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Topic: Ashland University kicker

Topic: Ashland University kicker

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ExCat21
General User

Member Since: 9/29/2014
Post Count: 1,204

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Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/3/2025 7:43:50 AM

Hits 59 yrs field goal against Walsh:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Js7SPfBBE /

M.D.W.S.T
General User

Member Since: 12/23/2021
Post Count: 3,187

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/3/2025 9:16:21 AM

Manaki Watanabe. This season: 14/15 FG's

I've seen enough, we need to send one of OU's new planes up there to pick him up ASAP.

From Michigan.
https://goashlandeagles.com/sports/football/roster/manaki...

Last Edited: 11/3/2025 9:16:53 AM by M.D.W.S.T

STVCastle
General User

Member Since: 5/22/2025
Post Count: 189

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/3/2025 9:48:23 AM

If he can kick from 59 yards out, he can clearly kick from 34.

I say sign him up. Let's do what Hawaii just did.

cbarber357
General User

Member Since: 9/9/2012
Location: Pickerington, OH
Post Count: 1,028

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/3/2025 3:52:16 PM

I�ll throw $20 into the NIL fund for him, who else is in?

OhioCatFan
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 15,074

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/3/2025 6:15:13 PM

cbarber357 wrote:

I�ll throw $20 into the NIL fund for him, who else is in?

See your $20 and add $50.

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

bobcatgrad
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Nagoya, Japan
Post Count: 329

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/5/2025 10:16:36 PM

Watanabe is a very common Japanese last name and it looks like he has a Japanese first name as well. But, he went to high school over here. 2nd generation Japanese maybe? At any rate, the Japan connection is an added bonus for me. It would be cool if the coaches gave this guy a look.

Last Edited: 11/5/2025 10:20:09 PM by bobcatgrad

Apposelarly
General User

Member Since: 7/29/2025
Post Count: 1

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/5/2025 11:01:15 PM

cbarber357 wrote:

I�ll throw $20 into the NIL fund for him, who else is in?

+1. $50

STVCastle
General User

Member Since: 5/22/2025
Post Count: 189

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 9:19:31 AM

bobcatgrad wrote:

Yeah. 100%. I keep thinking it would be wise for the Bobcats to invest here and there in international talent. See Duncan Brune.

I love the idea of adding a guy like Watanabe to our roster. I say open our doors to Japan for talent. Seriously.

OhioCatFan
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 15,074

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 11:01:59 AM

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.

cc-cat
General User

Member Since: 4/5/2006
Location: matthews, NC
Post Count: 3,968

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 12:07:45 PM

OhioCatFan wrote:

Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.

Yea - because no one is paying foreign players under the table

BillyTheCat
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Member Since: 10/6/2012
Post Count: 10,541

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 12:27:32 PM

OhioCatFan wrote:

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.

You do realize players like Brune and the Rourke�s still could get NIL money right? It�s a little different than for a U.S. citizen, but they do have NIL�s.

OhioCatFan
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 15,074

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 2:20:10 PM

BillyTheCat wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.

You do realize players like Brune and the Rourke�s still could get NIL money right? It�s a little different than for a U.S. citizen, but they do have NIL�s.

I've been working with a foreigner here on a student visa in another capacity (not athletic) and I'm familiar with the restrictions on student visa holders and the limits on their earnings. It is complex and there are some loopholes, but in general it would be very hard to legally give a student visa holder much NIL money. And, another poster said that schools would just give them money under the table. Now, that's a recipe for getting your whole program in serious trouble, but in today's world nothing would surprise me. I've made the analogy before that we may be returning to 19th Century college football where non-student "ringers" were paid by boosters to play for their college team, sometimes on a game-by-game basis. But, making illegal payments to foreign students is more than a non-enforceable NCAA regulation, it's a federal crime.

Ted Thompson
Administrator

Member Since: 11/11/2004
Location: MAC Play
Post Count: 7,807

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 2:33:09 PM

OhioCatFan wrote:

BillyTheCat wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.

You do realize players like Brune and the Rourke�s still could get NIL money right? It�s a little different than for a U.S. citizen, but they do have NIL�s.

There are plenty of ways to get around this. You can pay basketball players to appear at a BBQ when playing in Jamaica tournament. You can wait until they return to their home country. I have heard a local university flew a couple players to Canada for a couple of hours. Heard a rumor that Zack Edey was adopted by a US family at age 23. The list goes on.

Follow Ohio Football recruiting on the BobcatAttack.com football recruiting database.

OhioCatFan
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 15,074

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 3:40:56 PM

Ted Thompson wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

BillyTheCat wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.

You do realize players like Brune and the Rourke�s still could get NIL money right? It�s a little different than for a U.S. citizen, but they do have NIL�s.

Yes, for now, there is a loophole related to earnings outside the USA, but that one may be closed in the future, and is not completely without potential danger now in that it hasn't been thoroughly litigated. For instance, such payments may not be legal if the government of that third country hasn't authorized the student to work. The only clearly legal way for this to be done is for the student athlete to return to his or her home country, but in some cases this may jeopardize the student's ability to return to the USA. Adoption for the purpose of evading these laws is questionable.

There is one interesting loophole for elite foreign athletes. If they are of the caliber where they play for their home country's team in international competition (say on an Olympic team) they may qualify for a rare P1-A visa, which does not have the restrictions of an F-1 visa.

My major point here is that it's very hard to legally pay the vast majority of foreign student athletes under NIL or direct revenue sharing. In the case of Brune, I don't think any other school would attempt it.

Last Edited: 11/6/2025 3:45:35 PM by OhioCatFan

BillyTheCat
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Member Since: 10/6/2012
Post Count: 10,541

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 3:51:33 PM

OhioCatFan wrote:

BillyTheCat wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.

You do realize players like Brune and the Rourke�s still could get NIL money right? It�s a little different than for a U.S. citizen, but they do have NIL�s.

As, Ted alluded to, no it�s not hard or complicated. You just can�t pay them while they are here. How do you think IU paid Kurtis? It�s much easier than you think.

BillyTheCat
General User

Member Since: 10/6/2012
Post Count: 10,541

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 3:55:16 PM

OhioCatFan wrote:

Ted Thompson wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

BillyTheCat wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.

You do realize players like Brune and the Rourke�s still could get NIL money right? It�s a little different than for a U.S. citizen, but they do have NIL�s.

.

My major point here is that it's very hard to legally pay the vast majority of foreign student athletes under NIL or direct revenue sharing. In the case of Brune, I don't think any other school would attempt it.

Please stop already!!!!! It�s NOT HARD at ALL!! Not in the slightest bit! It�s also NOT about to become illegal anytime soon.

Ted, thanks for bringing some realism to the conversation.

OhioCatFan
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 15,074

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 4:15:03 PM

BillyTheCat wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

Ted Thompson wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

BillyTheCat wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

Wantnabe would be eligible for NIL, as I understand it, but Brune is not. I like the idea of recruiting foreign talent that can't be snatched away by a better $ offer.

You do realize players like Brune and the Rourke�s still could get NIL money right? It�s a little different than for a U.S. citizen, but they do have NIL�s.

Please read: https://tinyurl.com/4hurbsnr

I've been working with a foreigner here on a student visa in another capacity (not athletic) and I'm familiar with the restrictions on student visa holders and the limits on their earnings. It is complex and there are some loopholes, but in general it would be very hard to legally give a student visa holder much NIL money. And, another poster said that schools would just give them money under the table. Now, that's a recipe for getting your whole program in serious trouble, but in today's world nothing would surprise me. I've made the analogy before that we may be returning to 19th Century college football where non-student "ringers" were paid by boosters to play for their college team, sometimes on a game-by-game basis. But, making illegal payments to foreign students is more than a non-enforceable NCAA regulation, it's a federal crime.

Please stop already!!!!! It�s NOT HARD at ALL!! Not in the slightest bit! It�s also NOT about to become illegal anytime soon.

Ted, thanks for bringing some realism to the conversation.

Please read: https://tinyurl.com/4hurbsnr

and this: https://tinyurl.com/32zwvpnm

Last Edited: 11/6/2025 4:19:49 PM by OhioCatFan

cc-cat
General User

Member Since: 4/5/2006
Location: matthews, NC
Post Count: 3,968

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 6:21:49 PM

OhioCatFan wrote:

Please read: https://tinyurl.com/4hurbsnr

and this: https://tinyurl.com/32zwvpnm

or this:
https://businessofcollegesports.com/name-image-likeness/h... /

and this: https://www.christinebrownsportslaw.com/informational-res...

Point is there are (easy) loopholes that lawyers and, therefore, boosters/NIL managers will leverage.

Bottomline - if the player is good enough then NIL will benefit their bottomline

Now can we get a kicker that can keep the ball inbounds!!!

Last Edited: 11/6/2025 6:22:29 PM by cc-cat

OhioCatFan
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 15,074

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 9:45:46 PM

cc-cat wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

Please read: https://tinyurl.com/4hurbsnr

and this: https://tinyurl.com/32zwvpnm

These are sites that are advocating tor players to use loopholes and it appears at least in one case are trying to profit from it, with a link for students to click to contact their representatives. The sites I posted links to are talking about this situation in a more objective fashion. It may end up that what you are saying will become the norm, but I would not bet on it.

BillyTheCat
General User

Member Since: 10/6/2012
Post Count: 10,541

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/6/2025 9:51:28 PM

OhioCatFan wrote:

cc-cat wrote:

OhioCatFan wrote:

Please read: https://tinyurl.com/4hurbsnr

and this: https://tinyurl.com/32zwvpnm

You can deflect all you want, you are just wrong. Bring me law and order rules and tell me how what is happening is illegal. And what NOT only myself, but others are telling you, you are simply wrong and it�s not the exception, it is what is happening. I asked you earlier, how did IU pay Rourke his handsome sum of money? How are we paying our foreign guys?

ExCat21
General User

Member Since: 9/29/2014
Post Count: 1,204

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/8/2025 10:33:50 AM

Let's establish a pub in Canada and Germany first. Then we can endorse them while they are at home. Then convince the MAC to play a game there and we can have them do any NIL deals while we are there. I need to hit the lottery first though. 😭

bobcatgrad
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Nagoya, Japan
Post Count: 329

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/9/2025 10:44:15 PM

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

Japan does pretty good at American football. They typically placed in the top 3 when the IFAF held World Championship tournaments in the past and actually won it twice before the U.S. started to join the tournament, and their U20 team actually beat the U.S. 41-20 in the last 2024 IFAF World Junior Championship (under-20) tournament that took place in Canada.

I think the biggest problem would be the language barrier. Japanese and English have next to nothing in common besides the words that Japanese borrows from English, which makes it hard for both sides to learn each other's language. And it is a minor sport over here so getting scouting tape on high school players could be hard. I think the best you could hope for is scouting their college players and bringing over a proven performer their sophomore year that has the size to play in the FBS. Either that, or better yet, get a player who came over the United States and played high school ball for some reason (came over with his father on a work assignment, etc.). Then there should be no problem with the language barrier at all. Maybe this Watanabe falls into this category.

Last Edited: 11/9/2025 11:13:41 PM by bobcatgrad

BillyTheCat
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Post Count: 10,541

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/10/2025 2:19:54 PM

bobcatgrad wrote:

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

We have a former Online coach who has been coaching professionally in Japan for a decade or more.

bobcatgrad
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Location: Nagoya, Japan
Post Count: 329

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RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/10/2025 10:29:40 PM

BillyTheCat wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

STVCastle wrote:

bobcatgrad wrote:

We have a former Online coach who has been coaching professionally in Japan for a decade or more.

Thanks for pointing that out. I think you are referring to Kevin Lightner who was our offensive line coach from 2006 to 2013.

Look like he is still coaching for the Fujitsu team in the X-League.
https://sports.jp.fujitsu.com/frontiers/players

I found him by clicking on Staff (スタッフ in Japanese) and his name was under the Offensive Team coaches list (Kevin Lightner is ケビンライトナー in Japanese.)

The X-League is the top level football league in Japan. Companies sponsor the teams. I played a short stint in Division 3 in the X-League over here. It is a weekend football league for the lower divisions. There is a big jump in talent from Division 2 and then Division 1 that Fujitsu is in. Sometimes even former NFL coaches have coached for Division 1 in the past.

Last Edited: 11/10/2025 10:33:12 PM by bobcatgrad

Doc Bobcat
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 4,308

Status: Offline

RE: Ashland University kicker

Posted: 11/20/2025 8:55:26 AM

We just got a commit from one of the top kickers and punters in Ohio�..Cooper Heimbach of Wheelersburg.

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