Graduated Slippery Rock QB Brayden Long awarded prestigious Academic All-America honor
SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University football coach Shawn Lutz refers to graduated quarterback Brayden Long as “a dinosaur.”
While dinosaurs represent ancient history, this dinosaur is making history.
Long, who graduated with a 4.0 GPA in 2024 as a safety management major and completed one of the most efficient careers in SRU football history last fall, recently received the College Sports Communicators’ NCAA Division II Academic All-American of the Year award.
This honor covers all sports — male and female — in Division II. There are more than 134,500 student-athletes currently in Division II.
“This is just a blessing,” Long said of the honor. “The magnitude of this. ... It hasn’t sunk in quite yet. Being around all of the great people at SRU, academically and athletically, is what made it happen.”
Long is the first male athlete in PSAC history to win this award, which goes to one athlete each from Division I, II, III and the NAIA. Olympic gold medalist swimmer Gretchen Walsh of the University of Virginia (D-I), women’s lacrosse player Hope Shue from Middlebury College (D-III) and baseball catcher Tyler Horner of Oregon Tech (NAIA) are the other award recipients.
“This is just icing on the cake for him,” Lutz said of Long. “He’s the most decorated student-athlete we’ve ever had. To achieve what Brayden’s done academically, along with coming within a quarter of playing in the national championship game, is what college athletics are supposed to be about.
“Forget the transfer portal, he never made a dime of NIL money, he plays for the love of the game. Brayden has to wait his turn, never thought of transferring. ... He is a dinosaur in that sense.”
Lutz is in his 10th year as SRU head coach. Long was his first starting quarterback who was not a transfer from another school. He was recruited by The Rock out of New Oxford High School in Hanover, Pa.
Despite being a starter for only two years, Long ranks first on SRU’s all-time list with 631 pass completions and a 67.1% completion rate. His 7,527 yards passing are second on The Rock’s career list, as are his 64 touchdown passes.
SRU was 24-5 during his tenure as a starter, 5-2 in postseason games.
Long was a two-time finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the best Division II college football player, the only Division II finalist for the Campbell Trophy, known as the “academic Heisman,” and was PSAC and Atlantic Region Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
He is the only SRU quarterback ever to produce back-to-back 3,000-yard passing seasons.
“My parents taught me about loyalty and commitment,” Long said of his decision to stay at SRU despite not starting as a freshman or sophomore. “I’m a man of Christ, and being a faithful human being is part of that.
“I always wondered if they were going to keep bringing in transfer quarterbacks, but I accepted that as a challenge. I thrive on competition because competition breeds greatness.”
Lutz said SRU has had more athletic quarterbacks. But Long’s resolve was hard to beat.
“Brayden didn’t have the physical attributes of a Nigel (Barksdale) or Roland Rivers, but he is so intelligent, someone who grinds with a tremendous work ethic,” the coach said. “He was a poor man’s version of Tom Brady — not the most physically gifted, but a true winner.”
Long will return to Mihalik-Thompson Stadium this season. He is a quarterbacks/receivers coach for Shippensburg University, hired by coach Mark Maciejewski this year after spending six months as a graduate assistant coach at Towson (Md.) State.
“That never happens, a guy getting a full-time coaching job at this level the year after being an active player,” Lutz pointed out. “But that’s what people think of Brayden Long.”
Shippensburg plays Sept. 20 at SRU this season.
“It’s going to be weird going out there wearing white instead of green,” Long said. “But going to Slippery Rock was the best decision of my life.
“It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, but when I had the opportunity to shine, I ran with it.”
Long plans on being a college football head coach down the road.
“I know that’s a journey, but I’m going to work on it,” he said.
