Long travel day doesn’t dampen Troy Fautanu’s enthusiasm about being drafted by Steelers

Less than four hours after being selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, Troy Fautanu was seated in Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport awaiting a red-eye flight to Pittsburgh.

Accompanied by his mother, father and sister, Fautanu had a layover in Detroit before continuing the final leg of his journey. He walked off the jetway at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport at 11:13 a.m. Friday, 13 hours after the Steelers changed his future by selecting the Washington offensive tackle with the No. 20 overall pick.

After the customary ride through the Fort Pitt Tunnel, Fautanu arrived at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for lunch, a tour of the facility and meetings with his position coach, strength coaches, front office staff and the media relations personnel.

He received his uniform number – 76 — and then settled in for a 4 p.m. introductory press conference.

Forgive Fautanu if the lack of sleep left him struggling to digest everything that had transpired since he awakened Thursday morning.

“The last 24 hours has been a blur, to be honest,” Fautanu said. “It’s been hectic. It’s crazy to think back however long ago it was that I got my name called. It’s something I’ve been working toward my entire life.”

If being in the Steelers’ practice facility felt like home to Fautanu, it’s because he idolized Troy Polamalu and grew up watching Ben Roethlisberger throwing touchdown passes. He felt destined to play for the Steelers, but the possibility didn’t become a reality until 19 teams passed on him, and he landed in their lap.

“It’s what the Steelers are all about, how they play football, their brand of football,” he said. “I took that and put it into my own games. When I think of the Steelers, I think of grit, of working the trenches, stuff you don’t see but that I take personally because it’s part of my job.”

Fautanu met his first teammate even before his flight touched down in Pittsburgh. As fate would have it, defensive captain Cameron Heyward boarded the plane in Detroit having announced Fautanu’s name the previous night at the draft festivities.

Quarterback Russell Wilson placed a phone call while Fautanu was in the air, and fellow tackle Dan Moore, whose job could be in jeopardy with the first-rounder’s acquisition, was among the first to send a congratulatory text.

Upon meeting the media, Fautanu cleared up a misconception about his allegiance to the Steelers. His father did not grow up rooting for the organization, as coach Mike Tomlin implied Friday. It was while spending a year living with relatives in Nevada — an aunt and uncle were fans of the Steelers — that Fautanu’s fandom began.

He can recall watching the Steelers play a 2007 game against New England in Tomlin’s first season as coach. He was eight when Roethlisberger threw his late winning touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes in Super Bowl XLIII to give the franchise its sixth Lombardi Trophy.

Even his father wondered why his son didn’t root for a team on the West Coast.

“I’ve always gone against the grain,” Fautanu said.

Fautanu was a well-rounded student at Liberty High School in Henderson, Nev. He also played volleyball, taught himself how to play guitar and cut hair in his free time.

“I just get bored when I’m sitting at home,” he said. “I go on YouTube and say, ‘What can I learn today?’ ”

Scouting services ranked Fautanu as the No. 2 or No. 3 recruit in Nevada during his senior year of high school. That afforded him the chance to attend USC, Polamalu’s alma mater. Polamalu even was part of a recruiting pitch by then-coach Clay Helton in an attempt to lure Fautanu to the school.

Instead, Fautanu chose Washington because he was aware that, at USC, Polamalu wasn’t going to be on campus every day to provide inspiration.

It took three years before Fautanu developed into a full-time starter on the Huskies’ offensive line, and he started 28 games at left tackle over the 2022-23 seasons.

One of his teammates was linebacker Carson Bruener, son of former Steelers tight end Mark Bruener, the franchise’s last number one draft pick from Washington and a scout in the organization. Steelers president Art Rooney II joked that the Bruener connection gave the Steelers some “inside information” on Fautanu.

After his introductory press conference ended, Fautanu posed for photos with his family members, Rooney, general manager Omar Khan and Tomlin. He did a radio interview before heading to a hotel to get some much-needed sleep.

The whirlwind weekend will continue Saturday for Fautanu when he tours the city and attends the team’s draft party at Acrisure Stadium. For all of his fandom of the Steelers, Fautanu never has seen the team play in person.

“It’s crazy that the first one,” Fautanu said, “I’ll be wearing a jersey on my back.”