Long "very impressed with Georgia"

ATHENS – The travel itinerary for Austin Long won’t slow down in the near future.

Austin Long profile

As one of the top offensive tackles in the South, it’s no wonder so many schools are paying so much attention to Long. He’s got offers from a who’s who of colleges: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee have all offered the Memphis native.

This weekend, one of many weekends spent in a car on the way to a prospective college, Long went to Georgia to take in the Dawgs’ spring practice.

“I was very impressed with Georgia,” Long said. “We got to go and see the practice facility and locker room – pretty much everything about football we didn’t get to see the last time.”

Long had visited Athens weeks ago, but that served as primarily an introduction to the school – more about academics and the University than the gridiron. This time Long saw much more of what Georgia had to offer athletically.

“I definitely think this trip helped Georgia because I know that I liked it a lot,” he said.

Long got tons of attention at Georgia. He said he’s been getting that same sort of attention at other schools, but he admitted he liked talking with Georgia’s top coaches.

“I met with Coach Richt in his office and got to talk with Coach Searels for a while. Coach Searels introduced me to his family, and we spent a lot of time together. We went to the stadium and looked around there, too.”

“We talked with Coach Richt for about 20 minutes,” Long said. “It was cool being in his office. He said that they were kind of hurting for tackles right now, and that they really want me at Georgia. He talked with my parents for a while about different things.”

Georgia seemed to cement its position at or near the top of Long’s impressive list of schools. But the Bulldogs will have to watch and wait as Long takes several trips in the coming weeks across the South to other prospective schools.

“We are going this coming weekend to North Carolina to see their spring practice,” Long said. “Then we are going to Florida and Florida State to see practice, and then we are going to Alabama for their A-Day Game.”