Long headed to Pac-12

David Long always held Stanford in high regard.

The Los Angeles Loyola four-star cornerback waded through the recruiting process, considered a bunch of options around the country, thought about some major out-of-state visits but in the end Stanford always looked the best to him.

So Thursday's commitment to the Cardinal was not a big surprise, and it was another huge pickup for the Pac-12 power that continues rolling early in the recruiting process.

In the end, Long said it was really a difficult decision between Stanford and Washington. USC tried to come in late but had no luck.

"I'm really happy to get it out of the way and now I can really focus on high school and my last year of football," Long said. "I know where I want to go and I know where my heart is.

"Stanford was almost a no-brainer. I struggled the last few months between them and Washington. I almost committed up there. I visited up there and I really loved it. They have a great staff, great people. It came back to why I came to Loyola. When I got the opportunity to play at Stanford I could not pass it up."

Stanford, Washington, Notre Dame, Michigan and UCLA made the final five for Long, rated as the eighth-best cornerback and the No. 133 prospect in the 2016 class by Rivals.com.

The four-star had tried to schedule trips to Michigan and Notre Dame in the weeks leading up to his decision -- he considered even pushing it back a while until he could see those schools =- but that did not happen.

Long wanted this wrapped up before his senior season and that's what went down this week, deciding to end things, not look back and be completely happy with his decision. A summer visit to Stanford where he sat down and spent a lot of time with position coach Duane Akina was big in his decision-making process. The academics, of course, played a huge role.

And the Los Angeles Loyola standout could not be any more pleased with Stanford's recruiting class, which is loading up nicely and sits with eight four-star prospects at the moment.

"I'm very happy with the class," Long said.

"I'm really good friends with all the guys. K.J., Kaden, Simi, the guys out-of-state. I'm a good addition to that class. We're going to keep recruiting. I'm not really heavy with recruiting, but if a guy has trouble deciding or wants to talk to me about it, I'm going to try to get him to Stanford."