AJ Epenesa

[Riverking1969]

Part of the reason why he's been learning how to play on either side is both to allow him to create more mismatches (it can allow for Phil to play more personnel-games) .... but, more importantly, to allow AJ to play more snaps. Anthony Nelson has played on both side for the past 2 years ... and it helps him keep his number of snaps up.

My guess is that part of the motivation in getting Brincks acclimated to snaps on the interior is not only to help compensate for our lack of beef on the interior DL ... but also because AJ's level of play will continue to demand that he should be on the field more.

My guess is that we'll see an exceedingly active 3-man rotation between Hesse, A. Nelson, and Epenesa ... and they'll likely work in some reps to Golston and Brincks too (but there will likely be fewer to go around).

For all intents and purposes, I anticipate that the coaches will ultimately treat AJ, Hesse, and A. Nelson as starters ... but AJ won't "officially" hold the title until 2019.

AJ should be the starter NOW - not saying Hesse isn't good but we need our BEST players on the field - why can a 5* recruit go to Ohio State or Penn State and start as a freshman? Why nt at Iowa

 

[TKingpin]

Because he wasn’t good enough or disciplined enough to consistently set the edge.

Go back and watch. He lost containment several times. I will bet anything he has that down this year.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

AJ should be the starter NOW - not saying Hesse isn't good but we need our BEST players on the field - why can a 5* recruit go to Ohio State or Penn State and start as a freshman? Why nt at Iowa

Have you counted the number of snaps that those guys had as freshmen? Furthermore, while AJ is definitely an excellent talent, the level of competition that he faced in Illinois wssn't on the same level as what the Bosa boys faced in Florida.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

Because he wasn’t good enough or disciplined enough to consistently set the edge.

Go back and watch. He lost containment several times. I will bet anything he has that down this year.

Yep, my bet is that AJ has made a ton of improvements in his game. He's getting to know the D better, he's improving his fundamentals, and he's improving his functional strength. As I have posted before, he's also going to see a lot more snaps because he can now contribute from both sides at DE.

 

[staygoldponyboy]

2019 works

 

[JoelBittner]

Shout out to Epenesa.
Leads the team in sacks and is second in the conference.
Thanx buddy for sticking with us despite being under-used.

 

[wyldhawk9]

Shout out to Epenesa.
Leads the team in sacks and is second in the conference.
Thanx buddy.

FIFY