Epenesa, top DE in 2025 class, commits to Iowa

• Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff WriterAug 15, 2024, 08:26 PM ET

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  Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.Iowa landed

its top devote in the 2025 class Thursday night with a promise from four-star Hawkeyes legacy Iose Epenesa, No. 21 in the ESPN 300.

Epenesa, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound edge rusher from Edwardsville, Illinois, is the No. 1 defensive end in the 2025 class, per ESPN rankings. He selected the Hawkeyes over Penn State, Miami and Utah to become the 14th member of Kirk Ferentz’s 2025 class and Iowa’s first ESPN 300 pledge in the cycle. Epenesa’s commitment comes two weeks before the start of his senior season at Edwardsville High School.

“We’ve remained in this procedure for a while– almost 4 years now– we were all burning out of it so we came down, talked with the household and began getting down to company,” Epenesa informed ESPN. “It was time to figure it out.”

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Epenesa is the brother of previous Hawkeye and existing Buffalo Bills edge rusher AJ Epenesa, who tallied 26.5 sacks and was a two-time All-Big Ten choice at Iowa from 2017 to ’19. Father Eppy Epenesa was an Iowa football letterman in the 1990s, and brother Eric is currently a walk-on linebacker with the program.Iose Epenesa has totaled 122 deals with and 15 sacks across three high school seasons, drawing interest from programs throughout the Power 4. He took main visits this spring to Missouri, Iowa, Utah and Miami, and thought about each school into August before committing to the Hawkeyes.Epenesa credited household ties and longstanding relationships at Iowa amongst the figuring out consider his recruiting. Hawkeyes defensive line coach Kelvin Bell coached AJ Epenesa and has been hiring Iose Epenesa given that Illinois ‘top prospect remained in eighth grade. Epenesa likewise has a connection with unique teams organizer LeVar Woods that goes back to his father’s playing days at Iowa. “I needed to ask questions about every school,” Epenesa said. “It was everything about depth charts and what truly fit me and what was easiest for my family. The greatest thing for me was having my family come out and enjoy my games and to see me every once in a while. My bro is up there right now, and it’ll be awesome to have fun with him.”

Iowa’s 2025 class likewise consists of three-star in-state tight end Thomas Meyer and offending guards Cameron Herron and Lucas Allgeyer. Ferentz and his personnel have actually hired Illinois greatly in the 2025 cycle with 5 pledges from the state, none bigger than the dedication they landed from Epenesa on Thursday night.