For four Kansas State football players, the NFL Draft served as a homecoming

Three days into the 2023 NFL draft, Josh Hayes was getting restless and decided to get away from it all.

So he went upstairs to relax while the watch party continued on the floor below at his family's Lakeland, Florida, home.

"I turned on the TV and just kind of watched it, and then the phone started ringing and I saw 813 (area code) and I'm like: 'Man, there's no way. There's no way.' So I answer the phone, and I can't even explain the emotions I felt at that point," Hayes said. "Excitement to relief."

The call was from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, less than an hour from his home, letting Hayes know that they were about to select him with No. 4 pick in the sixth round, 181 overall.

With that, Hayes became the third of four Kansas State players picked in the draft, the largest number since four Wildcats also went in the 2003 draft exactly 20 years before. And remarkably, their stories all involved familiar area codes.

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The first was defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who was selected by his hometown Kansas City Chiefs with the final pick of Thursday's first round. Then came cornerback Julius Brents, accepting his call from the Indianapolis Colts while also watching at home.

Hayes was next, and then finally running back Deuce Vaughn later in the sixth round saw a Dallas area code on his phone. Vaughn is from Round Rock, Texas, a short trip down Interstate 35 from where the Cowboys call home.

Call it a homecoming parade in reverse. All four players, teammates on Kansas State's 2022 Big 12 championship team, went their separate ways, only to end up in or near their respective hometowns.

For Hayes, a safety who spent just one season at K-State as a graduate transfer, it was especially emotional. By the sixth round, he wasn't picky about where he went in the draft as long as somebody wanted him.

"At the point I was at a few minutes ago, I was just kind of waiting for a phone call from anybody," said Hayes, whose name was not prominent in most mock drafts heading into the weekends. "But once I saw the 813 pop up, being from Florida and then actually having family members that played in Tampa, at Tampa Bay, it was like, God works in mysterious ways."

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It turns out that his uncle, Geno Hayes, was drafted by the Bucs over 20 years ago.

So Tampa Bay becomes the next stop on a long football journey for Hayes, who started his college career at North Dakota State playing for current K-State head coach Chris Klieman and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman. After four years with the Bison, he transferred to Virginia as a super-senior, only to redshirt following an injury.

That led him to transfer to K-State, where he had a productive final season for the Wildcats, finishing third on the team in tackles with 72, including 5.5 tackles for loss, while also breaking up seven passes.

Although he didn't appear on many teams' radars, a workout at Tampa Bay's local pro day convinced the Bucs' management that he could help their team.

"(Kansas State) had a lot of good players on their defense this year and they were a good team," Bucs general manager Jason Licht said. "And so I think with that you've got to open your eyes to all the players that are on there, and we just kept seeing a player that would compete.

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"They played him at nickel, they played him at safety. He could cover, and to me when you look for DBs, tackling is really important. We've got to get guys on the ground, and he's unafraid to come and put his face on people. There's a lot of joy watching his game and that kind of just jumped off the tape."

Hayes wasn't the only former Wildcat drafted with a family connection to his new team. Vaughn's father, Chris, is a scout with the Dallas Cowboys.

For the other two, Anudike-Uzomah in Kansas City and Brents in Indianapolis, they won't have to leave the cities in which they grew up.

It was definitely an old home weekend for the Wildcats.

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Recap of Kansas State football players selected in 2023 NFL Draft