Troy Fautanu (born October 11, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

and won the 2023

Morris Trophy Coaches of the Pac-12 Conference bestow the following awards at the end of each football season. The conference was founded in its current form as the Athletic Association of Western Universities in 1959, but traces its roots to the Pacific Coast C ...

. Fautanu was selected by the Steelers in the first round of the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

Early life

Fautanu was born on October 11, 2000, in

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with 317,610 residents. The city is part of the Las Vegas V ...

. Coming out of high school, Fautanu was a three-star prospect and was rated as the 59th offensive tackle in the country. Fautanu committed to play

for the

. Growing up, Fautanu was a fan of the

College career

In Fautanu's first season in 2019 he redshirted and did not appear in any games. During the 2020 season, Fautanu appeared in four games. During the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, Fautanu would play in nine games, starting in three of them. Fautanu had a breakout 2022 season, where he started all 13 games. In week three of the 2022 season versus

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

, Fautanu was named the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

offensive lineman of the week. For his performance in the season, Fautanu was named second-team all Pac-12. In the 2023 season, he won the

as the top offensive lineman in the Pac-12 and the

Joe Moore Award The Joe Moore Award is awarded annually to the best college football offensive line unit. The award is presented by the Joe Moore Foundation for Teamwork, and they state that "The Joe Moore Award for the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit will ...

as the top offensive line unit. Following the season, he declared for the

Professional career

2024 season

Fautanu was selected by the

with the 20th overall pick in the

. He signed his four year rookie deal on June 3, 2024. Troy at camp

During the Steelers' preseason game against the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

, Fautanu sustained a knee injury, causing him to miss the remainder of the team's preseason. He would not appear in week 1, however, he would earn his first professional start the following week in a 13-6 victory over the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

. In his first start he allowed no sacks, committed no penalties and allowed no pressures as he played for 55 offensive snaps. On September 20, Fautanu left the Steelers' practice with an injury that required him to undergo an MRI. He was relieved by

Broderick Jones Broderick Bernard Jones (born May 16, 2001) is an American professional football offensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs, winning the CFP national cha ...

at the right tackle position for the remainder of the practice ahead of the team's week 3 game against the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

. On September 21, Fautanu was placed on the Steelers' injured reserve list, making him ineligible to play for four weeks. He was officially listed as inactive prior to the Steelers week 4 loss to the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

. It was revealed on September 23 that Fautanu had dislocated his kneecap, officially ending his rookie season. In total, Fautanu played in just one game as a rookie. Overall, Fautanu earned a PFF grade of 64.4 with a pass blocking grade of 63.9 and a run blocking grade of 59.3. Despite his shortened season, he still placed 56 out of 133 eligible offensive tackles in the league for his performance.

References

External links

Pittsburgh Steelers bioWashington Huskies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fautanu, Troy 2000 births Living people Players of American football from Nevada Sportspeople from Henderson, Nevada American football offensive tackles Washington Huskies football players American football offensive guards Pittsburgh Steelers players Pacific Islander American players of American football