Epenesa follows family connection to the Hawkeyes

A.J. Epenesa could have a huuuuuuge head. He's a fantastic do-everything athlete for Edwardsville (Ill.) High School. He's 6-5, 255 pounds and his list of college football scholarship offers reads like an all-time top 25.

Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and USC among 21 others. The world is his basketball and he can 360 dunk it anytime he wants.

So, you figure his commitment announcement is going to be a 'hat game,' where the prospect lines up four or five hats and finally picks one up and puts the cap on. You expect something grand from a Rivals.com 4-star athlete who's ranked as the 27th player in the country for the 2017 class.

Well, guess again.

In a tweet around noon on Sunday, Epenesa, whose father, Eppy, played defensive line for Hayden Fry in the 1990s, gave an earnest pledge to the University of Iowa.

'This week me and my family have made the biggest decision of my life,' A.J. Epenesa wrote. 'It has been a long and hard road, but my family and I have come together with all of the coaches and told them I am committing to the University of Iowa.

'We are so excited as a family. I want to give all the thanks to God for blessing me and keeping me safe all this time. Thank you to everyone who has helped me up to this point. It hasn't been easy, but all of the hard work definitely pays off. It's great to be a Hawkeye!'

It's a great day to be a Hawkeye!! January 17, 2016

It's a great day to be a Hawkeye!! #LetsGoHawks pic.twitter.com/rhgTNM74nf

— AJ Epenesa (@ajepenesa24)

Take a breath and click off Epenesa's list of offers: Alabama, Oklahoma, Missouri, Florida State, Michigan, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Nebraska, USC, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon State, Purdue, Tennessee, UCLA, Utah, Washington State, and Vanderbilt and others.

The Rivals.com rankings are equally impressive: the No. 27 prospect in the country, the No. 1 strongside defensive end and the No. 1 recruit in Illinois.

Epenesa had six sacks and 11 tackles for loss among his 39 tackles for the 9-1 Edwardsville Tigers last season. He averages a team-high 15.7 points and 12.7 rebounds for Edwardsville's 13-3 basketball team and has broken the school record in the discus throw in track.

Epenesa's sister, Sam Epenesa, recently finished her college volleyball career at Purdue. His mother, Stephanie, played volleyball and softball at Iowa Wesleyan. And, yes, you do remember the name from his dad. Epenesa Epenesa transferred from Iowa Wesleyan to Iowa in July 1995.

After moving from American Samoa (where his father was an accomplished cricket player) to Mount Pleasant and Wesleyan, Eppy Epenesa asked to walk-on at Iowa. He saw rotation time as an undersized defensive tackle (6-3, 265) for the 1996-97 Hawkeyes.

'He's obviously not as big and as fast and as strong as a lot of guys, but his heart is as big as anybody's on the football field,' Fry said at the time. 'He'll do fine in the ballgame.'

The family settled in the midwest and now here's A.J., whose commitment won't become official for more than a year (national signing day for 2017 is Feb. 1). Still, for Iowa, it's a huge boost. Epenesa is a national recruit with strong family ties to the program. It depends on Epenesa's personality, but he could be a yearlong recruiting commercial for Iowa football.

As far as the football goes, Epenesa is one of those big players who has little player moves.

'At 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds he has great size for the position, but also brings outstanding athleticism,' Josh Helmholdt, Rivals midwest recruiting analyst wrote for HawkeyeReport.com. 'He showed us all the tools to be a dominant strongside end very early in his career and is developing the understanding of how to use those physical gifts. The early commitment gives him the opportunity to focus fully on his development this off-season and realize his potential while also helping Iowa build a strong 2017 class.'

To say Iowa's 2017 recruiting class is off to a great start is a major undersell. Along with Epenesa, Iowa has four in-state commits who range from 6-5 in height and 395 in weight. They also have offers from Power 5 programs.

North Fayette defensive tackle Juan Harris (6-3, 395) has offers from Michigan, Texas and Utah. Solon linebacker Jacob Coons (6-4, 225 pounds), Mount Vernon offensive lineman Tristan Wirfs (6-5, 280) and Madrid defensive end Coy Kirkpatrick (6-5, 260) also have offers from Iowa State, marking a huge departure from former Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads to new coach Matt Campbell. Iowa and Iowa State rarely offered the same in-state recruits during Rhoads' seven seasons.

This has been highlighted in the recruitment of Cedar Rapids Kennedy wide receiver Shaun Beyer. Iowa State and Campbell have kept up their pursuit even though Beyer and his family have tweeted that they're not budging off the Iowa commitment. (And hey, Beyer is 6-5, 210 pounds and can high jump 6-9, so yeah, you want that skillset.)

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com