Vaitai, Listenbee talk draft

While Josh Doctson was a no-doubt first-round draft pick last week, for a couple other Horned Frogs, the draft was a bit more stressful.

In total, five Frogs were drafted. Joey Hunt to Seattle and Derrick Kindred to Cleveland were out of town, but Doctson, Kolby Listenbee (the newest Buffalo Bill) and Halapoulivaati Vaitai (the newest Philadelphia Eagle) were on hand Tuesday to talk about their new teams.

“It was more stressful than exciting,” Listenbee said. “In the draft, you’re just sitting there and it’s really stressful.”

Listenbee knew he was going to be drafted in the sixth round when it began when he got a call from Los Angeles, but he wasn’t on the board thanks to the Bills taking him 10 picks sooner.

“Right before the Bills called me, the Rams called me,” Listenbee said. “They said I’d be a good fit in their offense. But they picked 10 picks later and didn’t know if I’d be on the board.”

He’s happy to have landed in Buffalo where he gets to be a part of an explosive offense like he was with TCU and he gets to play with a player he admires.

“We have the fastest offense in the country,” Listenbee said. “They want me to be opposite of Sammy Watkins. Want me to go fight for that spot.”

He’s excited to learn from Watkins.

“I kind of mold my game off of him. He’s fast and can make big plays,” Listenbee said. “It’s going to be weird playing with a guy I tried to look up to.”

Listenbee will be playing with another former Frog in Jerry Hughes.

“I saw Jerry (Hughes) on my visit before the draft and he messaged me after the draft welcoming me to Bills Mafia,” Listenbee said. “I’m sure we’ll hang out even though we are on other sides of the ball.”

For Vaitai, it’s been a whirlwind couple of days since his dream of being drafted came true in the fifth round.

“It’s one of those things people wish for,” Vaitai said. “It’s been crazy actually. I’ve been working out more now and trying to get back in shape before heading back to Philly.”

He was contacted by several teams, but Philadelphia wasn’t really one of them before the draft.

“I only had contact once with the Eagles and that was when they had a private work out with me,” Vaitai said. “The Ravens contacted me each week. Tampa Bay and New Orleans contacted me. It’s crazy how it works.”

Vaitai gives a lot of credit to his success to the TCU coaching staff.

“I appreciate TCU a lot. Coach Don Sommer worked us out to death every year,” Vaitai said. “When I went to a X’s and O’s training camp, the camp was nothing compared to coach Sommer’s. Only me and Terrell Lathan could run between the drills and that’s because we were used to coach Sommer’s work outs.”

While Sommer was great at kicking Vaitai’s butt, head coach Gary Patterson gave him a better understanding of how the NFL works.

“He tells me to work out, go out there and work hard every day because if I take a day off, I might not be back the next day,” Vaitai said. “It’s not college anymore. It’s all business up there.”