INDIANAPOLIS -- Being the son of a star is never easy. Expectations can be haunting. Promising careers have been derailed, the pressure sometimes suffocating.
|
|
| At Virginia, Chris Long had 14 sacks and 19 tackles for loss in 2007. (US Presswire) |
The son of former NFL great Howie Long, who has a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a jutting jaw that millions recognize each week on television, Chris Long gives off the impression that none of the pressures of following big footsteps will stop him. He is at ease with who he is, Howie's football-playing son.
Rarely will you see the son outperform the great father on the same field or court, but that is indeed possible in this situation.
That's how good the son is as a player.
The younger Long has the same facial features as his father, the jutting jaw clearly showing he has the same DNA, but according to the scouts here at the combine, he has something else more important that his father passed down.
Tenacity.
It's that fierce style that has many now speculating that Long could be the first player drafted in April by the Miami Dolphins. In a deep defensive end class, he is the top of them all.
"The thing that really stands out is how hard he plays all the time," an AFC scout said. "He never stops."
That's the book on Long: He will be an all-day battle for any player he faces.
"I don't think of myself as doing anything extraordinary with my effort," Long said. "I think that's just the way football is supposed to be played, at a high speed. I'm not a guy who does things half-speed well. So it's been pretty natural for me to go that fast."
The father played the same way. Don't we mimic our fathers? So to expect a son of Howie Long to play anything but all-out all the time would be foolish.
"My dad taught me to work hard and to be the same guy every day," Chris Long said. "If that's going 100 miles per hour and working hard, then that's what I'll do."
