AU’s Shimek paces nation in sacks, earns elite status

ASHLAND – If Michael Shimek was asking around for a hype man, the first guy in line would be Ashland University defensive ends coach Andy Tabler.

Now in his sixth season on the AU staff, Tabler still remembers watching film of Shimek getting to the quarterback while starring as a first-team All-Ohioan at Hoover High School. The recollection is so vivid, Tabler even remembers the number on Shimek’s jersey – No. 18 – as if it was the passcode to his ATM card.

“You saw it on film and I keep a copy of that film because that’s now the guy you compare everything back to,” Tabler said. “When you’re looking at a recruit, you’re saying, ‘Hey, this guy looks like a young Mike.’”

Sadly for Tabler, the senior captain and defensive end on the most successful senior class in AU football history doesn’t really need a hype man. When you lead the entire country in sacks, the hype is in the numbers.

Soon to be a three-time All-Great Midwest Athletic Conference performer, Shimek’s 16 sacks were tops in all of NCAA Division II through the regular season.

When the Eagles (9-2) – ironically ranked No. 18 in the nation – host No. 7 Minnesota Duluth (10-1) this Saturday in an NCAA postseason first-round game, Shimek might be the most feared man on the turf.

Third-year Ashland head coach Doug Geiser said the impact Shimek has on a game is similar to that of former Eagles and eventual professional players Jeris Pendleton, Jamie Meder and Michael Ayers.

“I think he’s put himself in that conversation,” said Geiser, who has been a coach at AU since 2004. “I’m biased, but I think he’s the best defensive end in the country.”

It’s hard to argue against that opinion. The 6-foot-1, 246-pound Shimek anchored the country’s top sacking unit in 2025 (44 sacks as a team). The Eagles also will enter the postseason ranked second in Division II in total defense (244.5 ypg), third in rushing defense (66.3 ypg) and sixth in scoring defense (14.8 ppg).

Shimek’s 51 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles this fall are a big reason why.

“I’m at a pretty good weight to where I can be strong enough to handle the big, 300-pound linemen,” Shimek said, “but also to where I can be fast enough to bend the edge and chase quarterbacks down.”

The only Eagle ever to post more sacks in a single season than Shimek’s 16 this year is legendary College Football Hall of Famer Bill Royce (20.5 in 1993, 20 in 1992 and 18.5 in 1991). Royce is also one of just two former Ashland stars to finish with more career sacks (71) than Shimek’s current 34 (also Sam Hohler with 35.5).

Asked if he ever thinks about being inside the upper echelon of all-time AU greats, the soft-spoken senior said it’s never been something he’s aimed to do.

“Sometimes it pops in my mind maybe off the field,” Shimek said. “But once I’m on the field, it’s just all business.”

“He says, ‘I’d rather the team win,’” Tabler said. “And I say, ‘When you’re breaking records, we’re gonna win games.’”

“For him, (climbing the Ashland record books) is the reward for all the hard work he’s done and everything he’s put into it.”

Shimek was a linebacker to start out his career in high school. He still gushes about the impact former Hoover assistant coach Larry Kinnard had on him. Kinnard was a starting lineman for a pair of national championship teams at NCAA Division III powerhouse Mount Union.

Shimek said his move from linebacker to defensive end while at Hoover originally was necessitated by multiple teammates missing time due to COVID sicknesses his junior year. He said it was a complete shift in technique and it put him on a path that landed him at Ashland.

Shimek got his feet wet with the Eagles as a freshman in 2022, posting 16 tackles and his first two collegiate sacks while playing behind all-conference standouts Jeff Barnett and Deeb Alawan.

A year later, he was all-conference himself. He had 39 tackles and put together a historic breakout game in Ashland’s first-ever bowl win, a 23-20 victory over McKendree. That day as a sophomore, Shimek set a new AU record for single-game sacks with four, contributing nine total tackles and a forced fumble as well.

“That was definitely a game where (the stats) popped out and a bunch of people saw what I was able to do,” Shimek said.

The Eagles and their budding superstar finished sixth in the country in sacks that year (40).

Since then, Shimek has been fine-tuning his technique and gaining a voice as a leader inside an Ashland senior class that is 37-11 since 2022. It’s the first group in AU history to post at least nine wins in four consecutive seasons and also the first to qualify to the postseason three times in four years.

As a junior in 2024, Shimek totaled 59 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks in 13 games, as the Eagles collected their first-ever playoff road win (40-38 at Charleston).

During his rise, the defensive end has improved a spin move he said he models after Indianapolis Colts Hall of Famer Dwight Freeney, as well as a push-pull attack that he formulated on his own.

Shimek had a 3.5-sack game against Indiana (Pa.) to key Ashland’s 13-9 season-opening victory this year.

“The preparation he puts in is unbelievable,” Geiser said. “I’ll see him out on the field on his own working pass-rush moves on a random Tuesday at 4 in the afternoon when nobody else is around.”

For the third consecutive season this year, Shimek and the Eagles paced the G-MAC in sacks. The senior has paired up with fellow starting defensive end and redshirt sophomore Elisha Baldridge (10 sacks, 12 tackles for loss) to create one of the most potent 1-2 punches in Ashland’s history.

“When we played against Hillsdale this year, that’s the first time I noticed the O-line was definitely sliding my way,” Shimek said. “But if they’re sliding my way, we have a really good defensive end on the other side in Elisha. Either way, we’re gonna get to the quarterback and make plays.”

Tabler said Shimek’s attention to detail and passion for preparation also has grown to the point where he’s essentially another coach. He watches six to seven hours of film every week to get ready for Ashland’s next opponent.

“By the end of the week,” Tabler said, “we’ll get to a point (in film study) where we’ll just say, ‘All right, tell us about this guy, Mike.’ And he jumps in and he can tell you something about every one of the linemen (they’re facing that week).”

The coach said Shimek has the freedom to call stunts on the field because he knows what will work best against opposing lines.

“The rules have changed because of the way he plays, and you don’t want to restrain that,” Tabler said. “You go from when he was a freshman and teams knew when he was going to the inside before the play. Now his senior year, (opposing linemen) are trying to help each other out because it’s taking more than one guy to stop him.”

Scouts for the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars have watched Shimek in action this year. He said he plans to put in plenty of offseason work before a pro day in March to see if he can perhaps get an opportunity at the next level.

Shimek’s 4.18 time in the 5-10-5 pro agility test already is the best in AU history.

But before any of that arrives, he’s got another critical target to hunt down this week.

Minnesota Duluth senior quarterback Kyle Walljasper enters their first-round playoff matchup with 2,176 yards and 26 touchdowns as a passer, and also is the leading rusher for the Bulldogs (831 yards, 16 TDs). If Shimek and the Eagles can find a way to hold him down, they very well could get a postseason win for the fourth consecutive time as a playoff qualifier.

“We’ve never been to Round 3 of the playoffs,” Shimek said, “so that’s a big goal of mine and I know our senior class wants to do that as well.”

He needs two more tackles for loss to break the AU career record held by James Prater Jr. (46), and he’s even had two blocked kicks in each of the last three seasons.

But both Geiser and Tabler said the numbers are far from the only thing Shimek will leave behind.

“Mike’s legacy is going to be felt here for many, many years because of the time he’s put in and the mentoring he has done,” Geiser said. “He is the epitome of an Ashland man and he’s gonna be successful wherever he goes in life.”