011 College punter rankings

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