2020 NFL Draft: AJ Epenesa wraps up white-hot November

Iowa Hawkeyes defensive end AJ Epenesa has been overshadowed in 2019 by Chase Young, but he has had an absolutely dominant month of November.

It hasn’t been the 2019 campaign everyone expected from Iowa Hawkeyes defensive end AJ Epenesa, one of the best players in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Epenesa was putting up huge numbers for the Hawkeyes in his first two seasons on campus, and everyone expected an increased workload in 2019 would lead to astronomical numbers and a sure-fire top five NFL Draft status.

Epenesa had been impacting games without racking up sacks or tackles for loss by getting pressures and hits on the quarterback and commanding extra attention, freeing up others to make plays, yet everyone expected more of the former five-star prospect who had drawn some lofty ratings, comparisons, and evaluations in the offseason.

Through October, Epenesa had just 3.5 sacks on the season in eight games and some thought he might be better off heading back to Iowa City to rehab his draft stock next season.

Epenesa had other plans, and decided just to absolutely dominate in the month of November. Let’s take a look at his dominance reflected in the stat books.

AJ Epenesa November stats (4 games)

• 24 total tackles
• 9 tackles for loss
• 5.5 sacks
• 3 forced fumbles

He was particularly impressive on Black Friday in the Hawkeyes’ annual rivalry game with Nebraska.

Something has clicked for Epenesa over the last four weeks. It will be fascinating to see what he decides to do with a relatively weak class at the edge position other than he and Chase Young of Ohio State at the very top.

If Epenesa decides over the next few weeks to head to the NFL, he will then have to decide whether or not to play in Iowa’s bowl game and pad his stats a little bit more.

As a five-star prospect, Epenesa certainly didn’t just come to Iowa to get to the pros. He could have gone anywhere to do that. With that said, Iowa has had a couple of players decide in recent years to skip bowl games and keep themselves healthy for the NFL, and Epenesa may decide to do the same.

If he decides to play in Iowa’s bowl game, it could be an indicator he’s thinking about returning for his senior season in Iowa City. At this point, that would be a big surprise, especially with the way he’s played over the course of the last month.

Epenesa has been on an absolute tear, and is showing the type of dominance and well-rounded game off the edge all NFL scouts and talent evaluators wanted to see from him.