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SLIPPERY ROCK — From starter to standout to stardom.
Slippery Rock University quarterback Brayden Long has completed that journey in a manner of eight months.
“At the end of last season, I wasn’t sure who our quarterback was gonna be,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said of the 2023 campaign. “Brayden played a bit toward the end of last year, but nothing stood out that way. I felt like we had to open up that position.
“Through spring football and summer camp, he just made that job his.”
And how.
Putting together one of the best seasons at quarterback in SRU history, Long is one of eight finalists for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the best player in NCAA Division II football.
“I welcomed the competition in camp,” the 6-foot-3, 220-pound junior said. “Competition breeds greatness. That was my mind-set from the first day of spring ball.”
Going into Saturday’s Super Region One championship game against Kutztown at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium, Long ranks seconds in Rock single-season history with 35 touchdown passes, second with 279 completions, fourth with 3,486 passing yards and third with 3,544 yards of total offense.
He won the PSAC West Offensive Athlete of the Week four times, was named PSAC West Offensive Athlete of the Year, won the Champion Scholar Award for highest grade point average in the PSAC title game and has been named Super Region One Offensive Athlete of the Year.
“All of those individual awards, I consider them team awards,” Long said. “We function as a unit. Our offensive line, receivers, running backs, tight end ... They all factor into it.
“We’re all on the same page, on and off the field. That’s what does it.”
A graduate of New Oxford High School, Long is the first true freshman recruit to start at quarterback for The Rock since Zack Newsock in 2014.
“We’ve been Transfer U. at quarterback here for a while now,” Lutz said. “Brayden has had to be patient and he waited his turn. A lot of guys in his situation would have entered the transfer portal. He never did.
“I’m hoping he doesn’t enter the portal now. A guy with his size, the numbers he put up, bigger schools would be willing to chance a scholarship on him. There’s no doubt about that.”
Long threw for a school-record of more than 6,500 yards at New Oxford, in Hanover, Pa. He threw for over 2,000 yards his sophomore and senior seasons.
He had plenty of scholarship offers coming out of high school from PSAC schools and some FCS schools.
“I loved the family culture at Slippery Rock,” Long said. “I felt that was the best school for me academically as well as athletically. And they were a winning team, which always helps.
“I never considered entering the transfer portal. I’m a person of faith and that faith was challenged, sure. My patience and perseverance were tested, but even with other (transfer) quarterbacks coming in, I never wanted to go anywhere else.”
Long is carrying a 4.0 grade point average as a sports management major.
Other Harlon Hill finalists are Hillsdale running back Michael Herzog, quarterbacks Patrick Shegog of Delta State, Sammy Edwards of Valdosta State, Zach Zebrowski of Central Missouri, Gage Porter of Southern Nazarene, Braden Gleason of Emporia State, John Matocha of Colorado School of Mines and defensive back Tanner Volk of Central Washington.
Matocha won the Harlon Hill in 2022.
“Brayden’s been the perfect guy to lead our offense,” Lutz said. “He never says too much ... You might get an occasional smile out of him here and there ... but her’s such a competitor on the field.
“Last year at this time, I never thought all of this stuff would be happening for him. But he’s earned every bit of it.”
SRU quarterback Roland Rivers III won the Harlon Hill Trophy n 2019.
