If there had been any doubt that Iosivas’ career at Princeton prepared him for the intangibles of the league as well the measurables, Iosivas “sealed the deal,’ in his 24-hour visit.
“I was surprised to see Cincinnati had so many big buildings and to see the stadium so close to the middle of the city. That was cool,” says Iosivas of the ride in from the airport. “I didn’t know the geography as well as I do now, so I was a little confused when I found out the airport was in Kentucky.”
Maybe Iosivas couldn’t pick out Cincinnati on a map, but his cosmopolitan upbringing helps him fit in anywhere. His parents, a Romanian father and a Filipino mother, speak a combined five languages, and they raised him and his brother in the melting pot of Honolulu.
A trip to the mysterious Midwest for a job interview in the NFL? Another day at the office for Iosivas, who even dressed right.
“I did have my interview hat on a bit,” says Iosivas, who went business casual for athletes. No sweats, but no polo shirt, either. “Somewhere in the middle.”
“You always have to be locked in for it, and it was my only business. So I was very prepared, and I was very, you know, willing. And, I mean, I would have been like that anywhere. I brought the energy.”
Iosivas’ visit went much like the ones the Bengals are running through now. He dined the night he got in with wide receivers coach Troy Walters at Ruth’s Chris Steak House on The Banks, where they continued the white board discussion over white sauce.
Walters showed him tape of Chase and Higgins and wanted to know what he saw in the offense. He showed him his own tape and told Iosivas to break it down and asked him how he could improve and what he could do better.
“I think they’re looking to see if you can critique,” Iosivas says. “A lot of guys come into the league not wanting to be coached. I always want to be coached.”
Iosivas would go on to meet with then-assistant wide receivers coach Brad Kragthorpe and running backs coach Justin Hill, and he would be closeted with Potts and Tobin for an hour. But it was the interaction with Walters he remembered when he got back on the plane.
“I could tell that he would push me but also, he played the game,” Iosivas says. “So even when he was asking me what I did wrong, he knew what was wrong and he knew there are certain drills to make you better, that you can get better. He was just a good guy. I wouldn’t have minded playing for him, and I still don’t mind playing for him at all.”
While Potts had Iosivas in his office with Tobin, he was convinced Iosivas was a good guy for Walters’ room.
“What stood out was his confidence, how serious he was about football,” Potts says. “Just his demeanor. his passion for the game, his football intelligence. Good personality. Good foundation. Not a high-risk guy. He had checked every box. Then he checked every box in that setting.”
The second day of a visit is early. Potts and his crew have to be in draft meetings, which started Monday, by 8 a.m., so the prospects have to be at Paycor by 7 to talk to the scouts. They’ll also talk to other coaches. When the draft room breaks for lunch at noon, the scouts get a final crack at them. Usually, the prospect finishes up with lunch before heading home.
The Top 30s are coming fast and furious now, and the scouts’ schedules hinge on the volume. In the last two days, there have been five prospects through. Later in the week, they get eight in one day.
Iosivas’ final stop on his visit proved to be strong foreshadowing because lunch at E&O has become a family staple.
“I was pleasantly surprised with the sushi quality in Cincinnati. I was a little scared at first. They took me there, so I had to eat there, but I didn’t mind it at all,” Iosivas says. “It’s definitely my dad’s favorite spot and I go there a lot.”
Iosivas had plenty of food for thought on that return trip home.
“I just wanted to be drafted by somebody that actually wanted me and saw a future for me,” Iosivas says. “Obviously, I knew it was a stacked (receivers) room for the Bengals, but they’re the only people that reached out to me and asked me to get on a 30 visit. For me, that’s a big thing.”
It was a big thing for the Bengals, too, but not the only thing.
“Obviously, if we bring them in, there’s interest,” Potts says. “But you can also lose interest after a visit.”
The interest only got stronger in Iosivas after his visit, and he sounds just as energetic as he did that day as he outlines what he’s working on this offseason.
“My YAC,” says Iosivas of the yards after catch category Chase led the league. “That’s where I got the idea from, and me and my coach have been focusing on that every time I catch the ball.
“It’s just about coming back down to the ball. Sometimes, you catch it and you just want to secure it. Say you’re running a dig or something, and you’re running horizontal. Instead of letting the ball come to you, which is fine, but getting tackled in the NFL is all about angles. So if you beat someone to the ball by running back down, like horizontally, then you have more of a chance to break a tackle. Just create more power through the ball.”
Iosivas believes he’s getting explosion in his legs from his split squats in the weight room working off one leg where, “I just feel so much stronger and sturdier doing them,” and says his numbers are through the roof.
The offseason didn’t start out as brightly. He usually played at 207 pounds last year, but he showed up for workouts at about 220. “Holy smokes,’ he thought. “Way too heavy.” But once he began working out, he found the extra weight didn’t inhibit him. Far from it. It made him feel stronger and better.
“If I can stay from 215 and 220, that’d be ideal because I really feel like I’m moving better and I’m faster and stronger,” Iosivas says. “If I can hold this weight and continue to run and jump like this, it will definitely help.
“I just want to be great. One of the greatest ever.”
That box, the passion box, is the one he checked a few years in one of those top 30s now visiting a stadium near you.