Chris Long: The Mayor of Charlottesville
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Sept. 16, 2006
by Peter Goergen, Jr.
Student Assistant, UVa Athletics Media Relations
Chris Long’s father is enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame, but that’s not why he plays football. Street & Smith’s named him a preseason first-team All-American, but accolades don’t make him tick. His UVa teammates nominated him as the lone junior captain for the 2006 season, but that’s not what makes him a leader.
“Some kids in his type of situation, they think that the world’s at their feet and they don’t have to work as hard as everyone else,” said Brennan Schmidt, a former UVa teammate and standout lineman. “But Chris has the complete opposite mindset. He feels like he has to work harder to be the best.”
During the 2006 season, the `Hoos will count on Long and his work ethic to anchor a young front seven. But when Long came to Charlottesville from Los Angeles at the age of nine, dreams of captaining UVa’s football team had not yet surfaced. In fact, until his 10th grade year at St. Anne’s-Belfield School, when he started working out and putting on weight, Long preferred baseball.
“I just realized that my frame was going to be able to carry the weight, and I could still be athletic enough to possibly earn a scholarship in football,” said Long, who also played basketball and lacrosse in high school. “As time went on, it looked more and more like (football) was going to be my ticket, so I just honed my skills in that area.”
Long utilized his father, Howie, as a mentor during his pursuit of a scholarship.
“When I decided to play football, he didn’t push me towards that, Chris said. “When I started to play, he said, `Well, it just so happens that I know a little about football, so I’m going to help you out, but you’ve got to be willing to pay the price’.”
Long heeded his father’s advice, and his hard work helped lead St. Anne’s-Belfield to a state championship. Long was also named the 2003 Gatorade Player of the Year in Virginia, Central Virginia Defensive Player of the Year by the Daily Progress, and a SuperPrep All-American.
While schools recruited Long primarily as a defensive end, in high school he enjoyed pancaking defenders as an offensive tackle more than slamming ballcarriers to the ground.
“I really liked playing offensive tackle, because high school teams are able to run away from you if you’re a defensive end, and that was no fun at times,” Long said. “As an offensive tackle, I was able to be a part of every play.”
Due to his successes on both sides of the ball, as well as his tremendous upside, countless college coaches pursued the top 100-prospect.
“He’s definitely a dynamic athlete,” said linebacker teammate Clint Sintim. “You don’t see too many people his size moving the way he does. He can play three technique, play out on the edge, speed rush. When you see some of the plays he makes, it’s just astonishing.”
Long flirted with the idea of attending North Carolina or Boston College, but decided to stay home in Charlottesville and enrolled at Virginia.
“UVa was probably the obvious choice from the beginning for me, because I had such an exposure to the campus, the stadium, and just the overall atmosphere here,” Long said. “And obviously I heard about the school’s academic reputation. The degree is very important to me.”
“People in this town love him, and rightfully so,” Sintim added.
A sociology major, Long came into the 2004 football season as a gem of Coach Groh’s recruiting class. But Long took a more realistic approach to his first year playing ACC football.
“My goals for the first year were just to learn things as quickly as possible and do whatever I was asked,” Long said. “Obviously as a first year you’re going to be asked to play a lot of special teams and be involved in situational assignments. We play a challenging defense to learn for a defensive lineman, so I knew it was going to take time. My goal was just to be patient and ride it out.”
Long’s first year took an unexpected turn during the middle of the season when doctors determined that the defensive end had mononucleosis.
“That was a big blow to my confidence, not only because I lost a little weight, but I missed a lot of reps,” Long said. “But I battled back from that, and it was really a successful learning experience. It taught me how to deal with a little adversity.”
Working through his illness, Long saw action in six games as a freshman, recording five tackles, two for loss, and one sack.
With a year of experience and an off-season in the Cavaliers’ strength and conditioning program, Long broke out last fall. As a sophomore, the defensive end started every game, ranked second among the team’s defensive linemen in tackling, wreaked havoc in opposing teams’ backfields with 10 tackles for loss and 26 quarterback hurries, by far the most on the team, and shared the team lead with Marcus Hamilton with seven pass break-ups.
“I attribute my development from first to second year not only to just to the expertise of Evan Marcus in the weight room, but to the coaching I’ve received,” Long said. “I’ve been privileged enough to work under good coaches.”
Long also credits present and former teammates as “invaluable” resources in his development.”I got most of my advice from Brennan Schmidt,” Long said. “He led by example with his work ethic and just the way he got things done around the program. He taught me a lot about how to deal with meetings, pick up defenses- the things that most people don’t see from the outside.”
Playing across from offensive linemen such as Brian Barthelmes, Brad Butler, and D’Brickashaw Ferguson each day in practice also made Long a better player.
“It just taught me to practice hard, because I had to practice hard to survive against him [Ferguson, a first-round NFL draft pick]. Those work habits have carried over into this year, and it’s really helped me out,” Long said.
“He loves to work hard and compete hard,” Schmidt said.
This year, with the departure of long-time starters like Ferguson, Schmidt, Kai Parham and others, Long knows the team needs even more from him in the locker room and on the field.
“I’ve set the goal to just be a more aggressive player physically and mentally, and just try to be around the ball more,” Long said. “That sort of hustle can be contagious to the entire defense, and it’s a team goal of ours to be that type of defense.”
In a season that will feature young but talented players fighting for playing time in the defense’s front seven, `Hoo fans can be sure of one thing, No. 91 will bring it.
3rd and 10 With Chris Long
Most embarrassing artist on my iPod:
Chris Issac. That’s real mellow stuff. That doesn’t exactly reflect my music taste.Favorite class at UVa: Social ProblemsMost prized possession: My high school state championship ring or any baby picture with me and my mom or my family.Favorite Place on the Corner: Arch’sFavorite Team to play on a video game: Carolina Panthers in MaddenThe extreme activity to I would like to try: Climb a Mountain. I’m scared. I don’t like any of that extreme stuff.My favorite website: CNN.comFavorite junk food: Fried ChickenThe place I want to visit: South Africa or BrazilBest Sports Memory: Beating Florida StateWhat do you think of your NCAA Football player ranking? I’m just excited to actually be on the game, because I grew up playing the game, so I can’t really complain.