It’s difficult for Cam Long to say where he’s from. But it’s clear he’s finding a home with the Patriots.
The George Mason freshman guard grew up an hour southeast of Orlando in Palm Bay, Fla., before spending his final three years of high school at Freedom in Woodbridge.
“When somebody asks me, sometimes I switch it up,” said Long. “I’ll say Virginia, but sometimes I’ll say Florida. I use both answers.”
“I think he’s from both places,” said Patriots coach Jim Larranaga, who can happily hedge his comments with two Florida natives in his 2008 recruiting class. “He grew up in Florida, but he played his high school ball in Virginia, and so he has a lot of great memories from both locations.”
Long is starting to stock the Patriot scrapbook, playing a season-high 26 minutes with 13 points and five assists in a last weekend’s one-point win over South Carolina in the third place game at Old Spice Classic. The performance capped his steady improvement from one minute and one turnover in George Mason’s season opener three weeks ago.
“I always felt comfortable with the offense,” said Long. “It was just my mindset of just not messing up and getting taken out. That was the only thing that got in my head too much.”
Virginia was the last place Long ever expected to call home, but after getting in trouble at school in Florida, he went north and moved in with his brother in December 2004. At Freedom, he was nothing but a standout, according to Eagles head coach Ahmad Dorsett, leading his high school to last year’s Group AAA state semifinals.
“He’s a phenomenal kid,” said Dorsett. “He’s one of those kids you don’t have to worry about. He was our general on and off the floor.”
Long, who credits Dorsett for helping him get noticed and recruited, often wonders what would have been had he never left Florida, but he wouldn’t change a thing.
“That was like my e-ticket,” said Long. “That was the best thing ever to happen to me, to move up to Virginia.”
