Tusculum's Love Named NCAA Punt Return Champion
December 13, 2005

Courtesy Tusculum College Sports Information Office

INDIANAPOLIS --- Tusculum College's Octavius Love has been was declared the 2005 NCAA Division II statistical champion for punt return average announced College officials Tuesday. The announcement came with the release of the final NCAA Football Statistics.

Tusculum finished in the top 50 in four team categories, while Love (Wellford, S.C.) and senior punter Austin Hunter were listed individually.

Love, who was named to the 2005 All-South Atlantic Conference First Team, enjoyed one of the finest seasons by a Tusculum punt returner in school history. The 5-11, 190-pound sophomore returned 16 punts for 324 yards, averaging 20.3 yards per return, which are the second most in the Tusculum record book in average and return yardage.

Against Wingate University this season, he established two single-game record with seven returns for 132 yards. Included in that tally was a 62-yard return for a touchdown, the fourth longest in school history. For his efforts, he earned D2Football.com National Special Teams Player of the Week Honorable Mention honors.

In Tusculum game against Newberry, he returned three punts for 114 yards, which were the second most in a TC single-game. He posted returns of 57 and 53 yards and was named SAC Special Teams Player of the Week.

Hunter, a 6-4, 220-pound native of Hartford, Tenn., averaged 38.5 yards per punt to finish 33rd in the nation in punting average. Hunter earned SAC Special Teams Player of the Week in Tusculum season finale against Mars Hill where he averaged 41.4 yards on his seven punts. In 2005, he established school single-season record with 76 punting attempts for 2,923 yards.

The Pioneers (3-7) finished the season listed seventh in team punt return average (15.09 avg.) and 36th in team net punting (32.92 avg.). Tusculum was also listed 41st in pass deficiency defense (109.8 rating) and 50th in scoring defense (21.8 ppg.).

Tusculum College is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, USA and is a NCAA Division II member of the South Atlantic Conference which is comprised of eight colleges and universities in Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.

2005 NCAA Division II Punt Return Leaders
Rk.     Name, School                    GP      No.     Yds.    Avg.
1       Octavius Love, Tusculum         10      16      324     20.3
2       Marcus Wright, Kentucky St.     11      26      525     20.2
3       RoShawn Marshall, Cen. Missouri 8       26      513     19.7
4       Josh Kniess, Slippery Rock      10      23      424     18.4
5       Aaron Hewlett, Concord          11      18      328     18.2
6       Austin Davis, Assumption        9       11      184     16.7
7       Brandon Alston, N.C. Central    11      34      539     15.9
8       Tracey Stiger, Arkansas Tech    10      17      262     15.4
9       Weston Dressler, North Dakota   13      33      503     15.2
10      Quinta Becks, East Central      10      21      317     15.1