Great announcement: top target in the class of 2025 announced his commitment to Iowa.

Hawkeye Football Recruiting: Iose Epenesa’s Dedication to Iowa
In the middle of a recruiting dead period, we are less than two weeks away from Hawkeye football’s return to Kinnick Stadium. As a result, it may appear that Iowa recruiting news would be absent at some point.

It is not so.

The Hawkeyes received some of the most significant recruiting news in the history of the program on Thursday when their top target in the class of 2025 announced his engagement to Iowa.
The most prized gem of this recruiting class was Iose Epenesa, the third son of former Hawkeye Epenesa Epenesa.

While most Iowa fans thought that being a legacy recruit would make it easy for Kirk Ferentz and his staff, the younger Epenesa seemed to welcome the recruiting process more than his older brothers AJ and Eric.

Iose had seen enough of the process and made the call to Ferentz during the program’s team gathering at the head man’s home; this was despite the dead period, which forbids college coaches from initiating contact with recruits.
Similar to his older brother, Epenesa is a huge pickup for the Hawkeyes. 247 Sports rated this prospect as a 5-star prospect.

Iose is the third highest-rated recruit in the history of the program, behind only AJ Epenesa and Matt Roth.

Iose, who is 270 pounds, 6’4” and 10 pounds heavier than AJ, leaves Edwardsville High School with all the explosiveness a college coach would want out of a defensive end. He is a complete nightmare for countering offensives at the prep level on tape. His explosiveness, size, and strength allows him to blow through or around almost any blocker.

Epenesa should be able to contribute early in Iowa with that same combination. Like AJ, Iose will arrive in Iowa City with the physical qualities that will allow him to begin working in the field as soon as he arrives.

How quickly he can learn his duties to become an entire down impact player for the Hawkeyes, rather than a pass rush specialist, will be the question.

For most programs, particularly in Iowa, adding a single day player is uncommon. The fact that you have a game changer on the edge is a remarkable luxury that allows Ferentz, Kelvin Bell, and Tyler Barnes to be more aggressive on the recruiting trail for the remainder of the class of 2025, as well as for 2026 and possibly 2027.