Top Returning Pac-12 Kickers For 2017


Now that Arizona State’s Zane Gonzalez and Utah’s Andy Phillips have graduated, there’s a Pac-12 vacuum at kicker heading into the 2017 season.


After losing two of the nation’s best kickers, Arizona State’s Zane Gonzales and Utah’s Andy Phillips, to graduation, the Pac-12 has an opening at the top of the league pecking order entering 2017. Cal’s Matt Anderson and Oregon’s Aidan Schneider posses the proven track record for precision, but neither has delivered from long distance. Making matters worse for the conference at the position, the future of Rose Bowl hero Matt Boermeester at USC is in serious jeopardy, pending a university investigation.

Top Returning Pac-12 Kickers

3. Matt Boermeester, USC

Boermeester got a taste of action in 2015, his second season after transferring from Saddleback (Calif.) Junior College. In 2016, he became one of the Pac-12’s better placekickers, making 18-of-25 field goals, with three of the misses coming outside of 50 yards. The lefty from San Diego, who drilled the Rose Bowl game-winner to beat Penn State, is currently serving a suspension as the university investigates a code of conduct issue. If Boermeester is not reinstated, USC will have a sizable hole on special teams.

2. Aidan Schneider, Oregon

No kicker in Duck history has been more accurate than Schneider, who has hit 42-of-48 career field goal attempts. He’s been laser-accurate over the past three seasons, only missing out on the All-Pac-12 Team a year ago because of a lack of opportunities. However, Schneider might not be the guy to split the uprights from long range. Despite being 6-4 and 235 pounds, his longest field goal is from 47 yards, and the stronger-legged Matt Wogan handled kickoffs for the program.

1. Matt Anderson, Cal

For Cal, one of the country’s elite academic institutions, Anderson has been the epitome of a complete student-athlete. On the field, he’s been a record-setter for the Bears, converting 40-of-47 field goal attempts over the past two seasons. In 2016, Anderson established a new modern-era mark at Cal with 117 points to earn honorable mention All-Pac-12. And in the classroom, he has few rivals, producing the highest GPA of any Bear football player in each of his first three seasons on campus.

MORE: Top Returning Kickers In College Football