The Pittsburgh Steelers have plenty of teammates from rival college teams. Notably on the defensive front with captain Cam Heyward attending Ohio State, and his linemate Chris Wormley going to Michigan. Now the Steelers bring the same type of energy to the offensive side of the ball with quarterback Kenny Pickett attending Pitt, and his tight end Pat Freiermuth attending across rival Penn State.
Altonna Mirror
It sounds like the rivalry has already been talked about in the locker room according to Freiermuth. And he doesn't seem to mind much that his potential quarterback is from his hated rival. But only because he never beat Freiermuth. He was asked about Pickett following practice on Wednesday.
He's a great guy, but I was giving crap that he's never beaten Penn State before, so I have no hard feelings towards him. He never beat my alma mater.
Yeah, we played two years. I think we beat him 51-6 here and then 17-13 at my place. I think so. I don't really know the exact score, but yeah, I think it was something like that.
Freiermuth was close with the scores, but not quite. The last time the two schools played was in 2019 and Pitt lost 17-10 to Penn State in Happy Valley. Pickett threw for 372 yards and completed 35 of 51 passes. He just wasn't able to find the endzone. He just wasn't able to find the endzone as the Panthers lost. Freiermuth had 1 catch for 16 yards in that one.
He was right about the 51-6 beatdown in 2018. And that was a day Pickett likely wants to forget. He completed 8 passes for 55 yards. Freiermuth only had 1 catch for 5 yards. So while Freiermuth is correct, Penn State did get the best of Pitt -- it wasn't because of Freiermuth.
I think it's safe to say that by the time both of their career's end in Pittsburgh that they will be close friends. The quarterback, and the tight end usually always develop close relationships. They're going to need each other on the field. But it doesn't mean that they won't be having some friendly bets the next time they play each other.
Freiermuth talked about what he needs to do this season to help whomever the quarterback is that he's on the field with.
Yeah, obviously. Just I think being there for the quarterbacks, if that's being security buckets, dumping into the flats or pushing the vertical down field. I think that me and just not just myself, but Gentry as well. Just being security blanket for the quarterbacks and just kind of being there from whenever they need us.
While Ben Roethlisberger and Freiermuth only had one season together. The connection they had was special. Who ever starts for the Steelers in 2022 will be lucky to have Freiermuth for many years to come.
