Rookie offensive tackle Troy Fautanu and second-year tight end Darnell Washington have spent the last two weeks as Pittsburgh Steelers, sharing the same practice field together during OTAs. Heck, they’ve probably lined up next to one another, Fautanu at right tackle, Washington and tight end, and got after it as two run game maulers. It might have the same intensity but different outlet compared to the last time the two met.
Our editor, Scott Brown, recently interviewed Troy Fautanu’s high school head coach, Rich Muraco. Left out of that piece, and passed along to us, was a fun Easter Egg on Washington and Fautanu. The two played against each other in high school once in 2018. Both growing up in Nevada, Fautanu attending Liberty, Washington Desert Pines. Liberty won, but a brawl broke out that forced a double forfeit. Each team forfeited the game, which refs allowed to continue before the league’s ruling, and the following week’s contest for each team, too.
“We ended up beating them like 33-6 but there was a fight that happened in the game so it ended up counting as a double forfeit,” Muraco said via Scott Brown. “His senior year was the year we won state in 2019. We really thought we were going to play them in the state championship game and they got upset in the state semifinals. Darnell was special. Big kid. Athletic.”
The Las Vegas Sun offered details of what went down.
“In my 18 years at Desert Pines we have never had a situation like this,” Desert Pine head coach Tico Rodriguez told the paper. “You think you are prepared and it happens in a New York minute.”
The article nor the below video reacting to the fight mention Fautanu or Washington and there’s no indication either player was directly involved. The video shows players fighting and taking some to the ground near one of the end zones while cops jog onto the field to attempt and break things up.
Fautanu and Washington took separate college paths. Washington was an elite recruit, a five-star prospect and No. 1 player in Nevada who flew across the country and attended Georgia. Fautanu was a good but lesser recruit, a three-star player and No. 3 in the state of Nevada, heading up North to The University of Washington. The two never faced each other in college; in fact, Georgia and Washington have never played each other.
But the Steelers drafted both. Washington in the third round last year, Fautanu in the first round this year. Now, they’re on the same team with a goal of figuratively brawling with opposing defensive linemen in 2024.
