By Will Marshall and Hank Rippetoe
Darryl Long
Westerville South High School
Westerville, OH
Long is UK’s sole tight end commitment in this class. The 6’ 5’’ 235 lb. player comes to UK from a Columbus, OH suburb. Long committed to UK last March, but still received interest from various middle and lower tier B1G Ten schools. Notably, Purdue made a hard charge at him towards the end of his recruiting cycle.
There is not much depth at the tight end position next season, so Long could see some action this season behind seniors Steven Borden and Ronnie Shields, or by contributing to special teams. Long will not enroll until the summer and so he likely won’t contribute until the middle to end of next season. It would have been nice for Long to have been an early enrollee, but hopefully he is active this spring in his own strength and conditioning program. My one concern from watching his highlight tapes is he doesn’t seem to be the type of tight end accustomed to putting his hand in the dirt, and he may not be ready for blocking at the collegiate level. He’s another freshman, like Blake Bone, who if isn’t redshirted may be used on special teams and on offense in certain situations.