A.J. Epenesa recorded 26.5 sacks during his three-year career at Iowa -- but one stands out.
It came at the expense of his new teammate.
The Buffalo Bills' second-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft recorded his first collegiate sack against then-Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen in the second quarter of the Hawkeyes' 24-3 win in 2017. By NFL standards, it was more of a tackle for a loss -- Epenesa got to Allen shortly after the quarterback faked a handoff on a read option.
Either way, the newest Buffalo Bill had to work for it.
A.J. Epenesa's first collegiate sack was against @JoshAllenQB...
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) April 25, 2020
and we're glad it won't happen again!
📺: @IowaOnBTN pic.twitter.com/RXuEb79FJQ
"Going into that game, we knew who he was, what he's about and what he could do," Epenesa said Friday night. "To this day, there's no quarterback that I've had to sack that was tougher than Josh Allen. He was really hard to bring down."
The Bills' official account tweeted out a replay of the sack, drawing a laugh or two from Allen's teammates -- including right guard Jon Feliciano, who told his quarterback that he "probably should've handed that off."
Allen took it all in stride.
I was playing the long game, wanted him to be a Bill... pic.twitter.com/85L3kk8ili
— Josh Allen (@JoshAllenQB) April 25, 2020
Epenesa was ESPN's No. 32 overall prospect in the 2020 class but fell to the Bills at No. 54 overall. General manager Brandon Beane said there were "10 players on either side of the ball" that he would have been happy drafting at that spot, including Epenesa -- who Beane said offers flexibility at both defensive end and 3-technique defensive tackle.
The 6-foot-6, 280-pound Epenesa won't be able to join his teammates any time soon; Beane said rookie camp, generally a week or two after the NFL draft, will be held virtually and operate as more of a classroom. But the chip on Epenesa's shoulder will remain as he seeks to prove why he deserved to be drafted earlier than late in the second round.
"I feel like I always try to play with a chip on my shoulder, give myself a little extra motivation," he said. "But especially now, I mean, I was number 54 -- there's 53 other people that were picked in front of me ... In the end, all I needed was one team to give me the opportunity and that's what the Bills are doing.
"It gets me fired up and I want to be able to go out there and prove to people that they shouldn't have doubted me."