[LeeCoUKFan]

Long picks Kentucky over Louisville, Illinois, others

Justin Rowland
Special to CatsIllustrated.com

Darryl Long was at a camp on Saturday so he wasn't immediately available to discuss his commitment to Kentucky. Cats Illustrated caught up with him shortly after he left that event.

He announced his decision during the camp but it wasn't a spur of the moment decision.

"I've known I would commit to Kentucky for about a week, two weeks now," he said. "I had them as my number one for a while. Then a few schools came in and made me really start thinking about it. But I realized I really do want to go to UK."

Long first told Cats Illustrated of his plans to announce on Saturday, but as the weekend drew closer he seemed to have second thoughts. In fact, he announced that he would be postponing his decision before taking to Twitter to clear things up. There he announced that Saturday would be decision day after all.

What was behind the hesitation?

"I knew I was going to UK," he said. "The reason for it was academics. I have exams coming up and I was thinking I wanted to get all that pressure off so I can focus on them. But this week I became so sure I was ready."

So why did Long choose UK?

"I like how family-oriented they are up there. Also being able to be coached by coach (Vince) Marrow and coach (Mark) Stoops, and that offense fits me well. I also really like their high performance training thing they've got. That will help me to be where I want to be. Those were the main reasons.

"Having guys like Mikel Horton, Thaddeus Snodgrass and Dorian Hendrix helps a lot too."

Many Ohio recruits have raved about Marrow, who is now responsible for all five of UK's commitments.

"I just like how he makes you feel like you're a part of his family. What sold me was how he was a scout and had a track record of putting guys in the NFL. He played there as well," Long said.

At the camp on Saturday Long checked in at 6-foot-5 and 230-pounds. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds, but he's not satisfied.

"I'm mainly working on my speed. I want to work on that. I'm trying to get it down to a 4.4," he said. "I want to be as fast as I can be for SEC football."

Long's other finalists were North Carolina, Louisville, Purdue and Pittsburgh in no particular order.

He actually played defensive end for most of his life before starting up at tight end as a junior. Long said another main area of focus, other than speed, is working on his hands.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1500222