AJ Espensa
- Thread starter Bwm57
- Start date
He got jobbed on that forward pass/incompletion call. His helmet forced that ball forward.
Absolutely love seeing a three sport athlete kill it at the next level. Who’s knows what his numbers will look like next year when he actually starts for the Hawkeyes.
Still can't believe that AJ wasn't an all-stater...
That's because there is a lot more media coverage in Northern Illinois but that slight was definitely a travesty. Can't believe that who ever voted for all staters missed out on him. Must be the Beth Long rules for voting? LOL.
The kid can definitely play some football and coming from a pedigree football background the skies the limit for him going forward.
The kid can definitely play some football and coming from a pedigree football background the skies the limit for him going forward.
Considering both played in high school all american bowls, it just shows how much of a joke Illinois’ all state selection is.
I thought the same thing. How does a player make All-American, but not All-State?
I know and that's insane. Insane on one hand because football was his best sport and he didn't get selected and insane on the other hand because he could and should have been an all-stater in THREE different sports.
There will be a lot of football to watch this season in the Epenesa family. In addition to the Hawkeyes, parents Eppy and Stephanie have to follow Edwardsville football, where Eric Epenesa will be a senior, playing offense, defense and long snapper. Younger brother Iose, who also has followed in the family’s long-snapping tradition, is in seventh grade and said to have a body similar in build to A.J.
Nice piece about AJ earning a starting spot this year.
Nice piece about AJ earning a starting spot this year.
I hear great things about the 7th grader. There's already talk of him being another AJ. Apparently the other kids his age are pretty good as well and Eville is expected to have a pretty good team in a few years with that group.
O boy here we go again. You never know half those kids may go private, move or peak early. Can anyone say Bartlett freshman?
This type of post has been written over and over again year after year. You never know what the team will look like when were talking 7th graders.
I've haven't posted anything like that until now and even then, I didn't speak in the absolute or suggest that anything was set in stone. I'm not sure that there's something wrong with a little passive expectation and looking forward to seeing how a talented group of kids turn out.
Playboymixx
Don’t take it to hard. I am just being crabby. In the past years this type of thread is always being brought up by over zealous parent fans. My point is the same as past years. Just because they look good now doesn’t mean they will as high schoolers. But like I said it’s more me than you.
We’re all good.
Eville football is going to have a major slump for the next few years and so I admit that I'm hoping that this group of kids will turn things around again, but I certainly don't plan to be over zealous about it. Even if this entire group transfers to ESL (lol just kidding), life will go on.
Yup. But I get ya. It’s rare when they all stick together but when they do it can be special.
I think Eville's biggest issue isn't necessarily sticking together, it's depth. Turnouts for football tend to be low and are getting lower each year. That, plus the talent that does come through Eville rarely tends to come at the same time like this younger group in question.
Not in EVILLE - too far from althoff and they won’t go the Lutheran Metro.
Very true. The private school issue isn't much of a factor for Edwardsville.
EVILLE is an island - county seat of Madison. There are no other choices - you either live there or you don’t. It’s not gray like Belleville, ESL, O’Fallon ....
Let’s just say, you see. Doppelgänger little bro of an NFL likely player ... and maybe a few of their kids with growable size and maybe some speedsters ... I can see that a 7th grade class’ injection into a program might bring some expectation of success
Last edited:
Maybe maybe not. This story repeats itself every year only to see it not materialize.
Time will tell.
Similar threads
