Boston College Athletics
Photo by: AP
Long's Stock Shooting To The Moon
January 31, 2021 | Football, #ForBoston Files
The surprise is only to those who didn't know BC's tight end before last season.
Hunter Long raised more than a few eyebrows when he declared for the NFL Draft last December. He was the leading receiver in Boston College's revamped passing attack, but the tight end wasn't anywhere near the top of analysts' draft boards or position rankings. He didn't check any of the usual boxes, which marked him as a fringe prospect to some, and his intention to leave BC at the end of his redshirt junior year drew more than a few question marks from people who thought he was better suited to remain in Chestnut Hill.
That status had almost nothing to do with Long's physical gifts or statistical output. He was simply overlooked as a player pigeonholed into a particular standard over the past four years. He was a breakout player in 2020, but his numbers from earlier years in an offense that eschewed pass-first mentalities drove his stock downward. He was the nation's best receiving tight end, but he wasn't a hotly-recruited prospect on national television for his National Signing Day.
Following this week's performance with the Reese's Senior Bowl, that projection is no longer living in its poor microscope. His status is no longer in doubt, and it's no longer questionable if a team will find him on its draft board. He is nowhere near overlooked, and come late April, the only question will be how badly some teams undervalued him before someone selects him to suit up in the NFL.
"We could not be happier and more supportive of Hunter's decision to enter the NFL Draft," head coach Jeff Hafley said in December. "Hunter has been a terrific ambassador on and off the field for our program, and we can't wait to watch him play on Sundays."
Long's mystique as an unknown commodity occurred because Boston College prospects are still oddly obscure on NFL Draft experts' radars. The program churns out professional grades for its talent, and scouts understand the impact those athletes have on a professional program. It's a unique football factory carefully constructed on this notion that incoming, raw talents project into football machines through a combination of football strength and conditioning and challenging, rigorous academics.
Players possess skills but further carry intangibles necessary for bridging into the end of their college careers. Long, for example, was an underrecruited, 230-pound tight end out of New Hampshire, and he graduated Deerfield Academy without the same stars next to his name. His gradual development eventually turned him into a bulldog tight end physically comparable to Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce, but his off-the-chart intelligence never showed up on a piece of paper
"Human development is everything," strength and conditioning coach Phil Matusz said in his introductory press conference last February. "It's not just X's and O's. It's all encompassing. It's mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. It's something these athletes need, and it's generational. We want to implement training on all the aspects they need, and we do it in a unique way."
It's true Long only played under Jeff Hafley's staff for one season, but that only stamped the point about his malleable abilities. Analysts saw him as a fringe prospect because of the 12-personnel and run-first scheme of his first three seasons on the field, and his numbers - 32 receptions over two seasons - lent to a blocking role with glimpses of explosiveness in his 612 receiving yards.
His overall statistics lacked the flashy pop, but it wasn't a misuse of his talents or an improper scheme for the NFL. It instead built Long into a full package with a mental and physical database designed to identify linebacker and defensive line roles from the line of scrimmage. The changeover to Hafley and the offensive gameplan of coordinator Frank Cignetti only pushed that into a new level as a pass-catching security blanket.
The outcome was a national breakout during a weird 2020 season. Long caught 25 balls in BC's first three games and knocked on the door of the 100-yard game club against Duke, North Carolina and Pittsburgh. He fought through added attention to break the barrier against Virginia, with an added touchdown for a final stamp, and he completed the season with the most catches and second-most receiving yards by a tight end.
It nevertheless didn't crack Long into the top of those lists until he dominated the Senior Bowl this week. His full experience was on display in an NFL-style scheme designed by Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, himself a former standout at Boston College, and his ability to expose linebackers and safeties earned Long top honors for the National Team. The top tight end award, voted on by those same linebackers and safeties, opened the eyes of those same analysts who saw him as a middling-round talent after his declaration.Â
"He's one of the most natural 'Y' tight ends that's in the draft," NFL.com's Bucky Brooks said of Long. "He's shown that. His ability to get out of his stance, he can run routes (and) he has soft hands. We see that he's a bully blocker. When I think about it, I think he's going to be a guy that pushes for that number two tight end spot behind Kyle Pitts."
Pitts is the clear top choice among tight ends this year, and the Florida product is likely a possible first rounder in the making. The depth of his position, though, will trigger a run at some point in those early rounds, a story echoed by the tight ends in the 2020 NFL Draft when Chicago drafted Notre Dame's Cole Kmet with the No. 43 selection in the second round.
Kmet's selection preceded a frenzy in the third round when New England picked both UCLA's Devin Asiasi and Virginia Tech's Dalton Keene within 10 picks. The Nos. 91 and 101 picks sandwiched Green Bay's No. 94 pick of Cincinnati's Josiah Deguara, and Dayton's Adam Trautman, one of the higher-rated hidden gems, went to New Orleans at No. 105.
Those rounds were significant for tight ends, and they hold special significance for Boston College. Green Bay picked AJ Dillon in the late second round last year, one year after Zach Allen slid past DK Metcalf into the first pick of the third round in 2019. He went slightly before Detroit picked Will Harris that same year, one year after Harold Landry and Isaac Yiadom went in the second and third rounds, respectively. In 2016, Justin Simmons was likewise a third round pick.
Whatever happens for Long the rest of the way is up to the NFL scouts and front office personnel. This week, though, opened the eyes of more than a few people and peeled back the lid on a well-known story within the NFL ranks. Yes, there are schools recognized for their well-deserved football factory status, but Boston College will always hang around and ready itself for the next round of draft choices.
That status had almost nothing to do with Long's physical gifts or statistical output. He was simply overlooked as a player pigeonholed into a particular standard over the past four years. He was a breakout player in 2020, but his numbers from earlier years in an offense that eschewed pass-first mentalities drove his stock downward. He was the nation's best receiving tight end, but he wasn't a hotly-recruited prospect on national television for his National Signing Day.
Following this week's performance with the Reese's Senior Bowl, that projection is no longer living in its poor microscope. His status is no longer in doubt, and it's no longer questionable if a team will find him on its draft board. He is nowhere near overlooked, and come late April, the only question will be how badly some teams undervalued him before someone selects him to suit up in the NFL.
"We could not be happier and more supportive of Hunter's decision to enter the NFL Draft," head coach Jeff Hafley said in December. "Hunter has been a terrific ambassador on and off the field for our program, and we can't wait to watch him play on Sundays."
Long's mystique as an unknown commodity occurred because Boston College prospects are still oddly obscure on NFL Draft experts' radars. The program churns out professional grades for its talent, and scouts understand the impact those athletes have on a professional program. It's a unique football factory carefully constructed on this notion that incoming, raw talents project into football machines through a combination of football strength and conditioning and challenging, rigorous academics.
Players possess skills but further carry intangibles necessary for bridging into the end of their college careers. Long, for example, was an underrecruited, 230-pound tight end out of New Hampshire, and he graduated Deerfield Academy without the same stars next to his name. His gradual development eventually turned him into a bulldog tight end physically comparable to Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce, but his off-the-chart intelligence never showed up on a piece of paper
"Human development is everything," strength and conditioning coach Phil Matusz said in his introductory press conference last February. "It's not just X's and O's. It's all encompassing. It's mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. It's something these athletes need, and it's generational. We want to implement training on all the aspects they need, and we do it in a unique way."
It's true Long only played under Jeff Hafley's staff for one season, but that only stamped the point about his malleable abilities. Analysts saw him as a fringe prospect because of the 12-personnel and run-first scheme of his first three seasons on the field, and his numbers - 32 receptions over two seasons - lent to a blocking role with glimpses of explosiveness in his 612 receiving yards.
His overall statistics lacked the flashy pop, but it wasn't a misuse of his talents or an improper scheme for the NFL. It instead built Long into a full package with a mental and physical database designed to identify linebacker and defensive line roles from the line of scrimmage. The changeover to Hafley and the offensive gameplan of coordinator Frank Cignetti only pushed that into a new level as a pass-catching security blanket.
The outcome was a national breakout during a weird 2020 season. Long caught 25 balls in BC's first three games and knocked on the door of the 100-yard game club against Duke, North Carolina and Pittsburgh. He fought through added attention to break the barrier against Virginia, with an added touchdown for a final stamp, and he completed the season with the most catches and second-most receiving yards by a tight end.
It nevertheless didn't crack Long into the top of those lists until he dominated the Senior Bowl this week. His full experience was on display in an NFL-style scheme designed by Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, himself a former standout at Boston College, and his ability to expose linebackers and safeties earned Long top honors for the National Team. The top tight end award, voted on by those same linebackers and safeties, opened the eyes of those same analysts who saw him as a middling-round talent after his declaration.Â
"He's one of the most natural 'Y' tight ends that's in the draft," NFL.com's Bucky Brooks said of Long. "He's shown that. His ability to get out of his stance, he can run routes (and) he has soft hands. We see that he's a bully blocker. When I think about it, I think he's going to be a guy that pushes for that number two tight end spot behind Kyle Pitts."
Pitts is the clear top choice among tight ends this year, and the Florida product is likely a possible first rounder in the making. The depth of his position, though, will trigger a run at some point in those early rounds, a story echoed by the tight ends in the 2020 NFL Draft when Chicago drafted Notre Dame's Cole Kmet with the No. 43 selection in the second round.
Kmet's selection preceded a frenzy in the third round when New England picked both UCLA's Devin Asiasi and Virginia Tech's Dalton Keene within 10 picks. The Nos. 91 and 101 picks sandwiched Green Bay's No. 94 pick of Cincinnati's Josiah Deguara, and Dayton's Adam Trautman, one of the higher-rated hidden gems, went to New Orleans at No. 105.
Those rounds were significant for tight ends, and they hold special significance for Boston College. Green Bay picked AJ Dillon in the late second round last year, one year after Zach Allen slid past DK Metcalf into the first pick of the third round in 2019. He went slightly before Detroit picked Will Harris that same year, one year after Harold Landry and Isaac Yiadom went in the second and third rounds, respectively. In 2016, Justin Simmons was likewise a third round pick.
Whatever happens for Long the rest of the way is up to the NFL scouts and front office personnel. This week, though, opened the eyes of more than a few people and peeled back the lid on a well-known story within the NFL ranks. Yes, there are schools recognized for their well-deserved football factory status, but Boston College will always hang around and ready itself for the next round of draft choices.
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