1-on-1 with Drew Allar - April 28, 2026

Missi Matthews speaks with QB Drew Allar about being drafted by the Steelers and more

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
With the seventy six pick.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The Pittsburgh still is select Drew hour Man, stay hou.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
The back Drew just kick me through what the draft
knight was like? Who was with you? And finally getting
here to Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, I had a lot of extended family and close
family friends there. It was about probably like forty people.
But yeah, it was really fun. Like obviously, you know,
it's a moment that I've been working towards for you know,
a while now, really my whole life. There was a
lot of anticipation and honestly a little bit of anxiety
going into the day. But you know, I have a
great team around me between parents, girlfriend, supporting staff, between

(00:42):
like agents and everything like that. So I felt really
good going into the night. I was really excited when
I saw the four win two pop up, but I
was really excited. I was hoping I could have a
chance to come here and you know, just be a
part of the story franchise and be a part of
a winning culture. So I was really excited. And yeah,
it was a lot of emotions that went through me
at first, A lot of excitement more than anything, though, was.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
It Mike McCarthy, Tom Arth, what made you want to
get that phone call from before Win two number.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
It was a combination of coach McCarthy and Coach Arth,
and then also just you know the Steelers brand in general.
Obviously growing up in you know, Midwest, like football is
huge and Steelers are, you know, one of the biggest
brands out here, especially in pro football, So you know,
always growing up around this area, like you know how
much pride is taken in this organization from the organization itself,

(01:33):
but also the fan base that supports it. So I
was really excited for that. Yeah, and I've known coach
Arth for about five or six years now. He recruited
me a little bit coming out of high school when
he was the head coach at Akron, So you know,
that was really cool to seeing a familiar face when
I walked into this building for my visit. And then
you know, coach McCarthy's pedigree kind of speaks for itself,

(01:54):
so you know, to a chance to learn under him,
will I feel like we'll do a lot of a
lot of things for me.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Coach Arth through the Mike McCarthy Quarterback School as everyone
dubs it, What was the interview process like with coach
McCarthy at the combine. Some said it was very detailed.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, it's very detailed, and it's very fast paced on
your toes, which you know, honestly was really fun. Like
that's that's kind of what I live for, is those
kind of kind of conversations and you know, learning as
much football as possible and obviously, you know, trying to
pick up on what coach McCarthy calls certain things and
you know, his terminology as much as I could, and

(02:28):
it was really fun. Like it was, you know, probably
the hardest meeting I had of all my formals, but
it was also probably the most fun I had in
the formal formal interview setting. So you know, same thing
here when I was able to come here on a
Top thirty visit, I was kind of the same vibes,
kind of able to watch a little bit more film
from you know, Penn State, whether it was this past
year or really junior or sophomore year starting, So that

(02:49):
that was cool, kind of getting more in depth about
football and kind of how I see the game and
how you know, I've been taught the game.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
What about your connection just the small world with Will Howard,
someone you're gonna be sharing a room with Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
So I've known Will for a handful of years now.
So my roommate when one of my best friends from
Penn State, Drew Shelton, Actually they were teammates in high school.
So like, I've met Will a handful of times and
you know, obviously played against him, you know, his only
year at Ohio State, and have a lot of respect
for him as a player, and I've heard nothing but
great things about him as a person. So you know,

(03:22):
really excited to kind of get to know him more
on I guess a personal level. So I'm really excited
to be a part of a great room.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Is it true that your dad played football at Eastern
Michigan with Charlie Batch?

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah. Yeah, Actually when we were just over at the stadium,
Charlie was there. So that was really cool kind of
connecting with him again because there was a pit in
Eastern Michigan Bowl game I think quickly the quick laying
Bull in Detroit when I was maybe a sophomore junior
in high school, and my whole family went, and a
bunch of my dad's like college roommates and college teammates
were there, and Charlie was there, so you know, it

(03:55):
was my first time seeing him in a handful of years,
but it was kind of a full circle moment, so
that that was really cool to see him again.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
You mentioned seeing Charlie over at the Draft theater. With
the draft here in Pittsburgh, what was it like getting
your first taste of Steelers Nation.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
It was really cool. Like I knew coming into it
that it was going to be a really exciting time,
especially just with all the fanfare that's going on in
the past three or four days and really watching the
draft from home the first two days and seeing how much,
you know, support the fans showed up here and it
was just a sea of terrible towels, so that was
a really cool scene. And then even out there it

(04:29):
was raining a little bit and everybody was still out
there holding strong. So you know, you can tell the
passion this fan base has, and I'm really fortunate to
be a part of this organization that has such great
support from their fans.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
All right, thank you very much, appreciate it.