Draft Turns Bruener, Allar From Adversaries Into Teammates

It figures that Drew Allar and Carson Bruener would become teammates.

Now what, road roommates?

On Friday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers reached across the state of Pennsylvania to select Allar, the former Penn State quarterback, with the 12th pick of the third round, 76th overall, in the NFL Draft now being conducted in Pittsburgh.

What a chummy moment for Allar, who hails from Medina, Ohio, a state away, and gets to stay close to home to play his pro football.

He'll either compete with unsigned veteran Aaron Rodgers for the starting QB job or a host of other candidates lining up with him behind center.

Now imagine Allar's surprise when he walks into the Steelers locker room and comes face to face with Bruener, the former University of Washington linebacker, son of a former franchise tight end and coming off his rookie year with Pittsburgh.

They know each other.

It was just 18 months ago during the second half of a lopsided football game between the Nittany Lions and the Huskies in State College, Pennsylvania, when Allar and Bruener were seen having words following a play.

It's unclear who was the instigator, even after Bruener offered up an explanation.

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar (15) goes down with help from UW linebacker Carson Bruener in their 2024 game. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

"When I'm out there, I like to play with a lot of love and a lot of passion," Bruener said. "It's something where I felt I made a good play and obviously I said something and he kind of tried to chirp back. I said, 'Hey man, I'm just out here having fun and for the love of the game.'

"It was something where we looked at each other and he kind of smiled after that. It wasn't a full trash-talk moment."

No matter how it played out, this was an eventual third-team All-Big Ten defender jawing with an All-Big Ten honorable-mention signal-caller, and they had to be separated during a game in which Allar and his team would win 35-6.

In their exchange, the Penn State quarterback appears to gesture at the scoreboard to show the disparity between the teams, possibly piling it on Bruener, until a female official forcefully grabs Allar and spins him away from the situation.

Of course, Bruener acknowledged he said something first and obviously was no choir boy in this heat of the moment face-off that was captured on video, posted on Facebook after the game and seemed to generate a lot of comments.

Chances are, Allar might not remember Bruener at all.

There's a better chance, though, that Bruener will remind him of their previous encounter while welcoming him to the Steelers.

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