Four years after blazing a trail from Punahou to Princeton, wide receiver Andrei Iosivas is full steam ahead after creating significant NFL Draft buzz.
The Tigers speedster who also captured three IVY League track & field heptathlon titles, closed out his senior season this past fall by securing All-American honors while being selected as a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, the FCS player of the year.
Iosivas hauled in 66 catches for 943 yards and seven touchdowns in 10 games.
Recently, Iosivas was offered and accepted an invite to the Reese’s Senior Bowl. A huge opportunity with scouts from all 32 NFL teams in attendance.
According to the former Buffanblu standout, hard work pays off and the journey has been worth all of the sacrifice.
“Definitely when I first saw myself on the first draft board, I was like What? Someone has me as a draftable guy? So, it was kind of crazy but then when I started getting a bunch of agents hitting me up and that kind of stuff, I was like whoa, this is kind of crazy that it’s real,” said Iosivas. “It’s all about falling in love with the process. You have a goal but you can’t really fall in love with the goal. You have to fall in love with everything that it takes to get to that point. Every time you see a little bit of progress, for me, every time I saw a little bit of progress it was, okay, I just want to keep going. I want to keep going.”
The Senior Bowl will take place on January 4, in Alabama. Until then, Iosivas is training in Florida as he continues to chase his NFL dream. A long term goal that he had for himself growing up in the islands.
“Coming out of high school, I only had two offers. Princeton and Dartmouth, so I wasn’t a huge recruit or anything and so I was kind of like, oh, I guess my NFL dreams might not be as big as I thought and then once it became reality to where people actually wanting me to be part of their team, it was kind of crazy.”
