Manaki Watanabe holds the PK · Starter spot in Fresno State Bulldogs’s kicker room. Where he sits among the room’s front-line roles:

Manaki Watanabe is a placekicker from Novi, Michigan who transferred to Fresno State after two seasons at Ashland University. At South Lyon East High School, he earned four varsity letters in football and soccer while posting perfect marks of 7-for-7 on field goals and 20-for-20 on extra points. During his redshirt year in 2024, he did not participate. In 2025, Watanabe completed 21 of 22 field goal attempts and made a career-long 59-yarder against Walsh on November 1. He went 39-of-40 on PATs, recorded 64 kickoffs for 3,843 yards, and had 22 touchbacks without any blocks.

Ashlandthrough 2025

Fresno State2026 — present