Iowa football runs deep in the Epenesa family and went even deeper on Wednesday. In the late 90’s Eppy Epenesa played for the Hawkeyes, and nearly two decades later his oldest son A.J. followed in his dad’s footsteps.

Coming out of Edwardsville, A.J. was no average recruit, most outlets had him as a top ten prospect in the country. The Hawkeyes had the inside track and landed a future All-American.

Now seven years later the Epenesa family takes legacy to a whole new level. The youngest Epenesa, Iose, had 23 power four offers on the table. Iowa general manager Tyler Barnes was a little worried this would be the one to chart his own path.

But with help from Eppy, A.J. and the whole gang on a June visit, another five-star Epenesa is going to suit up in the black and gold.

“That family is awesome,” Tyler Barnes said. “Everybody knows his dad is a Hawkeye through and through, sometimes you wonder if this kid wants to go do his own thing and is this the one that’s going to forge their own path.”

“We were going to let it play out and we knew were always going to be in till the end. There was sometimes we worried a bit more than other times, but we got him here on a visit we had a legacy event where a lot of our alumni came back. Eppy and A.J. came and Iose seeing how everybody acts I think that visit really pushed things over the top for us.”