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Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff Writer
Iowa landed its top commit in the 2025 class Thursday night with a pledge 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 picked 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 been in this process for a while — almost four years now — we were all getting tired of it so we came down, talked with the family and started getting down to business,” Epenesa told ESPN. “It was time to figure it out.”
Epenesa is the brother of former Hawkeye and current Buffalo Bills edge rusher AJ Epenesa, who tallied 26.5 sacks and was a two-time All-Big Ten selection 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 tackles and 15 sacks across three high school seasons, drawing interest from programs across the Power 4. He took official visits this spring to Missouri, Iowa, Utah and Miami, and considered each school into August before committing to the Hawkeyes.
Epenesa credited family ties and longstanding relationships at Iowa among the determining factors in his recruiting. Hawkeyes defensive line coach Kelvin Bell coached AJ Epenesa and has been recruiting Iose Epenesa since Illinois’ top prospect was in eighth grade. Epenesa also has a connection with special teams coordinator LeVar Woods that dates back to his father’s playing days at Iowa.
“I had to ask questions about every single school,” Epenesa said. “It was all about depth charts and what really fit me and what was easiest for my family. The biggest thing for me was having my family come out and watch my games and to see me every once in a while. My brother is up there right now, and it’ll be awesome to play with him.”
Iowa’s 2025 class also includes three-star in-state tight end Thomas Meyer and offensive guards Cameron Herron and Lucas Allgeyer. Ferentz and his staff have recruited Illinois heavily in the 2025 cycle with five pledges from the state, none bigger than the commitment they landed from Epenesa on Thursday night.