The Pittsburgh Steelers love drafting or signing players that have a connection with the organization. It turns out, Steelers’ third-round pick Drew Allar ‘s dad is good friends with former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch.
Allar’s dad, Kevin, was Batch’s tight end at Eastern Michigan.
“It was special because Kevin’s a good friend of mine,” Batch said when asked by Kay Adams of Up & Adams what it was like to see Allar drafted by the Steelers. “30 years ago, we were playing college football together. Number 87 running down the field at Rynearson Stadium at Eastern Michigan University. So it was truly special. To play with him, but to also see it come full circle for me. I haven’t seen Drew since he was a a little kid. So, when I saw him for the first time the day after he got selected, I’m looking at him like, ‘Wow, I’m looking up at this guy.’ He’s every bit of 6-5, 6-6. But it was truly special because I consider them family. Coming to Pittsburgh, it’s a great situation for him because he knows he has an extended family that he can lean upon once he’s in Pittsburgh.”
Batch said he did not tell Steelers general manager Omar Khan about his connection with Allar.
“I did not, I don’t think even Omar knew that connection,” Batch said. “Maybe down the road. The only reason I say that is because I was not asked that question in draft preparation, so that just let’s me know this tidbit came out after the fact.”
Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger gave a brutally honest opinion on Allar. In Roethlisberger’s opinion, he doesn’t think Allar really moves the needle. He would rather have Will Howard leading the Steelers.
“This is one I’m not sure yet if I love it or hate it,” Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin podcast . “I don’t think this was done because they know anything about Aaron. It wasn’t like, ‘Okay, we know Aaron’s not coming,’ so we’re doing this. I think it was a ‘We liked a big physical quarterback. … I don’t watch a lot of Penn State games. But when I did watch, he never really jumped off the page to me. There was never a time where I was like, ‘Whoa.’ We’ll see about this one.’”
Penn State assistant head coach and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith admitted that the Nittany Lions’ system was not built for Allar.
Allar has experience in a vertically-based passing attack. Some knocks on Allar include: lack of rhythm and vision, poor decision maker and comes up short in big moments.
It appears Penn State’s offense contributed to some of those flaws.
“Yeah, you know, I’ve been known as the truth-teller here at Penn State. I think, unfairly to Drew, our system wasn’t built for him. It wasn’t made for him. Some of the decisions were taken out of his control,” Smith told Bob Pompeani and Joe Starkey of 93.7 The Fan.
Batch agrees that coaching hindered Allar’s progress at Penn State.
“I think for me, quarterback at the end of it, we’re going to evaluate his decision-making. And, of course, people throw out the numbers in big games. But yet, for me, sometimes the system doesn’t necessarily fit the quarterback,” Batch said. “I remember in that playoff game (against Notre Dame), of course, he throws an interception late in the game. But I look at schematics, I look at the design of the play. Why would you put a four by one into the boundary? But yet, Drew made the decision to throw it. It got intercepted. So I do have to blame coaches decision on schematics, but at the end of the day, that’s why quarterbacks are criticized in the manner that they are because of the decisions that you make. And unfortunately, he’s labeled with that, but I don’t think he is that guy. Coming into Pittsburgh, those Penn State alumni and everybody who is anti-Penn State are going to have to remove their egos as he now enters in Steelers Nation. We have to give him a fair evaluation now that he is putting on that black and gold.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Former Steelers Quarterback Has Full Circle Moment with Drew Allar
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