So What?

The Princeton football team was chosen to finish second in the Ivy League's preseason media poll.

To that, Tiger wide receivers coach Brian Flinn has a simple two-word message: So What?

It's Flinn's go-to phrase, one he got from Princeton head coach Bob Surace and, well, ran with, which is something you might not expect from a wide receivers coaches. Pretty much any social media post from Flinn includes the hashtag #sowhat, and the better the news, the more impact it has.

Here is what Flinn had to say about his use of the term:

Stole it from Bob. It was on some T-Shirts when I first got here. Kind of picked it up and ran with it. Use it as a way to react to adversity/success. Acknowledge it - Learn from it - Keep it moving. 
Down by 14? - So What
Raining/Cold out - So What
Poor officiating - So What
We’re 8-0 - So What
We’re 0-8 - So What

There's a lot to be taken from that attitude. No excuses. No resting on laurels. Just another day, another moment, another opportunity to prove yourself.

Flinn has been posting highlights of one of his most recent proteges, Andrei Iosivas, as he competes in his first training camp as a wide receiver with the Cincinnati Bengals, who selected him in the sixth round of this past spring's NFL draft.

A sixth-round pick is sort of a no-man's land. You're not a high enough selection to be guaranteed a roster spot and penciled in immediately for playing time, but the team has invested in you. Many sixth-round picks find their way to the practice squad as rookies.

Is that what Iosivas' rookie season has in store? Not if you have been watching the practice videos.

From what Flinn has been posting, Iosivas has already had his share of highlight catches in training camp. The Bengals have one of the best and deepest groups of wide receivers in the league, which is a good thing and bad thing. How many stories has TB read that reference the team's wide receiver "room."

Speaking of which, when did "room" become such a commonplace way of reference a fooball team's positional group. Every group has a "room" these days, and yes, they do have a room where they meet. But it went from never being said to being said in pretty much every training camp story.

Cincinnati's "room" features JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins, who are already proven NFL stars. The team also has one of the best quarterbacks in the game, Joe Burrow, who is out hurt this training camp but figures to be fine when the season starts.

Catching on, as it were, is not easy. Being part of that kind of unit, though, gives you an opportunity to learn from among the best. That education is invaluable.

There two challenges that he faces.

First, there is the matter of consistency. You have to do it day after day after day, week after week. The second is that he has to establish that what he does transcends the Ivy League and plays in the NFL.

For Iosivas, he seems to be doing a great job this summer of using the physical abilities that got him drafted, with his size, hands and athleticism. In some ways, he's been a curiosity so far. 

Now, though, the preseason games are here. There are only three of them, as opposed to the six that there were when TB was a kid or the four that there were for a few decades. Yes, there used to be six preseason games and 14 regular season games. And the goalposts used to be in the front of the end zone. 

The first Cincinnati preseason game is Saturday, when the team hosts Green Bay. After that, it's consecutive Saturdays at Atlanta and Washington.

How will it shake out for Iosivas? He's currently listed as one of the third-string wide receivers on the team's depth chart. At this point, it means nothing.

Whether he was listed as No. 1 or not at all, that doesn't matter as far as today's practice or Saturday's game. They're all his next, best opportunity.

That's a lesson he definitely learned from his college positional coach.