Liberty's Long names top 5 schools
Liberty defensive back Alec Long announced via Twitter late Wednesday night his top five schools in his recruitment.
Long has a total of 10 NCAA Division I offers, and his top five are FBS schools.
His tweet was posted “TOP 5!!!!” with a couple of emojis and a link to a video that had a few photographs and highlights from his season last year interspersed with his announcement of each school.
The schools mentioned in the video were Memphis, Texas A&M, Missouri, Mississippi State and Kentucky. The other five schools who have offered are Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State and Western Kentucky.
Long, who is listed as 5-feet-11-inches and 203 pounds, said the order of the schools in the video are random, but he did mention if he had to rank them Memphis would probably be No. 1.
“They’re the ones that have recruited me the hardest, and I’ve spent a lot of time down there,” Long said. “I love it when I go there.”
Long said the difference between the five he chose and the rest is how much they’ve recruited him.
“We’re always in contact or I’m getting stuff in the mail or hearing about what kind of player I am and how I could fit in their program,” Long said.
He mentioned he’s never been to Texas A&M, Missouri or Kentucky. He went to Mississippi State for a day in the spring for a junior day. He plans to go back to Starkville on Friday for a visit.
“My parents and I are going down and camping out for a while and hanging out with the coaches for a little bit,” Long said. “Then I’m possibly going to Missouri on Saturday. That depends on what time we get back from State.
“My parents and I aren’t sure if we want to make that six-hour drive to Missouri if we get back late on Friday, but I will go to all five places before I make my commitment.”
Long said everybody who’s offered him wants him to play strong safety. Mississippi State has also mentioned having him play some as a return man in special teams.
Long said comfort with the school and environment, his planned major of exercise science and having the ability to play and get better all factor into his decision of where he will go.
“Distance doesn’t have anything to do with it, although my mom loves Memphis,” said Long, whose teammate Elijah Harris (defensive line) already committed to Memphis earlier this summer. “He doesn’t do much to try to get me to go there.
“He look at me in practice sometimes and be like, ‘Memphis bruh.’ We’ll see what happens there.”
Liberty DL Harris commits to Memphis
With four of the five being in the Southeastern Conference, Long did admit it would help Memphis if it was announced the Tigers were joining the Big 12.
“I get asked about conference all the time, and that doesn’t really matter to me as much as going to a program where I can get stats and get better and possibly go on to the league,” Long said. “And if not, I have something to fall back on with my major.”
Brandon Shields, 425-9751