Shimek, Watanabe Honored On 2025 First Team By D2Football.com

The 2025 postseason honors continue to flow in for Ashland University football players Michael Shimek and Manaki Watanabe, as, on Monday (Dec. 29) afternoon, they were placed on the first team of the 2025 D2Football.com Elite 100 Team.
 
Shimek, a senior defensive end, turned in one of the top defensive seasons in Ashland football history in 2025, finishing the fall with an NCAA Division II-leading 17½ sacks, 18½ tackles for loss, 60 total tackles (32 solo), three forced fumbles and two blocked kicks.
 
His sack total is fourth-best in program history, trailing only three seasons by College Football Hall of Famer Bill Royce (20½ in 1993, 20 in 1992 and 18½ in 1991), and his tackles for loss number is second in AU football annals to just James Prater Jr.'s 23½ in 2017.
 
The list of 2025 postseason honors for Shimek also includes:

• Walter Camp Football Foundation All-America Team
• Division II Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA) Ron Lenz national Defensive Player of the Year
• First-team D2CCA All-American
• Finalist for the Gene Upshaw Award (NCAA Division II senior lineman of the year)
• D2CCA All-Super Region 3 Defensive Player of the Year
• First-team D2CCA all-super region
• 2025 Harlon Hill Trophy (NCAA Division II's Player of the Year) candidate
• Great Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year
• First-team all-conference

Watanabe, a redshirt freshman kicker, was 21-for-22 on field goals and 39-for-40 on extra points in 2025. He led D-II in field-goal percentage at 95.5, and in field goals made.

His field goals are a school record for a single season, and his 102 points scored are tied for fourth-most in program history.
 
Watanabe's postseason honors list also shows:

• Walter Camp Football Foundation All-America Team
• First-team D2CCA All-American
• Finalist for the Fred Mitchell Award (nation's most outstanding non-FBS kicker)
• First-team D2CCA all-super region
• First-team All-Great Midwest

The Eagles finished the 2025 season at 10-3 overall and 8-1 in the Great Midwest – winning an NCAA Division II playoff game for the second season in a row for the first time, and earning a co-conference championship.