’27 prospect has morphed from life threatening injury to one of Kentucky’s finest athletes
This is a prospect who can do the unthinkable athletically and the evidence of this exists on the internet in volumes. From climbing a peg wall or rope with ease, to doing weighted dips, to doing weighted pull-ups, to performing weighted box jumps, his explosion, his athleticism, his twitch, and his speed is off the charts for where it should be in a prospect his age. That is not to mention his extraordinary strength and power. This kid plays early at Trigg County.
HB Lyon, Scouting Division, KPGFootball
I have no idea how many of you even recall the decade of the 70’s. One of my favorite shows starred a guy from Middlesboro, Kentucky who was quite a player for the Yellow Jackets in his day.
His real name was Harvey Lee Yeary and he was a UT fan growing up and particularly a fan of UT’s star, single-wing tailback, Johnny “The Drum” Majors. When it became time to pick a stage name for his acting career, Yeary would pick “Lee Majors.”
Lee Majors starred as an astronaut, named Steve Austin, who would live through a terrible crash of his space rocket. Matter of fact, as he lay on the operating table, the show would describe him as a “man barely alive.”
Then, a plan was hatched to rebuild him using robotic parts. He would be called “bionic” which was an amalgamation of a person who is half biological and half electronic. Oscar Goldman, the character to whom Colonel Austin would answer in the government, would famously quip about the astronaut, “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better… stronger… faster.”
Cue the music.
[W]e can rebuild him. We have the technology.
Oscar Goldman, “The Bionic Man,” 1974-78
Well, Jack Long was hit by a “Little Debbie’s” snack truck. He lay on the operating table at UK Children’s with his life very much in jeopardy.
The doctor’s there put some hardware in his body. It remains today.
He wasn’t rendered better…stronger…faster by virtue of the hardware. Jack Long’s very hard work has made him all of those things.
With the season around the corner, and going into Trigg’s opener with Murray High, Jack Long is a viable candidate to play quite a bit in the season opener in spite of his being only a freshman. He has built himself back better…stronger…faster. Jack Long is Trigg County’s own “bionic man.”
Jack Whaley performs, with ease, feats of athleticism I can’t pull off
William Long, No. 34, Centre College Colonels
“Jack Whaley performs, with ease, feats of athleticism I can’t pull off,” says his brother, William Long, now playing at Centre College and entering his Junior year and formerly a three (3)-time Associated Press, Kentucky All-State, first-team, football player. “I am an accomplished athlete and I can’t do some of the things Jack does, were I to try the same things right now.”
It is amazing to see how far Long has come from the injury to now. It wasn’t too long ago he had trouble ambulating.
Now, the 15-year old, 9th-grader is clipping off 4.8-second, 40’s. For those who would doubt that time, Long has the vertical explosion to corroborate his reported running times.
The season is upon us. Trigg County’s “Bionic Man” appears to us to be ready to go. Matter of fact, he’s better than he was before, stronger, faster, and rising above his classmates with or without the hardware.
This is Fletcher W. Long, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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