Garrett Long
Garrett Long has been primarily a defensive player for his first two years of varsity football, but his future as a collegian appears headed for the offensive side of the ball.
The Columbus North senior committed Tuesday to play at Kent State. The Golden Flashes recruited him as a tight end.
“I had kind of wanted to play tight end at the next level,” Long said. “I feel like I have more potential there. I feel like I have a higher ceiling at tight end.”
Long, who played defensive end as a sophomore and outside linebacker as a junior. He began seeing additional action at tight end late last season and was last year’s The Republic Football Player of the Year.
Earlier this year, Long was at the North Central College Mega Camp in Naperville, Illinois, when he was discovered by Kent State tight ends coach CJ Conrad.
“Their tight ends coach really saw some potential in me as a tight end,” Long said. “He saw me at a camp. I was actually playing defense at the camp, and he moved me over to tight end, and he liked what he saw, and he gave me a scholarship offer.”
Long also had visited Indiana State twice and Eastern Kentucky and had scholarship offers from Western Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Indiana State, Butler and Thomas More. He visited Kent State in late June and was sold.
“It was exciting,” said Long, who plans to major in business, sales or marketing. “I really like their tight ends coach. He’s a really good dude. Their head coach (Kenni Burns) is genuine, true to his word. I like him a lot. It was the best fit for me. All of their coaches are really good and will push me. They really know what they’re talking about up there. It seemed like a good fit.”
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Long has been timed in 4.78 seconds for the 40-yard dash. He figures to play extensively at both tight end and linebacker again this fall.
“I’m going to play a lot of snaps this year,” Long said. “I cannot wait for this season. The team is looking great. The coaches are pushing it to us. We’ve scrimmaged all of these big teams, and we feel like we should be pretty good this year.”
