Lucas Borrow frantically began to text his new teammates. It was the summer of 2024, and the prized punter transfer from Ball State by way of Australia got lost on his first day on the University of Hawai‘i's campus. He couldn't find the football team's locker room.
Before panic could set in, he promptly received a call from Kansei Matsuzawa, one of the team's kickers. After suiting up for each game in 2023 but never seeing the field, Matsuzawa was determined to win the vacant starting placekicker job. But that didn't stop him from going out of his way to assist a teammate in need.
"I don't know where I was and Kansei straight away called me, came and found me, went and showed me everything," Borrow recalled. "That kind of just sums up who he is. Just wants to help out. He's always been like that."
Matsuzawa went on to win the kicking job for the Rainbow Warriors in 2024, making 12 of his 16 field goal attempts and all 32 of his extra point tries. He turned out to be a respectable replacement after former starter Matthew Shipley left for Arkansas via the NCAA transfer portal following the 2023 season.
When Borrow's appeal to play an extra season in 2025 was denied by the NCAA, the Rainbow Warriors signed another punter from Australia in 29-year-old freshman Billy Gowers. Before they had even met in person, Matsuzawa let Gowers crash with him until he found a place to stay.
"It was an interesting first encounter considering the language barrier, but yeah, it was just incredibly generous for him to offer up his apartment. He's just such a great guy," Gowers said. "Prior to that, I'd had a lot of communication with him over social media, which sometimes left me a little bit more confused than before I'd even asked certain questions, but yeah, the first time I properly met him, we got welcomed into his place, and he showed us around, walked us through Waikīkī. He's just a very generous guy."
After making a game-winning field goal to begin the 2025 season against Stanford, Matsuzawa's fame in the college football world and beyond exploded. National and global media outlets have continued to inundate the University of Hawai‘i and Matsuzawa with interview requests, enamored with how a self-taught YouTube kicker could blossom into one of college football's best kickers.
Following his game-winner against Stanford on Aug. 23, Matsuzawa admitted he was more nervous speaking English to local media than he was lining up for a high-pressure kick. In his first post-practice media scrum of the 2025 season following Tuesday's practice, Matsuzawa kept his cool, often deferring praise to his teammates and coaches.
"All the results is following...I'm focusing on the process, what I'm doing from Monday to Friday is the most important thing, so focus on the process," Matsuzawa went on to say. "And we believe that the results are following (the process)."
Through seven games, Matsuzawa is a perfect 19-for-19 on field goal attempts while making all 19 of his extra point tries, his fame multiplying with each made kick. His 20 consecutive made field goals dating back to 2024 are tied with former NFL Pro Bowl kicker Jason Elam for the UH record.
While being named a first-team midseason All-American at kicker by publications such as The Athletic, the Associated Press, Athlon Sports, CBS Sports, the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated, Matsuzawa has also been interviewed by outlets such as CNN and NBC.
Matsuzawa's most recent national appearance was on the official Heisman Trophy Podcast. He thought that one was a scam at first.
Does UH special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield ever get tired about doing Matsuzawa-related interviews?
"Hell, no," Sheffield said following a recent practice. "He deserves all of it.
"I would be a liar if I said I saw this, what's happening right now. I tell him all the time, this is a once in a lifetime thing, not just for him, but for all of us, like, this is cool. It's really cool to just be a part it, to witness from afar, because I know what he's gone through. I know what the journey is. If I spend too much time talking or thinking about it I get pretty damn emotional."
The common belief in UH football circles is that Matsuzawa is the program's most famous and media-requested player since the late Colt Brennan, especially considering Matsuzawa's emerging prominence in his native Japan.
In addition to his accolades and notoriety, Matsuzawa was also the impetus for a deal brokered between UH and Rakuten's R Channel to air UH's three remaining games on Spectrum Sports live in Japan, starting with Saturday's contest at Colorado State. The two other games are both home contests — one on Nov. 8 against San Diego State, as well as the team's regular season finale against Wyoming on Nov. 29.
To those that have been around him before the fame, Matsuzawa hasn't changed.
"I'm just so proud of him from where he's come from last year to this year," said Borrow, who stuck around as a graduate assistant while staying sharp for his next pro opportunity. "All the behind the scenes with him, just seeing how he's developed as a person and as a player, it's just been like a roller coaster for the last year. He's just going up, and I can't really see him slowing down."
When asked about Borrow, Matsuzawa called him "the best player I've ever played with."
"Lucas is the best player, and he helped me a lot. Like the mindset and as a player. ... I was struggling with my mindset, and he's the only one to help me throughout the year," Matsuzawa said. "So because of him, I'm here right now."
"I think that just sums up who he is," Borrow said in response. "He's always thanking everybody else. He'll do anything for you."
Always swift to credit those around them, Matsuzawa and Sheffield have often mentioned the importance of long snapper Jack Mowrey and holder Caleb Freeman in the field goal operation.
With a 26-year-old kicker in Matsuzawa and 29-year-old punter in Gowers, the Rainbow Warriors have a starting kicker-punter combination older than that of 11 NFL teams as of Week 1 of the 2025 season. Matsuzawa and Gowers have bonded over being the oldest members of the team as well as international players. They're also road roommates, and it's there that Gowers is certain Matsuzawa is setting himself up for success.
"You get to see all these rituals and just the way he prepares. It's quite incredible," Gowers said. "He's a professional footballer. He's just so diligent. As I said, it doesn't surprise me the success he's having. He's got his eye masks, he's got his face masks so he doesn't get too dehydrated with the air conditioning in the hotel rooms and on the airplanes, he's got all his skincare routines. Prior to a game, I think he shaves his whole face.
"He just knows exactly what he wants when he wants it. And he's a man on a mission, which is great. He shaves his whole face, including his forehead. It's funny. I think he's really taken all this media coverage and his accolades just in his stride, and he's really learned to enjoy it."
It is believed that Matsuzawa, who played at Hocking College in 2022, could apply for another year of eligibility in 2026, using the same junior college waiver that granted players across the country additional eligibility. But with the NFL in his sights, combined with the year Matsuzawa is having, Sheffield thinks that's highly unlikely.
With five regular season games remaining, Matsuzawa will continue to take things one kick at a time on the field. Off of it, he's continued to win over his teammates by refusing to change as a person.
"I think all of this, if anything, has just allowed his real personality to come out more," Sheffield said.
Added Borrow, when asked what Matsuzawa is like off the field: "He's a really good cook. I went over and he actually cooked up a massive salmon. He cooks gyoza from scratch," Borrow said. "Whenever we want to get some good food, we go over to his place, and he never lets us down.
"It's really cool to see good karma come his way, both off the field and on the field. Just seeing him improve from last year to this year has been incredible."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
