By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Kirk Ferentz calls them stories and one of my favorite stories is being written right now about Iowa defensive end Parker Hesse.

The latest chapter unfolded on Saturday as Hesse and his fellow defensive ends led the way to a 23-0 shutout against an explosive Maryland squad at Kinnick Stadium.

“It's hard to find a flaw with him,” Ferentz said of Hesse. “He is really kind of the epicenter of our football team.”

Wow!

For Ferentz to call any one player the epicenter to the Iowa football team is the ultimate compliment because Ferentz doesn’t give out individual praise of that high regard without reason.

Ferentz stresses a team-first mentality and his praise often focuses on groups of players rather than just one individual.

But Hesse and has been an ongoing exception for Ferentz.

Hesse has been one of Ferentz’s favorite players ever since Hesse was thrust into action as a redshirt freshman in 2015 after Drew Ott was injured.

“I can't say enough about Parker,” Ferentz said. “He's an unbelievable kid. First of all, he's played a lot. He had to play probably before his time with Drew getting injured. Seems like a decade ago. But everything he does is just quality and first class.

“He's a student of the game, works extremely hard on the mental part. He's an unbelievable leader in the strength and conditioning program, and just a guy everybody in our program looks up to, whether it's a player, coaching staff, support staff.”

I considered Hesse to be Iowa’s most valuable player at this stage of the season before hearing Ferentz gush about him after Saturday’s victory over Maryland, which made Iowa bowl eligible for the 17^th time in the last 18 seasons under Ferentz.

But it’s a no-brainer after hearing Ferentz describe Hesse’s value to the team after Saturday’s victory.

Ferentz was asked about Hesse again on Tuesday and Ferentz made his own case for why Hesse could be Iowa's most valuable player.

Fellow defensive ends Anthony Nelson and A.J. Epenesa are both bigger than Hesse and are destructive forces coming off the edge as pass rushers.

Epenesa is also a former five-star recruit and a fan favorite, while Hesse is a former two-star recruit who picked Iowa over scholarships offers from Northern Iowa, South Dakota State and Western Illinois.

A former high school quarterback, Hesse didn’t start playing defensive end until college. He moved to defensive end because he felt he had a better chance of contributing and because he was needed there. 

The position is now arguably the deepest on the team with Hesse, Nelson and Epenesa all performing at a star level, and with rising sophomore Chauncey Golston starting to emerge.

It would be easy to say that junior quarterback Nate Stanley is Iowa's MVP at this stage because he plays arguably the most important position in team sports and because he plays it well.

But the Iowa defense is clearly the strength of the team and Hesse is without question the leader of the defense with 40 career starts now under his belt.

Kirk Ferentz and his assistant coaches saw something in Hesse that no other power five coaching staff saw, and now they’re being rewarded for their vision and for their trust in Hesse.

Epenesa and Nelson might have more upside than Hesse, but I’m living in the moment when I say that Hesse would be my pick for Iowa’s MVP with five games left in the regular season. Hesse would be my pick for MVP because of his consistency on the field and because of his leadership off it.

Hesse is equally effective against the run and pass, and has shown a knack for making big plays at pivotal times.

He and Epenesa both led Iowa with two tackles for loss in Saturday’s victory over Maryland, and they each had one of Iowa’s two sacks.

Maryland entered Saturday’s game ranked third in the Big Ten in rushing with an average of 245.2 yards a game, but was held to just 68 rushing yards against Hesse and his cohorts.

The 6-foot-3, 261-pound Hesse never seems out of position and that can be attributed largely to his preparation and his intelligence. He is a student of the game who also happens to be a top-notch performer.

Hesse’s rise from recruiting obscurity to Big Ten star is symbolic of the Iowa program under Ferentz, and proof that an opportunity to prove yourself means more than any recruiting ranking.

Some fans complained on social media when Hesse was listed as the starter over Epenesa on the 2018 spring depth chart.

That drew a response on Facebook from Epenesa’s father, former Iowa defensive lineman Eppy Epenesa. Eppy told fans to trust the Iowa coaches and to appreciate Parker Hesse for being a great player, a great leader and a great teammate.

It certainly isn’t A.J. Epenesa’s fault that Hesse is under-valued by some of the fans. A.J. and his father have shown nothing but admiration and respect for Hesse, and rightfully so, because Hesse deserves it.

Hesse is the glue to the Iowa defense, a fifth-year senior who excels in every facet of being an Iowa football player.

He takes pride in his practice habits and in his preparation because practice is where it all starts. Practice is where Iowa devised the scheme to stop Maryland’s explosive offense.

“They give a lot of different looks, a lot of pre-snap stuff,” Hesse said of Maryland’ “It comes down to what we did this week in practice, coaches having us prepared, getting us in the right situations, and the scout team doing a tremendous job of giving us accurate looks like we saw today.”

Hesse is always quick to share the praise because that’s part of being a leader, but also because that’s Parker Hesse.