2012 College Return Yards Allowed per Punt Leaders

Total return yards allowed divided by every punt that was not blocked, so a fair catch or an out-of-bounds punt counts as zero. College punts whose play text records no outcome are left out. It is the fairest single measure of how much a returner gets to work with.

Lowest comes first. Coverage teams share the credit. In 2012, Alexander Kinal (0.0) topped college football punters in return yards allowed per punt, ahead of Cole Wagner (0.0) and Darragh O'Neill (0.0). 119 punters qualify (minimum 30 punts). The median qualified punter had 0.0.

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

Rk	Player	Team	Punts	Avg	Net	In 20	In 20 %	TB %	FC %	Points
1	Alexander Kinal	Wake Forest	95	40.7	40.1	26	30%	6%	49%	−4.2
2	Cole Wagner	UConn	78	40.5	38.5	29	37%	10%	37%	+6.0
3	Darragh O'Neill	Colorado	76	43.5	42.6	28	37%	4%	53%	+3.6
4	Nathan Renfro	Maryland	75	39.7	38.3	17	23%	7%	47%	−17.1
5	Tyler Grassman	Buffalo	80	35.4	34.0	19	26%	4%	41%	−28.4
6	Drew Meyer	Wisconsin	73	41.2	39.9	35	48%	7%	60%	+12.2
7	Justin DuVernois	Illinois	73	41.9	41.4	19	26%	3%	34%	−1.3
8	Cole Way	Tulsa	69	39.4	38.0	22	31%	1%	42%	−8.0
9	Justin Doerner	Rutgers	71	37.4	35.3	17	24%	10%	30%	−25.5
10	Wil Baumann	NC State	71	39.3	37.3	19	27%	7%	62%	−11.1
11	Jay Karutz	Eastern Michigan	69	42.7	41.3	24	34%	4%	45%	−0.2
12	Jeff Locke	UCLA	71	43.4	41.5	33	47%	10%	56%	+7.6
13	Trey Barrow	Missouri	68	43.0	41.1	31	44%	4%	49%	+1.1
14	Will Atterberry	North Texas	70	41.3	38.1	26	37%	16%	38%	+2.4
15	A.J. Hughes	Virginia Tech	68	40.3	39.5	25	36%	3%	41%	−1.7
16	Mike Sadler	Michigan State	68	43.3	41.2	26	38%	7%	38%	−1.6
17	Scott Garber	South Alabama	72	39.6	39.0	19	28%	3%	38%	−12.2
18	Steven Clark	Auburn	70	39.8	38.6	19	28%	6%	58%	+4.8
19	Kirby Van Der Kamp	Iowa State	69	41.6	41.0	27	40%	3%	46%	+10.3
20	Chase Lansford	UNLV	65	41.8	39.8	23	35%	12%	29%	+3.3
21	Will Monday	Duke	66	44.1	42.3	20	30%	9%	27%	+4.4
22	Alec Vozenilek	Virginia	66	40.6	39.2	19	29%	6%	35%	+3.5
23	Bobby Cowan	Idaho	65	42.8	41.5	16	25%	3%	46%	+0.3
24	Brian Schmiedebusch	Bowling Green	65	41.8	38.3	23	35%	18%	18%	+0.8
25	Cody Webster	Purdue	66	42.5	39.4	28	43%	11%	43%	+3.9
26	Anthony Melchiori	Kent State	66	42.5	41.0	27	42%	8%	52%	+16.5
27	Cayle Chapman-Brown	New Mexico State	70	44.3	43.2	24	38%	6%	42%	+3.1
28	Kyle Christy	Florida	62	46.1	43.5	30	48%	10%	49%	+16.7
29	Tom Hornsey	Memphis	60	43.4	42.3	29	47%	3%	23%	+6.3
30	Tim Gleeson	Wyoming	62	43.0	41.1	24	39%	10%	30%	−8.2
31	Christian Eldred	Minnesota	63	38.5	37.2	22	37%	7%	50%	−3.5
32	Daniel Zychlinski	Stanford	60	42.9	40.6	27	45%	12%	42%	+8.6
33	Landon Foster	Kentucky	61	42.9	41.5	18	30%	7%	35%	+3.8
34	Brad Wing	LSU	59	44.8	41.4	22	37%	17%	39%	+12.7
35	Cole Leininger	California	60	40.0	39.8	17	29%	2%	59%	−7.1
36	Gerald Levano	Boston College	57	42.0	40.5	12	20%	5%	20%	−8.0
37	Jamie Boyle	UCF	59	40.7	38.3	26	44%	12%	33%	+6.5
38	Richie Leone	Houston	60	45.5	43.6	18	31%	10%	57%	+7.2
39	Andrew Shapiro	Fresno State	58	42.4	40.0	17	29%	12%	22%	+2.9
40	Ben Buchanan	Ohio State	59	41.0	39.0	17	29%	7%	60%	+3.4
41	Brandon Williams	Northwestern	59	39.6	39.3	19	33%	2%	47%	−1.7
42	Brett Maher	Nebraska	58	41.7	40.8	19	33%	5%	24%	−4.0
43	Collin Barber	Georgia	57	41.6	40.5	22	38%	5%	64%	+6.8
44	Ian Campbell	UTEP	66	42.6	41.4	20	34%	7%	31%	+8.0
45	Zac Murphy	Miami (OH)	57	40.5	38.5	12	21%	11%	31%	−7.9
46	Ethan Perry	TCU	56	45.2	41.6	22	39%	18%	38%	+6.7
47	Michael Bowlin	Washington State	58	41.9	40.5	11	20%	7%	32%	+2.7
48	Peter Boehme	Southern Miss	63	40.0	39.1	18	32%	5%	35%	−8.7
49	Tyler Bennett	Utah State	57	41.8	40.4	30	54%	5%	46%	+6.2
50	Zach Paul	Akron	65	40.9	39.5	17	30%	5%	34%	−3.4
51	Brandon McManus	Temple	54	45.1	42.5	16	29%	9%	43%	+6.5
52	Justin Brockhaus-Kann	South Florida	54	40.6	37.9	19	35%	9%	65%	+3.9
53	Keith Kostol	Oregon State	55	42.1	40.9	24	44%	5%	51%	+9.7
54	Matt Yoklic	Pittsburgh	55	41.1	38.6	18	33%	9%	24%	−6.4
55	Pat O'Donnell	Cincinnati	55	42.0	39.8	25	45%	11%	23%	+3.1
56	Dalton Botts	Miami	54	40.5	39.3	29	54%	6%	39%	+11.3
57	Dylan Breeding	Arkansas	53	45.6	43.6	20	37%	6%	38%	+13.0
58	Pete Kontodiakos	Colorado State	59	46.5	40.0	19	35%	26%	26%	+1.1
59	Richard Kent	Vanderbilt	54	44.8	43.8	26	48%	6%	44%	+14.6
60	Ron Doherty	Kansas	56	40.5	38.5	18	33%	7%	42%	−4.9
61	Baker Swedenburg	Mississippi State	52	40.8	39.7	21	40%	6%	72%	+7.9
62	Ben Skaer	New Mexico	54	43.9	41.5	17	33%	12%	33%	+4.9
63	Tyler Hull	South Carolina	51	39.4	37.5	15	29%	10%	53%	−6.5
64	Vince Penza	Toledo	52	40.6	39.4	21	40%	6%	26%	+1.4
65	Will Scott	Troy	54	41.0	40.1	21	40%	4%	22%	+0.1
66	Alex Butterworth	Penn State	51	37.4	36.6	20	39%	4%	48%	−7.0
67	Connor Kornbrath	Iowa	53	37.9	37.3	11	22%	2%	45%	−9.2
68	Josh Hubner	Arizona State	52	47.1	44.4	22	43%	14%	43%	+15.6
69	Riley Stephenson	BYU	51	47.3	45.0	28	55%	10%	33%	+25.4
70	Travis Coons	Washington	51	39.5	36.9	14	27%	10%	58%	−3.1
71	Brett Baer	Louisiana	54	42.0	41.3	20	40%	4%	47%	+1.1
72	Hunter Mullins	UAB	50	44.8	42.1	15	30%	14%	39%	−4.1
73	Jonathan Fisher	Syracuse	50	39.2	38.4	19	38%	4%	45%	+0.1
74	Ryan Johnson	Louisville	48	39.5	35.4	18	36%	13%	45%	−13.1
75	Tommy Hibbard	North Carolina	50	43.0	41.8	17	34%	6%	31%	+0.6
76	Alex Dunnachie	Hawai'i	49	46.2	43.7	16	33%	12%	42%	+11.1
77	Colter Johnson	Massachusetts	66	43.6	41.4	12	24%	8%	23%	−0.2
78	Jim Broadway	Ole Miss	54	41.2	39.9	13	27%	4%	55%	−5.1
79	Trent Tignor	East Carolina	59	42.4	38.7	12	24%	18%	23%	−4.0
80	Ben Turk	Notre Dame	48	40.6	39.7	13	27%	4%	50%	+1.8
81	Erich Toth	Indiana	48	39.5	38.7	9	19%	4%	47%	−4.2
82	Jackson Rice	Oregon	48	39.6	38.0	13	27%	8%	58%	−0.8
83	Kyle Dugandzic	Arizona	48	43.4	42.8	21	44%	2%	39%	+5.0
84	Tress Way	Oklahoma	48	43.6	39.3	18	38%	17%	31%	+7.3
85	Harrison Waid	San José State	51	42.4	40.2	16	34%	11%	23%	−0.3
86	J. Schroeder	Western Michigan	56	40.8	38.1	11	23%	13%	40%	−12.5
87	Cody Mandell	Alabama	46	43.8	41.7	17	37%	11%	43%	+7.5
88	Grant Venham	Ohio	53	39.4	36.8	21	47%	9%	41%	−3.6
89	Josh Brisk	Florida International	47	40.0	39.4	11	24%	2%	74%	−6.4
90	Peter Picerelli	Tulane	69	41.2	41.6	13	29%	0%	29%	−4.1
91	Ryan Allen	Louisiana Tech	45	48.0	45.4	22	49%	13%	23%	+15.2
92	Scott Kovanda	Ball State	44	40.2	39.7	25	57%	2%	43%	+4.3
93	Tyler Williams	Marshall	43	45.2	42.4	17	39%	9%	26%	+4.5
94	Cason Beatty	Florida State	42	38.4	36.6	21	49%	5%	56%	+1.1
95	Chase Tenpenny	Nevada	43	42.9	39.6	12	28%	16%	20%	+1.6
96	Mike Loftus	SMU	47	42.5	41.2	10	23%	5%	22%	+2.3
97	Josh Davis	Middle Tennessee	42	40.2	37.7	14	34%	8%	41%	−6.1
98	Quinn Sharp	Oklahoma State	41	45.8	44.8	19	46%	5%	48%	+7.9
99	Spencer Benton	Clemson	42	38.6	38.5	14	34%	2%	48%	−2.2
100	Hendrix Brakefield	Western Kentucky	40	40.9	38.9	12	30%	10%	27%	+2.7
101	Justin Manton	UL Monroe	43	40.2	39.7	15	38%	8%	50%	−0.6
102	Pablo Beltran	Navy	40	43.9	40.9	20	50%	15%	46%	+3.7
103	Richie Hogan	Central Michigan	47	40.8	40.4	16	40%	3%	30%	−3.2
104	Sean Kelly	Florida Atlantic	68	39.9	36.5	10	25%	10%	21%	−12.7
105	Ryan Neir	Northern Illinois	45	37.8	36.8	19	49%	0%	55%	−0.8
106	Alex King	Texas	38	45.3	44.8	16	42%	3%	50%	+6.9
107	Sean Sellwood	Utah	38	46.5	44.5	13	34%	11%	62%	+9.3
108	Trevor Harman	Boise State	38	41.6	38.0	9	24%	18%	25%	−2.6
109	Ryan Doerr	Kansas State	36	41.7	39.0	14	38%	14%	52%	+3.7
110	Ryan Erxleben	Texas Tech	37	42.1	38.3	7	19%	6%	46%	−7.1
111	Kyle Negrete	USC	36	42.4	42.5	16	44%	0%	46%	+2.0
112	Taylor Cook	Rice	37	36.4	35.7	10	28%	3%	69%	−9.5
113	Michael Palardy	Tennessee	36	43.1	42.3	16	46%	3%	39%	−0.7
114	Ryan Epperson	Texas A&M	37	42.8	42.6	13	37%	3%	46%	+8.7
115	Chris Boldt	Army	34	38.1	36.4	9	26%	9%	43%	−8.4
116	Seamus McMorrow	San Diego State	35	41.9	38.6	13	38%	18%	21%	+1.2
117	Will Hagerup	Michigan	33	45.0	42.3	5	15%	12%	29%	−5.3
118	David Baska	Air Force	33	40.5	39.8	9	27%	3%	39%	−3.9
119	Spencer Roth	Baylor	32	44.2	42.3	12	38%	9%	35%	+5.1

All 2012 College punter rankings

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

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