Jon Long '18 Recruiting Profile

As long as I can remember I have been a football fan, living in Western PA it is a religion.  When my older brother, Michael started playing in 8th grade I got to experience the true excitement of football through his stories and going to his games with my parents .  I will always remember the play when he took the hand off, cut to the outside and went racing down the sideline.  My parents and all of the other fans stood up and were cheering.  When he finally was tackled, his teammates were hugging him and slapping him on the back, it was an awesome moment. It was my brother who everyone excited about.  I always knew that I wanted to play football, but this was the moment made me think that I wanted to be a good football player whatever it took.  

So far from 7th grade through my sophomore varsity season, I have only grown to love this game even more.  I have had great coaches and teammates that have taught me about football.  My parents, brother and sister have been great fans and even better listeners, giving me the chance to tell my own stories.  I do not want this to end in two years when I graduate from high school.  I am committed to putting forth  the effort and dedication to get a  college  degree and continue to play football.

My goal is to be able to continue to play this game that I love and at the same time obtain a college degree that will reward me with a career I will enjoy everyday.  I have an interest in the Healthcare fields, I have several cousins who work in different fields of medicine and want to have the same rewarding career that I hear them talk about.

I think that I have one distinct quality that makes me different than other recruits. It is hard work and a blue collar attitude.  I live on a farm, the same farm that my dad grew up on.  From the time I was old enough to do them,  I have had chores to do.  There have been times when I have had to miss events because we had things that needed my time on the farm.  But being part of my family and doing farm work such as working in the hot barn to put hay in has made me understand responsibility and how to work together for a common goal even when you are sweaty and tired .  I have been raised in a family that has taught me that if I want to do something that I am expected to work as hard as possible to obtain it.  When I started playing football, I learned that the first step is summer workouts and football camp.  Instead of getting to sleep in, I had to get up and was lucky to have siblings that would help me get to the gym.  I was able to learn to the rewards for this and working hard in practice when as a freshman, my Head Coach put me on special teams, telling me that it was for how hard I had worked but at the same time he wanted to see me keep working and pushing myself. As a sophmore I made my goals to be at least a one way starter and pushed myself in the offseason to try to outlift and outrun the upper classmen who played my position. This was all made worth it when I became a two way starter in 2015. Looking forward to my junior year, I already understand that I have to raise the bar and not only push myself but also be a leader and push my teammates as well. Also I have already learned that now I am not just competeing with my teammates but I need to out work the other recruits that colleges will be looking at that play my position.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my profile.  I would also like to promise you that if you were to give me the opportunity to continue playing football, earn my college degree and represent your school as a student athlete, that I will continue to work hard and push myself to be the best I can possibly be.