YAC is a priority for Iosivas this offseason. Those 250 yards have to come from somewhere. Lieberman, who shot to local fame last year as the trainer who helped shape the break-out sophomore years of Iosivas and running back Chase Brown, didn’t change much this time around when he got Iosivas again for the eight weeks that led into the Bengals’ voluntary offseason workouts.
For Lieberman, an interesting sort himself who got saved from a career in sports writing, the position is as much about approach, as well as fundamentals. Lieberman, once the youngest assistant coach in the Big Ten at Rutgers before he gave up coaching to shoot for a master’s in writing at his alma mater of Wesleyan University, still works his metaphors.
He calls Iosivas “Batman,” comparing his rise from Ivy anonymity, the draft’s sixth round, and stacked receiver room to the Cape Crusader’s various comebacks. He works hard on the mental aspect of the grind and sees Iosivas flowering there, too, after tough days on the field.
“This isn’t happening because you’re making mistakes. It’s happening because you’re pushing yourself so hard,” Lieberman says. “He’s had to learn to distinguish between those two. When you push yourself past being comfortable so much, you’re going to fail. But hopefully the game feels easier. He’s doing a great job.”
Lieberman knows because, well, he says Iosivas is “obsessed” with being great, and just a few days ago around midnight he texted Lieberman five clips of practice.
Lieberman, a former Wesleyan quarterback who blew out his shoulder before being inspired to get into coaching by alum Bill Belichick’s picture on the wall, is used to hearing from Iosivas at all hours. This week is pretty typical. They broke down some of his moves, and how he maybe could have come out lower in some of his breaks. Or maybe on one catch, how to get his hands up and out sooner.
“He could be a 1A or 2 receiver anywhere,” Lieberman says. “He’s going to become one of the league’s great receivers. He’s going through a beautiful thing with two great receivers ahead of him. It keeps him humble and builds him strong internally.”
Meanwhile, Iosivas puts his head down and is glad to take people along with him. He brought Bengals wide receivers Charlie Jones and Kendric Pryor to Atlanta for this offseason, and undrafted rookie receiver Jordan Moore apparently plans to join them when the Bengals break for the summer next week.
Walters knows what to expect when Iosivas returns next month.
“He always comes back better than when he left,” Walters says. “A lot of times he gets overlooked. A lot of the targets don’t come his way, but the one thing I can say, when they did come his way, he was ready. He made plays. There will be times in different games when they’re going to try and take away Tee and Ja’Marr and he’s going to be the focus.
“He just has to continue to make plays when called, and there’ll be opportunities to have a bigger role at some point this year.”
Until then, look for Iosivas to keep coming off the field about a half-hour after most everybody else.
“Just staying well-oiled,” he says again.