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Hawaii's placekicker, Kansei Matsuzawa, is a Tokyo native, just kicked a career-long 44-yard field goal. Hawaii is playing Portland State right now on Oahu.

He self-taught himself placekicking and English by watching Youtube videos. 

He went from being a 20-year-old waiter in Tokyo to where he is now at 26.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6597909/2025/09/05/hawaii-football-kicker-kansei-matsuzawa/

 

Spoiler

image.thumb.png.17237314e79e8518bc294157c3b2fd50.png

 

Kansei Matsuzawa is this season’s first underdog story. But it’s more than a viral sensation

Chris Vannini
Sept. 5, 2025Updated Sept. 7, 2025
 

Hawaii special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield knows one Japanese word. Pronounced Erito, it means “Elite.” He says it to his kicker Kansei Matsuzawa before every kick attempt, to remind him of the time Matsuzawa told his coach he wanted to be so elite that the NFL couldn’t deny him.

As Matsuzawa ran around in celebration after his 38-yard, game-winning field goal to beat Stanford on Aug. 23, teammates tried to grab him. But the first person who got a hold of Matsuzawa was Sheffield, who embraced the 6-foot-2 kicker in a hug.

 

Overnight, the story of the 26-year-old Japanese kicker who taught himself how to kick a football and speak English on YouTube went national. After leading the Rainbow Warriors to their first win against a Power 4 conference team since 2019, Matsuzawa joked he was more nervous for the postgame news conference than the kick, and he was even featured on NBC Nightly News in a brief segment.

 

But Matsuzawa’s story is a lot more than a viral sensation. Underneath Sheffield’s squeeze on the field were tears for a journey that spanned years, continents, parks and steakhouses in pursuit of an unshakable dream.

“I bawled crying when I ran to midfield,” Sheffield said. “Because I just know the journey, everything this kid has overcome.”

 

If everything had gone according to plan, Matsuzawa would’ve played collegiate soccer in Japan years ago, continuing his high school career during which he was a team captain and three-year letter winner. But he says he failed an exam and didn’t qualify for school. It not only ended his competitive soccer days but also left him aimless for the next two years.

“I had nothing,” Matsuzawa said. “I didn’t like my life.”

His parents saw a lost kid. His father offered Matsuzawa a two-week trip to the United States, “to see what’s going on outside of Japan,” the son remembers. Matsuzawa arrived in San Diego without knowing a lick of English. He was so unprepared he didn’t even have hotels booked when he landed, eventually figuring it out with a travel app.

From San Diego, he went to the Bay Area and attended an Oakland Raiders game. That was always on the itinerary, because Matsuzawa’s dad played some American football in middle school and high school in Japan. The game became the moment that lit a spark in what had been a dark tunnel. He decided to become an NFL kicker.

“I see the enthusiasm at the stadium and the business side, that was totally different than Japan,” Matsuzawa said. “That was a super exciting moment for me.”

He returned to Japan, bought an American football and started watching kicking techniques on YouTube, incorporating his existing soccer skill. Matsuzawa went out to a park near his home to practice by himself, to the chagrin of the local children.

 

“I think I was annoying to the kids for a 20-year-old big guy kicking a football they’ve never seen over their heads,” Matsuzawa said with a laugh. “I felt sorry for them, but I had dreams to do it.”

Practicing football in a park doesn’t make a living, however. So he knocked on the door of a new Morton’s Steakhouse in Tokyo in early 2019, asking for a job. He spent almost three years waiting tables as he worked on football and saved money. In early 2021, he sent his personal film to schools, and only one answered: Hocking College, a junior college in Nelsonville, Ohio.

Special teams coordinator Kevin Cox read Matsuzawa’s email and went to head coach Ted Egger, who loved Matsuzawa’s story. Cox’s son Caden was on the team and later that fall would become the first person with Down syndrome to play and score in a college football game.

“I’m all about stuff like that,” said Egger, now the head coach at Hilbert College. “(Matsuzawa) was a really good kid.”

Matsuzawa arrived in Ohio in August, two weeks before the season, and still didn’t know much English. He went to the president’s office, who alerted Egger he’d arrived.

“I had no idea what Coach Egger said for the first three months,” Matsuzawa said.

He admits he was overwhelmed. A new culture, new people he couldn’t communicate well with and not a lot of playing time. He wondered if this was all worth it. But he went to kicking camps in the offseason and returned for a second year because it was the only way he could get where he wanted to go.

Matsuzawa earned the starting job in his second season and hit a 50-yard, game-winning field goal to beat Louisburg. He was now making friends and improving his English, acing his English classes but also writing down words his coaches or teammates said that he didn’t understand to look up later.

 

“We had an accepting group, and guys helped each other out on that team,” Egger said. “It was unique because you don’t typically see that in junior college.”

Matsuzawa graduated in 1 1/2 years, hoping he could get to Division I football for the spring, but interest was minimal. Without any offers, he went back to Japan in January 2023, unsure whether his football career had just ended.

But in the ensuing weeks and months, FBS schools started reaching out. Nevada offered a roster spot. At Hawaii, Sheffield saw a big kicker with a big leg. He started texting Matsuzawa, putting every message through Google Translate.

“He called me and texted me every day, showed me love and what he could do for me as a coach,” Matsuzawa said. “That moved me.”

Matsuzawa had been to Hawaii on vacation but didn’t know the Rainbow Warriors had a notable football team, thinking he had to play on the mainland. He realized this could be a perfect spot, far closer to his home than anywhere else, with plenty of Japanese food nearby. That was harder to find in Ohio.

But he was still a walk-on player, meaning he had to pay his own way. The financial cost of Matsuzawa’s football dream over the years was difficult. He cut his own hair at Hocking to save money. Sheffield said Matsuzawa still doesn’t have a bed frame or a TV stand. As an international student, name, image and likeness opportunities are strictly limited, even after his newfound fame. During this journey, his parents downsized their home to help pay for things. His mother also went through a cancer scare last year.

“They sacrificed a lot (for me) to go to college,” he said.

While redshirting his first year at Hawaii, Matsuzawa missed a lot of kicks in practice. Sheffield didn’t see the same kicker he’d seen on film. After a few conversations, the coach figured out the root of Matsuzawa’s struggles was the team’s practice structure. He hadn’t gone through as much of the detailed routine work that takes place at the Division I level.

 

“I literally gave him a weekend off from football,” Sheffield said. “He came back, and what the whole world saw (against Stanford) is what he’s been for the last two years.”

After Hawaii starting kicker Matthew Shipley transferred to Arkansas following the 2023 season, Matsuzawa was moved up into the starting job. He made 12 of 16 field goals last season, with a long of 41, and converted every extra point.

In early December, Sheffield went to head coach Timmy Chang and said Matsuzawa deserved to be put on scholarship, to take the burden off him and his parents. Chang called Matsuzawa into his office and delivered the news. The kicker broke down crying in a long hug.

“One of the biggest honors I’ve ever had,” Sheffield said.

Against Stanford, his first game as a scholarship player, Matsuzawa made all three field goal attempts, including the tying and winning kicks in the last two minutes.

Elite.

His parents were there in the stands in Hawaii to watch him. With that kick came the viral moment and the fame for the son they’d just wanted to find direction in his life.

“They didn’t understand everything, but they know a little bit that my name is spreading all over the country,” Matsuzawa said.

The media requests piled up. When Sheffield got a text that Matsuzawa would be on NBC Nightly News, he immediately went to find him in the weight room, going into “dad mode.” This is still a vulnerable player who speaks in somewhat broken English.

“I just want to protect him,” Sheffield said. “He’s such a good kid and I could see people trying to prey on him. But I tell you this, he immediately told me, ‘Coach, if it gets too much, I’ll let you know.’”

 

Matsuzawa’s hair looked great for that national TV interview. He didn’t have to cut it himself this time. Hawaii’s 29-year-old Australian punter Billy Gowers leaned into his barber skills to get it done.

 

 

Play: Video

 

A week later, Matsuzawa made both field goal attempts at Arizona, including a fire-drill scramble kick as the first half ended, calmly making the 41-yard kick as time expired.

“I’m so glad the world is getting to see what I see on a daily basis,” Sheffield said. “Nobody deserves the spotlight more than this kid right here.”

 

 

 

Edited by BachelorTrek
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Posted

Jordyn Tyson had a pretty good game. That touchdown where he jumped over the defender and stayed inbounds was quite the effort. Ready to start conference play. There’s no one in the Big XII that is more talented than ASU, but it just takes one play (Not going for it last week at the goal line when MSU couldn’t stop me if I was running the ball) to ruin a game.

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Posted
15 minutes ago, BachelorTrek said:

Hawaii's placekicker, Kansei Matsuzawa, is a Tokyo native, just kicked a career-long 44-yard field goal. Hawaii is playing Portland State right now on Oahu.

He self-taught himself placekicking and English by watching Youtube videos. 

He went from being a 20-year-old waiter in Tokyo to where he is now at 26.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6597909/2025/09/05/hawaii-football-kicker-kansei-matsuzawa/

 

  Reveal hidden contents

image.thumb.png.17237314e79e8518bc294157c3b2fd50.png

 

Kansei Matsuzawa is this season’s first underdog story. But it’s more than a viral sensation

Chris Vannini
Sept. 5, 2025Updated Sept. 7, 2025
 

Hawaii special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield knows one Japanese word. Pronounced Erito, it means “Elite.” He says it to his kicker Kansei Matsuzawa before every kick attempt, to remind him of the time Matsuzawa told his coach he wanted to be so elite that the NFL couldn’t deny him.

As Matsuzawa ran around in celebration after his 38-yard, game-winning field goal to beat Stanford on Aug. 23, teammates tried to grab him. But the first person who got a hold of Matsuzawa was Sheffield, who embraced the 6-foot-2 kicker in a hug.

 

Overnight, the story of the 26-year-old Japanese kicker who taught himself how to kick a football and speak English on YouTube went national. After leading the Rainbow Warriors to their first win against a Power 4 conference team since 2019, Matsuzawa joked he was more nervous for the postgame news conference than the kick, and he was even featured on NBC Nightly News in a brief segment.

 

But Matsuzawa’s story is a lot more than a viral sensation. Underneath Sheffield’s squeeze on the field were tears for a journey that spanned years, continents, parks and steakhouses in pursuit of an unshakable dream.

“I bawled crying when I ran to midfield,” Sheffield said. “Because I just know the journey, everything this kid has overcome.”

 

If everything had gone according to plan, Matsuzawa would’ve played collegiate soccer in Japan years ago, continuing his high school career during which he was a team captain and three-year letter winner. But he says he failed an exam and didn’t qualify for school. It not only ended his competitive soccer days but also left him aimless for the next two years.

“I had nothing,” Matsuzawa said. “I didn’t like my life.”

His parents saw a lost kid. His father offered Matsuzawa a two-week trip to the United States, “to see what’s going on outside of Japan,” the son remembers. Matsuzawa arrived in San Diego without knowing a lick of English. He was so unprepared he didn’t even have hotels booked when he landed, eventually figuring it out with a travel app.

From San Diego, he went to the Bay Area and attended an Oakland Raiders game. That was always on the itinerary, because Matsuzawa’s dad played some American football in middle school and high school in Japan. The game became the moment that lit a spark in what had been a dark tunnel. He decided to become an NFL kicker.

“I see the enthusiasm at the stadium and the business side, that was totally different than Japan,” Matsuzawa said. “That was a super exciting moment for me.”

He returned to Japan, bought an American football and started watching kicking techniques on YouTube, incorporating his existing soccer skill. Matsuzawa went out to a park near his home to practice by himself, to the chagrin of the local children.

 

“I think I was annoying to the kids for a 20-year-old big guy kicking a football they’ve never seen over their heads,” Matsuzawa said with a laugh. “I felt sorry for them, but I had dreams to do it.”

Practicing football in a park doesn’t make a living, however. So he knocked on the door of a new Morton’s Steakhouse in Tokyo in early 2019, asking for a job. He spent almost three years waiting tables as he worked on football and saved money. In early 2021, he sent his personal film to schools, and only one answered: Hocking College, a junior college in Nelsonville, Ohio.

Special teams coordinator Kevin Cox read Matsuzawa’s email and went to head coach Ted Egger, who loved Matsuzawa’s story. Cox’s son Caden was on the team and later that fall would become the first person with Down syndrome to play and score in a college football game.

“I’m all about stuff like that,” said Egger, now the head coach at Hilbert College. “(Matsuzawa) was a really good kid.”

Matsuzawa arrived in Ohio in August, two weeks before the season, and still didn’t know much English. He went to the president’s office, who alerted Egger he’d arrived.

“I had no idea what Coach Egger said for the first three months,” Matsuzawa said.

He admits he was overwhelmed. A new culture, new people he couldn’t communicate well with and not a lot of playing time. He wondered if this was all worth it. But he went to kicking camps in the offseason and returned for a second year because it was the only way he could get where he wanted to go.

Matsuzawa earned the starting job in his second season and hit a 50-yard, game-winning field goal to beat Louisburg. He was now making friends and improving his English, acing his English classes but also writing down words his coaches or teammates said that he didn’t understand to look up later.

 

“We had an accepting group, and guys helped each other out on that team,” Egger said. “It was unique because you don’t typically see that in junior college.”

Matsuzawa graduated in 1 1/2 years, hoping he could get to Division I football for the spring, but interest was minimal. Without any offers, he went back to Japan in January 2023, unsure whether his football career had just ended.

But in the ensuing weeks and months, FBS schools started reaching out. Nevada offered a roster spot. At Hawaii, Sheffield saw a big kicker with a big leg. He started texting Matsuzawa, putting every message through Google Translate.

“He called me and texted me every day, showed me love and what he could do for me as a coach,” Matsuzawa said. “That moved me.”

Matsuzawa had been to Hawaii on vacation but didn’t know the Rainbow Warriors had a notable football team, thinking he had to play on the mainland. He realized this could be a perfect spot, far closer to his home than anywhere else, with plenty of Japanese food nearby. That was harder to find in Ohio.

But he was still a walk-on player, meaning he had to pay his own way. The financial cost of Matsuzawa’s football dream over the years was difficult. He cut his own hair at Hocking to save money. Sheffield said Matsuzawa still doesn’t have a bed frame or a TV stand. As an international student, name, image and likeness opportunities are strictly limited, even after his newfound fame. During this journey, his parents downsized their home to help pay for things. His mother also went through a cancer scare last year.

“They sacrificed a lot (for me) to go to college,” he said.

While redshirting his first year at Hawaii, Matsuzawa missed a lot of kicks in practice. Sheffield didn’t see the same kicker he’d seen on film. After a few conversations, the coach figured out the root of Matsuzawa’s struggles was the team’s practice structure. He hadn’t gone through as much of the detailed routine work that takes place at the Division I level.

 

“I literally gave him a weekend off from football,” Sheffield said. “He came back, and what the whole world saw (against Stanford) is what he’s been for the last two years.”

After Hawaii starting kicker Matthew Shipley transferred to Arkansas following the 2023 season, Matsuzawa was moved up into the starting job. He made 12 of 16 field goals last season, with a long of 41, and converted every extra point.

In early December, Sheffield went to head coach Timmy Chang and said Matsuzawa deserved to be put on scholarship, to take the burden off him and his parents. Chang called Matsuzawa into his office and delivered the news. The kicker broke down crying in a long hug.

“One of the biggest honors I’ve ever had,” Sheffield said.

Against Stanford, his first game as a scholarship player, Matsuzawa made all three field goal attempts, including the tying and winning kicks in the last two minutes.

Elite.

His parents were there in the stands in Hawaii to watch him. With that kick came the viral moment and the fame for the son they’d just wanted to find direction in his life.

“They didn’t understand everything, but they know a little bit that my name is spreading all over the country,” Matsuzawa said.

The media requests piled up. When Sheffield got a text that Matsuzawa would be on NBC Nightly News, he immediately went to find him in the weight room, going into “dad mode.” This is still a vulnerable player who speaks in somewhat broken English.

“I just want to protect him,” Sheffield said. “He’s such a good kid and I could see people trying to prey on him. But I tell you this, he immediately told me, ‘Coach, if it gets too much, I’ll let you know.’”

 

Matsuzawa’s hair looked great for that national TV interview. He didn’t have to cut it himself this time. Hawaii’s 29-year-old Australian punter Billy Gowers leaned into his barber skills to get it done.

 

 

Play: Video

 

A week later, Matsuzawa made both field goal attempts at Arizona, including a fire-drill scramble kick as the first half ended, calmly making the 41-yard kick as time expired.

“I’m so glad the world is getting to see what I see on a daily basis,” Sheffield said. “Nobody deserves the spotlight more than this kid right here.”

 

 

 

You know I need to go watch them play at least once this year. Not hard to get to the stadium and it would probably be fun to go.

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Posted
36 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Made a 47-yder now. Dude has the Japanese symbols on the back of his jersey. 

I just saw that new game stat.

Yeah, that's his last name in Kanji Japanese (Nihongo) characters on the back of his jersey. I noticed that, too. It's strange the NCAA would allow that.

Conversely, Japanese NPB professional baseball players purposefully put their last names spelled with English letters on the backs of their jerseys as a homage to baseball's creation in The USA.

South Korea's professional baseball players don't do that, though. They put their last names using Korean-language characters on the backs of their jerseys.

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