Long reports on WVU visit

Cincinnati (Ohio) Winton Woods linebacker David Long received an offer from West Virginia earlier this month, and responded with a visit to Morgantown on Saturday for the Mountaineer's junior day.

"This was my first time meeting the coaches and they were real cool," Long said. "They talked to us about strength and conditioning and not getting concussions, and I liked that. The facilities were nice from the locker room and the new weight room they had."

The 5-foot-11, 209-pound Long is ranked as the No. 18 inside linebacker prospect in the nation, but West Virginia matched him up with safeties coach Joe DeForest because they project him in the defensive backfield.

"They are recruiting me as a safety," Long said. "The kind of safety I would be playing, I would be blitzing a lot and they said according to my film they liked how I did that. If I were to go there, depending on how big I got would determine what position I would play."

Long was accompanied by his mother and a teammate on his trip to West Virginia. His mother also enjoyed the experience.

"She was saying she liked coach Shannon (Dawson) because they had a couple conversations about the school," Long said.

Although it is still early in the process for Long, the three-star prospect is high on West Virginia coming out of this weekend's visit.

"I haven't taken all my visits yet, but I like Kentucky and West Virginia," he said. "I am going to take more and see how I like those visits."

Long was scheduled to visit Notre Dame this coming weekend, but a dental procedure will prevent him from making that trip. His next visit, then, will be to see an SEC school.

"I am going to Auburn on the 9th (of March) with George Brown," Long said. "They came up here last month and they said they liked my film. He said he wanted me to get down there and see the campus."

Nine schools have offered Long, with his most recent coming from Western Michigan last week. He expects to visit the Broncos on March 22.

Josh Helmholdt is the Midwest Region football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.