Football: After stellar sophomore year, Long contemplated Charlotte (08-30-06)
Editor's note: This is the second of a three-part series examining Richard Long's movement through the college recruiting process.
By Ryan Sonner (Daily Staff Writer)
QUICKSBURG — Spring fever hit Richard Long hard, right around Easter last year.
He couldn't stop thinking about playing high school football in the South. He thought about it every day — in the classroom and in the bathroom.
Stonewall Jackson High School had been good to Long. He had developed a reputation as a top-flight running back, rushing for more than 1,000 yards as a sophomore.
But few people outside of the area knew about him. Long didn't have the luxury of playing in front of thousands of fans every Friday night; there were maybe a few hundred if he were lucky.
Long wanted to see how green the grass actually was on the other side. That meant a trip to Charlotte, N.C.
Long's father has a home in Charlotte that is mere minutes from two of the largest schools in the state — Providence and Myers Park. The excitement surrounding Long's impending trip was enough to drive him crazy.
"It's mind-games, basically," he said. "It plays with your mind all the time. Even when you're doing normal things, it just pops into your head for no reason."
Long's mother had reservations about the idea. As the cross country coach at Stonewall Jackson, Mary Long, could understand her son's desire to perform on a larger stage. But the idea of her baby boy finishing high school 300 miles from home was hard to swallow.
"It was very emotional in the house," she said. "There were times that I cried and there were times that he just went to his room to avoid the conversation.
"He knew leaving for Charlotte would crush me. Then again, I had to deal with it. But I didn't want him to go."
* * *
Joe Bauserman faced the same dilemma during the summer of 2002.
Knowing he could make more of an impression on college coaches farther south, Bauserman transferred from Strasburg to Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, Fla., following his sophomore year.
Even at Strasburg, a member of Virginia's lowest classification, Bauserman didn't go unnoticed. It helped that he led the Rams to a 10-0 regular season and a spot atop the Group A poll.
During Bauserman's two years at Strasburg, the Rams were 18-6 and qualified for the playoffs twice. He accounted for nearly 1,500 yards of total offense as a sophomore, but he knew those numbers would carry greater significance elsewhere.
Tallahassee wasn't the first option, either.
Bauserman was ready to transfer to Handley, but the coaching staff would have moved him to defense. Wanting no part of that, Bauserman ended up in Florida, where speed kills.
"It's like playing college football," Bauserman said. "The speed of the game is so much faster."
Bauserman didn't have much trouble getting acclimated in Florida; he threw for more than 3,000 yards as a senior and helped Lincoln secure its usual top 10 national ranking. In no time, Bauserman began collecting interest from Division I-A colleges — big ones. Tennessee sent a coach to Bauserman's home just to check his height.
"There were probably 50 or 60 [coaches] that came through there in the fall," he said. "It seemed every year we'd get 10 or 11 guys into Division I."
Bauserman was eventually offered a scholarship to Ohio State, but he never made it to Columbus. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and is pitching for the organization's Class A team in Hickory, N.C.
"Ohio State," Bauserman's father, Jack, said, "never heard of him until he went to Florida."
The key to a successful transfer is finding a school willing to give the player a shot. There's no point in moving several hundred — or thousand — miles and sitting the bench.
"Joseph just happened to get into a good situation," Jack Bauserman said. "They happened to need a quarterback. You just have to find the right situation where the position is open to competition."
* * *
Edward Long walked his son through the halls of both Charlotte high schools, wondering if it was the right move at the right time. He also knew how much happier his home would be with Richard around.
Edward and Mary Long divorced about a decade ago following 14 years of marriage. At the time, Richard was in elementary school and the couple's older son, Thomas, was in middle school.
The split didn't affect the children's relationship with either parent.
"It really hurt them," Edward Long said, "but we did a good job of letting them know it was not their fault. We both gave our love to them. They never felt it was ever a choice between mom and dad."
Despite his Charlotte address, Edward Long sees plenty of Richard, especially during football season. He attended several Stonewall Jackson games last season and plans on making the six-hour trip at least seven times this fall.
Having witnessed football in both rural Virginia and urban Charlotte, Edward Long knew his son had a greater chance at a college scholarship in North Carolina.
"Just the weight rooms and the budgets they have compared to Stonewall Jackson — it was eye-opening," he said. "Charlotte has big-time football."
Regardless, the decision remained Richard's.
"It's not about me," Edward Long said. "It's about what's best for him."
Both Providence and Myers Park play in 4AA, North Carolina's largest classification; the group includes powerhouse Independence High School, also in Charlotte.
"I thought about Bauserman the whole time, about how he went to Florida and set all those records," Richard Long said. "I thought I could do that."
Long promised himself he would make a decision by the beginning of June. In the end, loyalty won out.
"I've got my name out here a little bit, probably not as much as I would have down there," he said. "But I'm all right."
Long said he doesn't regret the decision to remain at Stonewall. He does, however, think about what might have been — quite often.
"I think about that a lot," he said. "I don't know if I would have had 1,800 yards and 100 tackles down there.
"There's nothing I can do about it now — shoulda, coulda, woulda."
