Arizona State’s Ethan Long is used to labels.

The true freshman came to ASU with the label of a four-star quarterback and has since added a variety of titles and even a nickname since stepping on the field for the Sun Devils.

A range of titles that includes special team’s captain, quarterback, receiver and Captain America.

Playing an array of positions and holding a mixture of titles is nothing new for Long as he had a similar experience at West Linn high school.

Long’s positions in high school ranged from slot receiver and tight end his sophomore year to quarterback and punter during his junior and senior campaigns.

The reason behind the mix of positions?

Tim Tawa, the quarterback ahead of Long during his freshman and sophomore year.

Tawa finished his career as the state’s career leader in passing yards (11,337), touchdown passes (143), and completions with 714.

Simply put, there was no chance that Long was going to beat out Tawa for the starting position.

“You hate to waste talented young men,” Long’s high school coach Chris Miller admitted. “I had a state of Oregon record-setting quarterback at West Linn for three years who playing baseball at Stanford. He’s one of those unique guys that doesn’t come along too often. Ethan wasn’t going to beat him out, but the slate was set for him to be the starter his junior and senior year.”

While there was no path to becoming the quarterback over the talented senior, Long was approached by Miller who had a proposition. If Long wanted to play, it would come in the slot instead of at quarterback. An opportunity Long jumped at.

“His sophomore year playing some slot receiver, he played some attached tight end, caught a few touchdowns, caught a few passes,” Miller said. “Ethan punted his junior and senior year, he’s a good punter… (Averaged 41.3 senior year) He’s a physical specimen.”

Long’s ability to step into the field and play in any position did not go unnoticed by his teammates as the team’s quarterback took notice.

While the two admitted when Long first arrived at West Linn it wasn’t an instant friendship, as the two grew older and settled into their roles they grew to be close.

“His selflessness and how he’s all about the team,” Tawa said of what stood out to him about Long’s ability to step in and play other positions. “We appreciated it. It showed his versatility too. He could really throw the football and had a really good feel at quarterback, but he was able to step in and play at slot or tight end and it really helped the team. I know I appreciated it ─ I know my teammates appreciated it. It speaks to him and his character and what he’s all about.”

While the two shared the position of quarterback on the field, both also shared a common trait in another way. Both played multiple sports at a high level in high school.

Tawa did it in baseball and football as he did both exceptional well with the aforementioned state records in football and his place now on the Stanford baseball team.

Long was nearly just as impressive in multiple sports including baseball and wrestling alongside his accomplishments in football.

“Now these days, kids are so one-dimensional in the sports world that it kind of takes the fun out of growing up as a kid and playing all sports,” Long admitted. “That’s one thing my parents really stressed, just enjoy your time because you’ll never get it back. I took advantage of that and played baseball my freshman and sophomore year. I started to become more dimensional, but I continued to wrestle.”

The now Arizona State quarterback had top finishes of 3rd and 4th place during his time on the mat in sport in which he admits he didn’t really like.

While wrestling may not have been Long’s passion, he acknowledges there were aspects of the sport that helped shape him both mentally and physically in life and on the football field.

“It taught me a lot of discipline,” Long confessed. “Built my character for later in life of how I approach certain situations and face adversity. I appreciate that I did it, overall being a dual-sport or however many sports you play, just makes you a better athlete all around.

“Being physical on the field, and not being scared of contact or being able to run through people. A lot of quarterbacks slide ─ I’m not so much a quarterback anymore but I’m not going to slide when I see somebody, I’m going to lower my shoulder. I think that’s due to the fact of wrestling, growing up living on a farm with a tough dad, tough brother, sister too. Always competing for every inch. Football is a game of inches ─ whatever I can get I’m going to get.”

Through these lessons in multiple sports, Long has found himself where he is today ─ with a list filled with responsibilities due to the freshman’s willingness to help the team in any way.

Long has been seen on the Sun Devil’s kick return, punt return, punt team, in the team’s Sparky formation as Edwards and his fellow coaches find any way to sneak the true freshman onto the field.

Although some may view playing any position other than their original a negative, the West Linn graduate has taken everything in stride as he looks to capitalize on every opportunity before him.

“It’s fun,” Long admitted. “It’s not a chore or a duty, it’s more like I get to do this. The coaches will let me do this. I take every opportunity I can and I run with it. Being able to take opportunities when I do get in and get to play and just have fun with it.”

**

December 19, 2019

Tempe, AZ ASU War Room

Recruiting coordinator Antonio Pierce emerges from the hallway with a packet in hands. He turns the corner as he enters the room shouting “Not one coach, not two, guess what? Three!”.

Pierce sets down a packet in front of head coach Herm Edwards who heads the table inside the team’s war room. Edwards is flanked by assistant coaches with offensive coordinator Rob Likens directly to his right and defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales to his left.

Inside the packet resides a picture of Long signifying his commitment to ASU. The image prompts a holler from Edwards “Ethan long, athletic quarterback, a former wrestler,” in which Likens responds, “That’s one of the things I loved about him, coach. He’s one of the toughest quarterbacks I’ve ever seen.”

The offensive coordinator continues by comparing Long to famed Florida quarterback Tim Tebow before exclaiming “His leadership skills are unbelievable.”

Just how unbelievable?

Long’s high school coach, Miller, ran into the quarterback originally at a football university camp during Long’s eighth-grade year in Colorado.

Miller saw the talent in the young quarterback at that point, but what stands out most to him know as he reminisced was his ability to not only be Captain America on the field but off of it as well.

“I know Coach Edwards calls him Captain America, but he really is that kid,” Miller said. “He’s the type of young man you want your daughter to marry. That’s the God’s honest truth. He’s a great young man, he’s got good moral character and he’s a good leader.”

Although Long is a natural leader, it was still a growing process to become a leader by way of words. While he fought to gain the respect of older players such as Tawa, Long led by actions and his work ethic.

Once he earned the starting job after the departure of Tawa, Long began to lead by both his actions and his words as transitioned into the starting role.

“I think when he was younger it was more leadership by example,” Miller said. “His work ethic and his time spent in the weight room. Junior year he kind of eased into that role and senior year he really became more of a vocal leader for us. He’s a guy that his teammates would follow, they looked up to him and they respected him very much.”

It’s no secret that Long is well beyond his years given his sense of maturity and leadership. These traits are rare in most collegiate athletes, much less true freshman who has been on campus for a little over half a year.

What makes Long’s case even more interesting, was that he spent grades 1-6 not in a traditional school, but in homeschool. After the first six grades at home, Long moved to a private Christian school.

While the perception of many would have been that Long would have been awkward in public given his home school status, the true freshman says he was quite the opposite. A trait he attributes to his parents and his time playing sports.

“A lot of people were like oh they’re probably socially awkward and like home school kids,” Long admitted. “My parents put us in sports when I think I was 3 or 4 when I started tee ball and my brother was a year older than me. Being around and interacting socially with different people, my parents always taught us to talk to older people and interact with them, not just kids ─ look people in the eyes.”

Long being the competitor he is, he took interacting and learning from those around him to another dimension. He viewed those around him as gateways to self-improvement used a path of kindness to unlock those paths.

“I took that to another level,” Long stated. “(I) tried to just learn as much as I can from my parents and watch how they interact with people. Just kind of took it upon myself to be mature and be someone either an adult can have a conversation with, a little kid or someone my age that either want to have a normal conversation or really needs something. I just try to be there for people, help people and be courteous.”

This ability to have conversations with adults and kids have been evident in Long’s tenure in Tempe as he has connected with his fellow freshmen while also connecting with the team’s upperclassmen.

Long is a team captain, but not in the traditional sense. Usually, team captains work their way through the ranks and after a couple of years become a team captain through experience and leadership.

After only spending a little over half the year on the team, Long was announced the first true freshman captain in team history. Given his platform, the freshman hopes to be an example for other players on the team, even if they do hold seniority over him.

“I’m not going to lie it’s probably hard for a lot of seniors,” Long admitted. “To look at me and be like this kid has been here for 6-7 months, how are we supposed to follow what he does or do what he says? I’m not asking that of them. What I do ask of them is just to watch my work ethic, see how I practice and see how I play. The person I try to be on the field and off the field and set an example for them. I’m not trying to meet anybody’s expectation ─ I’m just trying to meet my own if I can look myself in the mirror and know that I did my best. “

Long’s work ethic has long overshadowed even his own words. Dating back to his days at West Linn it wasn’t just his skill on the field, but rather a mindset that made him stand out to older players.

A mindset that wasn’t common for a sophomore in high school then and isn’t common for a true freshman now.

“His work ethic,” Tawa said of what stood out to him about long. “He was always working, always in the weight room. On the field, he always had a good attitude too. You could tell he just enjoyed being out there and playing every day. It was selfless too. It wasn’t about him ─ it was about playing whatever role the team needed.”

It’s no secret that Captain America is well-liked wherever he goes. Whether it’s at West Linn high school or in Tempe, the true freshman has made a name for himself.

This begs the question, what does Long want to be known for when it’s all said and done? His athletic ability? His work ethic on the field?

For Long, it boils down to something simple. Being known for being the team’s Captain America, but not on the field.

“I’ve never really thought about that, to be honest,” Long admitted. “I think just with the whole Captain America nickname, not so much as a player but as a person. Being a person that (people) can say yeah that was a guy I could go to on the team, that was a guy always smiling and happy, happy for anyone on the team. Whether someone was to take my spot, I hope that doesn’t happen because I’m a competitor but just be happy for anybody and their successes. To know that I always have their back.”

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