Iose Epenesa, the top defensive end in the 2025 class, has committed to Iowa

Iowa landed its top commitment in the 2025 class Thursday night with four-star Hawkeyes quarterback Iose Epenesa, the No. 21 prospect on the ESPN 300.

Epenesa, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound edge rusher from Edwardsville, Illinois, is the No. 1 defensive end in the 2025 class, according to the ESPN rankings. He is the 14th member of Kirk Ferentz’s 2025 class and Iowa’s first ESPN 300 commitment in the cycle, picking up Hawkeyes from Penn State, Miami and Utah. Epenesa’s commitment comes two weeks before the start of her senior season at Edwardsville High School.

“We’ve been in this process for a while — about four years now — we all got tired of it so we came down, talked to the family and got down to business,” Epenesa told ESPN. “It was time to find out.”

Epenesa is the brother of former Hawkeye and current Buffalo Bills edge rusher AJ Epenesa, who tallied 26.5 sacks and was a two-time All-Big Ten selection at Iowa from 2017 to ’19. Father AP Epenesa was an Iowa football letterman in the 1990s and brother Eric is currently a walk-on linebacker with the program.

Iose Epenesa totaled 122 tackles and 15 sacks over three high school seasons, drawing interest from programs across the Power 4. He took official visits to Missouri, Iowa, Utah and Miami this spring and considered each school in August before committing to the Hawkeyes.

Epenesa credited family ties and longstanding ties to Iowa as the deciding factors in his hiring. Hawkeyes defensive line coach Kelvin Bell coached AJ Epenesa and has been recruiting Iose Epenesa since Illinois’ top prospect was in the eighth grade. Epenesa also has a connection to special teams coordinator LeVar Woods that dates back to his father’s playing days at Iowa.

“I had to ask questions about every school,” Epenesa said. “It was about the depth chart and what really fit me and what was easiest for my family. The biggest thing for me was having my family come out and watch my games and see me every now and then. My brother is there right now, and playing with him. would be great.”

Iowa’s 2025 class also includes three-star in-state tight end Thomas Meyer and offensive guards Cameron Herron and Lucas Allgaier. Ferentz and his staff have heavily recruited Illinois with five commitments from the state in the 2025 cycle, none bigger than the one they landed from Epenesa on Thursday night.