Erik R. Bisho
Don’t be alarmed if you see a 6-foot-4, 265-pound man and other large men riding scooters around Eugene.
It’s probably Devan Long and some of the other football players cruising around in their “scooter gang.”
“I like hanging out here and cruising around with my buddies,” Long said.
Senior linebacker Jerry Matson said he’s been approached to join them.
“He has a scooter gang and he’s trying to recruit me, but I refuse,” Matson said. “If gas prices go up another dollar I might have to join.”
Even the quarterback is trying
to get in.
“I’m trying to get one myself the way gas prices are,” junior Kellen Clemens said. “I know mine won’t be as nice as Devan’s, especially moving his 260 pound-frame around.”
Long, who is seen as a jokester off the field, terrorized quarterbacks for 10.5 sacks during his sophomore campaign in 2003.
A trek up north
Originally born in Los Angeles, Devan, along with older brother Rien and mother Lori, moved to Anacortes, Wash. — a small town on Fidalgo Island in Puget Sound.
“My mom wanted a better life for me and my brother,” Long said. “My grandmother lived on a small island and thought it would be a great place to raise a family.”
Growing up, Long would compete with his older and bigger (6-foot-6, 300-pound) brother Rien, who is now a defensive tackle for the Tennessee Titans in the NFL.
Both the Long brothers were late into football. Both played basketball early on.
“I was 6-foot-4 in eighth grade and dunking, so I was all about basketball and so was my brother,” Long said. “I got kicked off and quit the team my sophomore year because I wouldn’t shave my goatee. I was really superstitious about it because I shaved it once and played bad, so I wouldn’t do it again.”
Devan also dabbled a little in cross country, but his lack of enthusiasm for the sport also got him kicked off.
“The coach would have us run somewhere and back and would wait for us when we came back,” Long said. “Me and my buddies would run just two blocks and go to 7-Eleven and get a Slurpee and wait for everybody to come back and finish third or fourth. After a week we got caught and he kicked us off the team.”
When older brother Rien started playing football his junior year in high school, Devan decided he wanted to play after watching Rien.
“I was a freshman and didn’t play football, but it’s always a big competition between us about who’s better at what so I decided to give a shot,” Devan Long said. “He did well his senior year and got the scholarship to Washington State so I had to get a scholarship.”
Rien’s performance still motivates Devan. While at Washington State, Rien was an All-American his junior year and won the 2002 Outland Trophy.
Coming to Oregon
After high school, Devan had a decision to make whether he was going to go to Washington State and play with his brother or come to Oregon. It wasn’t too tough for him to decide.
“The reason I came here was that I wanted to make a name for myself,” Long said. “I didn’t want to be known as Rien’s little brother. I want people to know me for me and realize that I have a brother.”
“It was also just a gut feeling to come here, plus I thought it was a good program, and I liked their jerseys a lot,” Long said. “It would have been fun to go play with my brother, but it was just as fun to play against him.”
Class clown
Since Long has been at Oregon, he has proven to be one of the funniest guys on the team.
“You got to love Devan Long,” cornerback Justin Phinisee said. “Devan Long is a lovable player, and when you go into the locker room, he’ll put a smile on your face. He’s crazy and dramatic at times, but when it comes down to crunch time you know he has your back.”
And that is what most teammates say about Long. He separates his off-the-field antics from his on-the-field persona.
“I like having fun and laughing, so I guess I am a goofball,” Long said. “But when it’s practice or a game, the joking stops.”
Clemens said he sees the difference.
“On the field he is a phenomenal athlete and a very intense player,” Clemens said. “Off the field he’s just a nut. There’s going to be a good time wherever Devan Long is.”
Matson, one of the team’s captains, said Long is probably his most enjoyable teammate.
“He brings intensity to the field and always brings fun and excitement with his hooping and hollering,” Matson said. “He’s like a 265-pound kindergartner with great pass rushing skills.”
Long attributes his success and his ability to having fun to his brother despite their competitive nature when they were younger.
“He gives me a lot of tips and technique things to work on and he’s my mentor away from here, because it’s good to hear things from people who are playing at the next level,” Long said. “We’re pretty close now that we’re older, but back in the day I took my fair share of lickings.”
Long, unlike his brother, does plan to stay for his senior year, but after that he doesn’t know what he will do.
“The NFL is a toss-up because I could get injured, and it’s such a toss up about what they want in a player,” Long said. “I want to finish my degree, and after that I really don’t have any plans. I just live day to day like everybody else.”
