Count Rich Muraco, the head football coach at Liberty High School in Las Vegas, among the multitude of people who were shocked that Washington OT Troy Fautanu was still available at pick No. 20 in this year’s NFL draft.
Muraco had a vested interest in the draft. He happens to be Fautanu’s former high school coach. So, of course, he was watching anxiously to see where his former player would end up. The Steelers stopped any perceived draft tumble that Fautanu had taken, happily taking him with the 20th overall selection.
Muraco knew his guy was going to go in Round 1. He just didn’t know where. But he was pretty confident that Fautanu’s floor was at pick No. 16.
“I didn’t really think he would make it past Seattle. His college o-line coach and his offensive coordinator from college were there, and I knew that they really liked him – at least they were putting things out that they liked him. I thought for sure that he was going to get drafted by them,” Muraco told Steelers Depot.
He was referring to Ryan Grubb, who was Fautanu’s offensive coordinator at the University of Washington in 2022 and 2023, and Scott Huff, Fautanu’s offensive line coach from Washington. Both were poached from the Huskies in February and were on Seattle’s staff when the draft came around.
That’s a pretty darn good reason to suspect they might be interested in the stud lineman who had just helped them reach the national championship game a few months earlier.
However, when Seattle made its selection at pick No. 16, it addressed the defensive side of the ball and took Texas DT Byron Murphy II. Four picks later, Fautanu would hear his name much to the delight of Steelers fans and the man who laid the foundation of Fautanu’s football career, Muraco himself.
“I was super happy that the Steelers picked him because I know that was his favorite team when he was in high school,” Muraco said. It’s been well-documented that Fautanu was a huge fan of the Steelers growing up. Muraco knew that his former superstar had landed in a good place with great tradition.
And, as Muraco said, “Everyone dreams of that, playing for your favorite team someday.”
I’m sure Troy Fautanu didn’t grow up simply dreaming of playing for the Steelers. I guarantee, as all young boys do, he dreamed of winning the biggest game of all and celebrating a championship in a blizzard of confetti.
Let’s hope more of his dreams come true as a Steeler.
