{"id":227243,"date":"2025-12-19T09:52:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=227243"},"modified":"2025-12-19T10:03:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T20:03:52","slug":"matsuzawa-consensus-all-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/12\/19\/matsuzawa-consensus-all-american\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Tokyo Toe’ Kansei Matsuzawa UH<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s first consensus All-American"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"graphic<\/p>\n

University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa football<\/a> placekicker Kansei Matsuzawa became the program\u2019s first consensus All-American after being named to three of the NCAA<\/abbr>\u2019s five official All-America teams.<\/p>\n

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Kansei Matsuzawa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Japan native was named to the first team by the Walter Camp Foundation, Associated Press<\/em> (AP<\/abbr><\/em>) and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA<\/abbr>). He was a second team selection by The Sporting News<\/em> and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

No other UH<\/abbr> Mānoa football player was named to more than one of the official All-America selector teams. Offensive lineman Hercules Satele was UH<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s last first-team honoree by the FWAA<\/abbr> in 2007. Among UH<\/abbr>\u2019s other honorees by the NCAA<\/abbr>\u2019s selector teams include placekicker Jason Elam (1992 Kodak-AFCA<\/abbr>) and defensive lineman Al Noga (1986 AP<\/abbr><\/em>).<\/p>\n

Thus far, Matsuzawa has been named to 12 All-America teams including to the first team by five selectors—AFCA<\/abbr>, AP<\/abbr><\/em>, CBS<\/abbr> Sports<\/em>, Walter Camp and Pro Football & Sports Network<\/em>. He was named to the second team by seven others—FWAA<\/abbr>, The Sporting News<\/em>, The Athletic<\/em>, Sports Illustrated<\/em>, Sports Info Solutions, USA<\/abbr> Today<\/em> and On3<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In addition, Matsuzawa was one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation\u2019s top placekicker and was selected as the Mountain West\u2019s Special Teams Player of the Year. He was also presented a proclamation by Honolulu City and County Mayor Rick Blangiardi—a former UH<\/abbr> player and coach—who proclaimed December 18, 2025, “Kansei Matsuzawa Day.”<\/p>\n

Nicknamed the “Tokyo Toe,” Matsuzawa\u2019s story has become one of the most compelling in college football. A native of Ichikawa, Japan, he grew up playing soccer and didn\u2019t attempt his first kick until age 20 after attending an NFL<\/abbr> game in Los Angeles. He taught himself how to kick by studying YouTube videos and eventually earned a spot at Hocking College in Ohio. After two seasons there, he joined the Rainbow Warriors as a walk-on in 2023.<\/p>\n

Visit the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa Athletics website for more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matsuzawa was named to the first team by the Walter Camp Foundation, Associated Press and American Football Coaches Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":227249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1362],"tags":[58,83,714,9,550],"class_list":["post-227243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-athletics","tag-football","tag-student-athlete","tag-uh-manoa","tag-manoa-athletics","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t