I’m confident in saying we’ll never see another Iowa football player like A.J. Epenesa
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – We're taught to believe that you never say never because of how unpredictable and spontaneous life can be.
But I’m confident in saying that we’ll never see another Iowa football player like A.J. Epenesa.
I’m confident in saying that we’ll never see another Hawkeye make first-team All-Big Ten and be named as a unanimous preseason first-team All-American by Sports Illustrated without having started a single game in college.
I’m confident in saying that we’ll never see another Iowa player lead the Big Ten in sacks during a season in which he spent more than half of his time on the bench.
I’m confident in saying that we’ll never see another Iowa defensive end be compared to the great Andre Tippett before ever having started a game.
I’m confident in saying that we’ll never see another five-star recruit be willing to play as a reserve during his first two seasons at Iowa despite performing at a star level.
And I'm confident in saying that we’ll never see another five-star recruit who fits the Iowa culture under head coach Kirk Ferentz better than A.J. Epenesa does.
His rise to stardom would be impossible to believe if we didn’t have the luxury of watching it unfold right before our eyes.
The soft-spoken Epenesa defies all of the stereotypes in this age of self-entitlement and instant gratification.
It is reasonable to assume that Epenesa would’ve preferred to have started at some point during his first two seasons at Iowa, and he certainly proved that he was capable of being a starter.
But he also stepped into a unique situation at Iowa where the two players ahead of him at defensive end were both pretty good, and at times really good, and highly respected by their teammates and coaches.
Epenesa played behind Anthony Nelson and Parker Hesse as a freshman and sophomore at Iowa, but that didn’t sit well with some fans who felt that Epenesa was too good to be a part-time player, and that Kirk Ferentz was playing favorites based on seniority.
A lot of five-star recruits would’ve bailed rather than be the third piece to a three-man rotation for two seasons, But Epenesa isn’t like most five-star recruits, and that is where Iowa got lucky.
Instead of pouting or complaining about not starting, Epenesa accepted his role and he embraced the leadership and guidance from Nelson and Hesse.
“I came in, in my opinion, at a really good time for me to be able to follow some good leaders in the guys from last year,” Epenesa said of Nelson and Hesse, who both are now competing for roster spots in the NFL. “They showed me how to be an Iowa Hawkeye football player, and I have nothing but respect and love for those guys.
“And the legacy they’ve left and the standard that they’ve left behind is how we should play.”
Epenesa will make his much-anticipated first start for Iowa in the Aug. 31 season opener against Miami of Ohio and Kinnick Stadium, and the Edwardsville, Ill., native knows what to expect from the RedHawks, and from every opponent.
“Everyone’s best shot is what I’m looking for,” Epenesa said. “If they’re going to put one guy or two guys on me or three guys, whatever it takes, I’m just going to go out there and give it my best effort because I know that’s what I’m going to get from them.”
It’ll take an opponent’s best effort to have any chance of containing of the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Epenesa because he is that good.
He is a destructive force who combines power, quickness and an unrelenting will to succeed on the field.
Combine that with his humility and his team-first approach and Epenesa is the total package.
He gets asked a lot of potentially awkward questions because of his star status, and it’s amazing that he always seems to the say the right thing, as was the case at media day on Aug. 9 when Epenesa was asked if he was the best defensive end in college football.
“I don’t know. I know people think I am, but I have a lot to prove this season,” Epenesa said. “I have a lot of games to play, and I guess time will tell after these twelve games.”
When asked at media day what he wants to improve on the most as a player, Epenesa didn’t just say one thing.
“I guess the one thing I want to prove is that I’ve improved since last year as an overall football player in the run, pass, special teams or wherever I’m needed,” he said. “That I have taken a step forward in those aspects of the game.”
Epenesa came to Iowa with a wealth of talent and notoriety that made him unique compared to his college teammates. But he was also realistic and felt no sense of entitlement because of what he had accomplished in high school.
“No one coming into college football is really ready,” Epenesa said. “I guess there are exceptions somewhere. But you have to learn a new offense, a new defense and you have to become physically ready to take on people who are much bigger than you. I’d consider myself a pretty big guy, and those guys across from me are very big guys. They’re a lot bigger than me, some of them.
“So just really taking myself and trying to step up in the physical aspect, the mental aspect and learning the playbook and learning offenses and how to beat that. Just overall I had to grow as a person and mature as a person to be ready to play at this level.”
The first question asked to Kirk Ferentz at Iowa’s media day was in what way could Epenesa take his game to another level?
His answer was vintage Ferentz in that he didn’t try to make Epenesa bigger than the team.
“He's like everybody on the team,” Ferentz said. “Just basically learning how to play every down a little bit better, a little more proficiently. He has not started a game, and that's only a byproduct of us having some really good players in front of him. But he's a tremendous talent. He's done a lot of good things already.
“But now the challenge is to play sixty, seventy snaps in a ballgame and play them all as well as he possibly can. So it's another step for him. He works hard. He's got a great attitude. There's no reason to think he won't be a better player this year. We're certainly counting on that, and based on what we've seen so far, I think it's fair to expect that.”
Epenesa’s work ethic and attitude didn’t just happen by accident.
He is fortunate to have parents who set the right example, and Iowa is fortunate that his father, Eppy Epenesa, decided to transfer from Iowa Wesleyan to the University of Iowa to play football as a walk-on defensive lineman in the mid-1990s under Hayden Fry.
Who knows how this story would’ve played out if Eppy Epenesa hadn’t transferred to Iowa more than 20 years ago?
The decision to transfer changed the course of Eppy Epenesa’s life, and also helped set the course for A.J. Epenesa’s life.
Eppy Epenesa loved his time as a Hawkeye and he made friends for life, including former All-Big Ten defensive lineman Jared DeVries.
A.J. Epenesa’s middle name is Jared in honor of his father’s close friend and former teammate, and A.J. also wears jersey number 94, which is the same number that DeVries wore as a Hawkeye from 1995 to 1998.
“That was one of my dad’s best friends from college, and for him to be who he is and how he’s held throughout this program at a high standard, I feel sharing the same number as him and having the same number as him, it just kind of puts me in that same standard where I need to live up to it,” A.J Epenesa said. “And there’s things I need to do and there’s a way I need to play because of the standards he set, and that this level of play is what the standard is and nothing less than the best is acceptable.”
A.J. Epenesa’s teammates understand and appreciate what he brings to the team, especially those who play alongside him on the defensive line.
“It’s a good gift,” said sophomore defensive tackle Daviyon Nixon.
In many ways, A.J. Epenesa is a gift that has lived up to expectations ever since being unwrapped at Iowa.
He is one of just a handful of five-star recruits to play for the Hawkeyes, but the only one to have lived up to expectations.
And now he gets to play as a starter for the first time.
There is speculation that Epenesa will skip his senior season at Iowa to declare for the 2020 NFL Draft where he already projects as a potential top 10 pick.
But for now, his biggest concern is getting the most out of being a Hawkeye because anything less would be unacceptable.
A.J. Epenesa has made it this far by living in the moment, by respecting his elders and by saying and doing the right things.
“I one-hundred percent think that these guys and myself all have the capability to play good football and to play at an elite level,” Epenesa said. “But it just takes showing up to practice every day, to every game, to every morning, to attack every film session, every meeting like it’s our last, and to really never take anything for granted and just show up every day to work and continue to improve in every aspect of the game, offense, defense and special teams.
"And I believe we can all play at an elite level.”
It's always we when it comes to A.J. Epenesa's outlook on things because he is as good a teammate as he is player.
And that says a lot about him, and about how he was raised.