Steelers take Penn State QB Drew Allar in third round of NFL draft

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike McCarthy built his reputation in the NFL on mentoring young quarterbacks. He won't lack for opportunities in his first season coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pittsburgh — which is still waiting for Aaron Rodgers to decide if he wants to run it back in 2026 — drafted Penn State's Drew Allar in the third round of the NFL draft on Friday, turning to another nearby prospect a year after taking Ohio State's Will Howard and four years after selecting Pitt's Kenny Pickett.

Pickett flamed out in two seasons. The jury remains very much out on Howard, who spent a sizable chunk of his rookie year on injured reserve.

Enter Allar, who endured injury trouble of own last fall for the Nittany Lions. Once projected as a potential first-round pick during the early stages of his four-year run in Happy Valley, the 6-foot-5, 228-pound Allar is very much like Howard: a tall, strong-armed presence in the pocket who is hardly considered a sure thing as a pro.

Still, the Steelers saw enough to use the 76th overall pick on Allar, whose arrival gives the team another young arm to join a room that also includes veteran backup Mason Rudolph and — if he decides he wants to return for a 22nd season — Aaron Rodgers.

Quarterbacks coach Tom Arth said he believes the decision to take Allar will not have “any impact” on the team's willingness to bring back Rodgers, who guided the club to an AFC North title in his first year with Pittsburgh.

Steelers general manager Omar Khan said whoever ends up being the franchise quarterback the team has lacked since Ben Roethlisberger's retirement in early 2022 needs to be built to play in the AFC North. In that sense, Arth thinks Allar checks some pretty significant boxes.

“He has big hands, He has a strong arm. He’s built to last,” Arth said. “I think that when you’re talking about playing in the elements and playing the physical brand of football that it is in the AFC North, you need a guy like that. And Drew certainly fits that mold.”

Even if Allar didn't quite live all the way up to the massive expectations that were placed upon his shoulders when he became the starter at Penn State in 2023. Allar passed for 7,402 yards with 61 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 45 games but struggled against high-caliber competition.

Allar, who helped Penn State to a College Football Playoff berth in 2024, went 0-6 against combined against Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon and Notre Dame in his career, completing just over 50% of his passes with seven touchdowns against four picks.

Arth pointed to Allar's footwork and consistency as things he'll need to clean up as he transitions to the NFL. Still, the Steelers were won over by what Arth described as Allar's “high ceiling” and his humility after his college career ended with an injury in a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern, a setback that came just before head coach James Franklin was fired.

“To see and to really learn and hear about the type of teammate that he was, the way that he helped his backup quarterback prepare, week in and week out in the meetings that the two of them had privately, it was really impressive to me," Arth said. “And I think it just tells you the type of person that he is and the type a teammate that is.”

Allar grew up in Medina, Ohio — about 45 minutes south of downtown Cleveland — and his family holds season tickets to the rival Browns.

"I guess that’s out the window now!” Allar said with a laugh.

While Arth would like to see Howard and Allar compete to bring the best out of each other as they develop, Allar has more modest goals.

“My focus is just going to be on how I can make myself better 1 percent each day,” he said. “That’s gonna be my main goal, putting my head down and going to work.”

Allar was one of four selections by Pittsburgh on Friday. The Steelers selected Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard in the second round, with Georgia cornerback Daylen Everette and guard Gennings Dunker from Iowa joining Allar as third-round picks.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

FILE - Penn State quarterback Drew Allar (15) throws during the school's NFL football pro day, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A judge has ruled an 18-year-old man charged with murder in the killing of a paddleboarder in Maine is competent to stand trial.

The death of Sunshine “Sunny” Stewart, 48, of St. George, last year shocked the community around Crawford Pond in rural Union, Maine. Authorities charged Deven Young of Frankfort, Maine, with murder in Stewart's death in July, about two weeks after Stewart's body was discovered.

The court system has thus far treated Young as a juvenile. Prosecutors in the state want to charge Young, who was 17 at the time of Stewart's death and is 18 now, as an adult. First, he needed to be deemed competent to stand trial, and a judge ruled this week that he is.

"The court finds that the defendant is competent to proceed based on the court’s finding that the juvenile has a rational, as well as a factual, understanding of the proceedings and a sufficient present ability to consult with legal counsel with a reasonable degree of rational understanding," wrote Maine District Court Judge Eric J. Walker on Wednesday.

Young is due back in court on May 7. Police have said a medical examiner determined Stewart's cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma.

Jeremy Pratt, an attorney for Young, declined to comment on Thursday. Prosecutors in the case also declined to comment Thursday.

Authorities have not publicly stated a possible motive in the case. Court documents about the case, which were briefly made public before being removed from the state's courts website, contained little detail other than stating that Young “did intentionally or knowingly cause the death of another human being, namely Sunshine Stewart.”

Audio recordings by the Waldo County Sheriff's Office that were obtained by news agencies earlier this year provided details about Young's history of violent behavior and mental health challenges prior to Stewart's death. The Portland Press Herald reported that Young had been waiting for behavioral health services from the state.

Stewart went missing at Crawford Pond, where she was paddleboarding, on July 2 and her body was found the next day. The pond is a popular summertime attraction for swimming, boating and fishing. Stewart lived about 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the pond in the Tenants Harbor neighborhood in St. George.

Stewart's friends and family celebrated her life with a maritime service last August. The memorial included a procession of boats, some decked out with flowers, in Tenants Harbor.

On the boats were pictures of Stewart smiling and a large sign that read, “Shine On.” Over the years, Stewart worked as a fisherman, boat captain, biologist, carpenter and bartender, friends have said.

FILE - Acquaintances of Sunshine Stewart sit on the bow of a lobster boat during a memorial service for the slain paddleboarder, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, off the coast of St. George, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)