Just one regular-season game remains before bowl season. And Iowa football player AJ Epenesa already confirmed he would be playing in this year’s bowl.
With just one regular-season game remaining and bowl season right around the corner, draft talk is going to start heating up (and to be honest, it already has). One of the big things on most people’s minds over the next month and a half will be which players are going to declare and which players are going to sit out their teams’ bowl games to hopefully prevent an injury opportunity. Well, Iowa football fans don’t need to worry about potential top-15 pick AJ Epenesa sitting out the bowl game anymore.
After yesterdays’ 19-10 win over Illinois where AJ Epenesa again put together a nice performance against the Fighting Illini, he spoke with the media and made one comment that stuck out in particular to me.
When speaking with the media he said he would think about the draft after the bowl game.
Iowa DE A.J. Epenesa, on soaking up the day in case it was his last game at Kinnick.
— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) November 23, 2019
"Always. You soak in every home game. I haven’t thought about that process, and I’ll look into that process later on after the bowl game."
That, to me, is a pretty clear indication he is playing in the Iowa football team’s upcoming bowl game, which is great news for Hawkeye fans and bad news for whoever the Hawks get to play.
It’s also just another indication that Epenesa cares about one thing right now and that is helping the Iowa football team win games. Since the beginning of the season when the draft buzz was pretty heavy around the true junior defensive end, he has been saying the right things about being dedicated to the team and not paying attention to the hype.
With that kind of hype, it would be tough to block it out, but so far it seems like Epenesa has done a solid job.
Now, whether or not he stays another year with the Iowa football remains to be seen. I’m not convinced he will after realizing that his stock is still pretty high despite a dip in statistical production, but if anything, at least we get to see him for two more games instead of one.