consecutive undefeated Metro League championship season, which was the first repeat league champion since 1996 and Lapeer East's first repeat championship since 1982. Long was again first-team All-Metro League, and he was selected as an honorable mention 2003 Associated Press Class A All-State basketball player. Long was again a second-team All-Metro League selection as a first baseman. Following his senior season, Long was selected to play in the 23rd annual Michigan High School All-Star Football Game on July 26 at Michigan State University. College career Long accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Michigan, where he played for head coach Lloyd Carr's Michigan Wolverines football team from 2003 to 2007. As a freshman, Long was on the 2003 Michigan Wolverines football team roster, but Tony Pape and Adam Stenavich were the starting offensive tackles. He was redshirted for the year as he bulked up to . Long traveled with the team to the 2004 Rose Bowl, but did not play in the game. On June 16, 2004, following his freshman year, he was hospitalized in an intensive-care unit for smoke inhalation injuries when a house rented by nine Michigan Wolverine players caught fire. Long, sleeping in his bedroom on the second floor of the house, awoke to the sound of fire alarms. He attempted to exit his room through the door, but was forced back by smoke. Long then knocked out the screen of a window and jumped out of the building. Covered in soot, Long had escaped the fire, landing two stories below on a roommate's parked car. Later at the hospital, Long underwent procedures that required tubes be put down his throat to suction black phlegm from his lungs. The tubes also performed Long's breathing while he lay unconscious for the first few days. He was released from the University of Michigan Medical Center and was able to spend Father's Day (June 20) back in Lapeer. As a sophomore member of the 2004 Michigan Wolverines football team, Long competed with senior Dave Schoonover and juniors Mike Kolodzieg, Rueben Riley, and Mike Barishaj for the starting position vacated by the graduated Pape. Long impressed the coaches by playing through a turf toe injury. The battle came down to him and Kolodzieg. Long made his Michigan debut on September 4, 2004, in a 43–10 victory over Miami University. He made the travel squad, but he did not play