In the zone with Kyle Long
Saddleback College football player, Kyle Long is looking for “nothing short of a state championship” this season.
While Long has experienced playing most positions in the game, he is currently pummeling opponents as left offensive tackle.
“I protect the quarterback, you can blame his pretty face on me and the rest of the O-linemen,” Kyle Long said.
Sporting a Rams hoodie, Kyle Long talked about his family’s strong influence on him while growing up.
His dad is NFL defensive end and Hall of Famer Howard “Howie” Long, and Christopher Long, the defensive end for the St. Louis Rams, is his big brother.
Besides explaining his sweatshirt, his family’s long line of success in football also explains his vast knowledge of the game.
“Just growing up in that household, you get to learn a lot from a young age about what it takes to be a serious athlete,” Kyle Long said.
But now that he’s all grown up, Kyle Long is tackling a fresh start here at Saddleback, all on his own, with feelings of gratitude towards his dad and big brother.
And while his brother is big, Kylie Long is pretty big himself, tallest on the team in fact.
The 6 feet 7 inches lineman was born in 1988 in the Los Angeles area where he lived for five years before moving with his family to Charlottesville, Va.
There, he played for St. Anne’s-Belfield High School, where the team belted out two state championships.
“I started playing football competitively as a sophomore in high school,” Kyle Long said. “I had an opportunity to win two state championships there, back to back, one as a junior, one as a senior.”
And now that he’s at Saddleback, Kyle Long said he’s driving for “nothing short of a state championship.”
With a degree in education being a major goal for the Gaucho, he also spoke of future aspirations to play in the NFL.
As for now, Kyle Long is really enjoying playing for the college, and said he’s very close to his teammates.
“I’ve never really been a part of a team that’s as close as this team,” Kyle Long said.
Of course football has its challenges, every day bumps and bruises in particular.
However, Long said he has been fortunate in this area, and credited the training staff for taking excellent care of him and the rest of the players.
He credited the coaches as well, and said, “I’ve had a lot of success here at Saddleback, because of the great coaches.”
All and all, Kyle Long said his best moment so far was beating Cerritos 56-21.
Four-year universities are already zoning in on Kyle Long, and though he’s looking forward, he isn’t letting that run interference on his focus for this season.
Kyle Long said he wanted to have no regrets when looking back.