Pittsburgh Steelers first-round draft pick Troy Fautanu grew up a Steelers fan, largely because of former safety Troy Polamalu. Fautanu grew up a huge Polamalu fan, and he said after the Steelers selected him, Polamalu reached out to congratulate him.
“He did reach out to me yesterday. I lost my phone yesterday after the draft after they announced it, so the whole entire time I was getting phone calls and text messages. So, I’m scrolling, and I see a caller ID that said Troy Polamalu, so I’m like ‘oh shoot, I gotta call this guy back.’ So I call him back, he didn’t answer, I’m sure he was busy. He left a voice message, though,” Fautanu said in a 1-on-1 with Missi Matthews for Steelers.com.
Fautanu said he also met Polamalu while on a recruiting visit to USC, but he opted not to attend the school. Pittsburgh’s rookies are going to play in the Resilience Bowl, a charity event hosted by Polamalu, so Fautanu will likely have another chance to meet his childhood hero in person. It’s everyone’s dream to meet the athletes or whoever it is they grew up idolizing (Jason Varitek, if you’re reading this, hit me up), so it’s gotta be incredibly cool for Fautanu to have Polamalu reach out to him and eventually don the same uniform and field that Polamalu once did.
Fautanu will look to be revered in the same way Polamalu still is once his career with the Steelers is over. He will play tackle for the Steelers and should be a mauler on the offensive line opposite Broderick Jones. Mike Tomlin said that the Steelers want to roll people this season, and Fautanu will play a big role in making that happen.
On paper, the Steelers had one of the best drafts in the league, and they kicked things off by taking Fautanu, one of the top players on their board, at No. 20 overall. The fact he grew up a Steelers fan makes things even cooler for him, and it’s fun as a fan to see these guys end up with the teams they grew up rooting for. Ultimately, it’s nothing more than a footnote, but it’s got to make the experience cooler as a player to play for the team they grew up watching and playing alongside some of the players they grew up idolizing.
In the post-draft rush, I’m sure Fautanu had a whole lot of people hitting him up, but Polamalu calling him is something he’ll surely remember and likely one of the few calls he made sure to quickly return. It’s also cool to see Polamalu still staying involved with the Steelers as a fan and reaching out to Fautanu, and the Resilience Bowl will be a nice opportunity for him to connect with some current players.
