Highly-touted 2025 recruit Iose Epenesa commits to Iowa football

IOWA CITY — Another Epenesa brother will soon call Kinnick Stadium home.

Highly-touted 2025 defensive line recruit Iose Epenesa committed to the Hawkeyes on Thursday.

Epenesa — a five-star prospect, as rated by 247Sports, and a four-star prospect on other recruiting sites — is the highest-rated recruit in Iowa’s 2025 class and Iowa’s first five-star commit since Xavier Nwankpa in the 2022 class.

The Edwardsville, Ill., prospect is 247Sports’ third-best defensive lineman and 16th-best overall recruit in the country. On3 has him as the 11th-best defensive lineman in the 2025 class.

Epenesa took official visits to Penn State, Missouri, Iowa, Utah and Miami (Fla.). His other suitors included Oregon, Michigan, Texas, USC and other college football heavyweights.

Epenesa has strong family ties to Kirk Ferentz’s program. His father Eppy and brother A.J. both are former Hawkeyes, and A.J. continues to play in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills. His other brother Eric is a current Hawkeye linebacker.

He was on campus last weekend, albeit not in a recruiting capacity, to watch Eric at Iowa’s annual Kids’ Day at Kinnick open practice. When Iose took his official visit to Iowa in early June, his brother A.J. made a surprise appearance.

“Coming this weekend was kind of confirming some of the questions he had in his head about Iowa and about what they do here,” Eppy told The Gazette after Iose’s official visit. “He sees the support and then he sees the love from his family and then even the coaching staff.”

Iowa now has 14 scholarship-level commitments in its 2025 recruiting class. On3 ranks the class 37th nationally and 11th in the 18-team Big Ten. 247Sports has Iowa’s 2025 class ranked 50th nationally.

Epenesa is the second 2025 defensive lineman to commit to Iowa, joining three-star prospect Brad Fitzgibbon from Chicago.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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