The street where the new anchor of the Miami line grew up is simple, nothing like the circus that is the NFL Draft in New York.
''Say it out loud,'' a reporter implored Saturday at Radio City Music Hall, shoving a mike into the face of the draft's first overall selection. ``Say $30 million guaranteed!''
Long obliged, reluctantly, and then grinned, talking truck.
''I always wanted a Ford,'' said Long, stuck in a sleek, cream-colored suit because that's what you wear to the NFL Draft. ``I figured it was time to get myself one.''
That's what you get with Miami's new building block: a guy who signed a five-year deal worth $57.75 million and bought himself a $25,000 truck. You get blue collar. Industrial. Loyal and strong. You also get a mesmerizing talent with potential the Dolphins haven't seen in an offensive lineman in years.
Miami has added an enormous leader in Long, people who know him say. Perhaps just as importantly, the Dolphins have filled a gaping hole at tackle, providing hope that a quarterback might finally get the protection he needs to succeed.
''Wait until you see how quick his feet move,'' says John Long, Jake's older brother. ``It's unreal. He's just so fast and fluid with everything he does. Just an amazing athlete.''
He still needs to prove he'll be an amazing professional football player, of course. But what's clear is that Long will be a huge factor in determining how soon the Dolphins can turn around a dismal sequence of seasons that hit bottom with last year's 1-15.
Miami expects Long to be anchoring the offensive line on Sept. 7, when the New York Jets open the season at Dolphin Stadium. If fellow day-one draft picks Chad Henne, the quarterback Long protected at the University of Michigan, and Clemson defensive end Phillip Merling turn into quick contributors as well, Miami's aggressive push toward respectability could happen sooner than expected.
It's Long who's expected to make an instant difference. If he's a simple personality, he is a rare kind of athlete, one who in high school wasn't just a star offensive lineman but also a home-run hitter and a sharp-shooting basketball center.
His high school football coach, Brad Gerlach, recalls a day when he was also coaching junior high track while Long was playing baseball on an adjacent field. That's the afternoon when Gerlach realized his star had more than one use for his power.
'Somebody said, `Look out!' '' Gerlach said. ``Jake had hit a baseball that just missed me. We're talking probably 450 feet. I think he was trying to get me. It was close. He just shattered that ball. It was pretty amazing.''
RECORD BREAKER
Long would eventually break the home run record at Lapeer East. He'd also finish his basketball career with the highest shooting percentage in his high school's history. Still, it was his football skills that made him special.
''His junior year, he just came on,'' brother John, 26, said. ``He would come up to them guys on the line, just towering over people, driving them into the dirt. Pancake after pancake. It was fun to watch.''
On the field? Yes, Long is intense. He's a brutal blocker with a relentless, vicious style. Off the field? Not even close. He's relaxed. Calm.
Last Monday, as negotiations between agent Tom Condon and the Dolphins to make him the first-overall pick began to get sticky, Long didn't seem to care at all. The lineman was more interested in his best friend's success on the first day of turkey hunting season.
''I shot a big one, so I called Jake and told him to come over to the house,'' said Jake Weingartz, who has been Long's friend since early childhood. 'He came back over and we were messing around with it, cutting it up. So his phone rang, and it was his agent. He said, `I just booked three plane tickets to Miami. The deal is done.' ''
Long barely flinched.
'Jake just says, `Well, I guess I've got to go home and tell my mom we're going to Miami in the morning.' ''
Later that night, to celebrate the occasion, Long and his parents headed back over to Weingartz's parents house, where they sat in a barn throwing back a few beers before the early-morning flight to South Florida.
That's his style, Weingartz says. Just a chill person with an affinity for little more than football. Perhaps that's why John Long says he doesn't believe the massive amount of money will change his little brother one bit.
''I can't even fathom that amount of money,'' said John Long. ``I can't even imagine it, to be honest with you. I don't think he does either. I can't imagine what it would be like to have that kind of money. I honestly think he cares more about the football.''
Clearly, the money isn't about to change his friends or family, either.
Long's brother, who is a shop teacher and an offensive line coach at a nearby high school, said he was baffled by the reaction of his students when they found out how much money Long would make.
''They keep asking when I'm getting a new car,'' John Long said. 'One kid says, 'it's a bummer you won't be able to coach us next year since you're going to retire.' I'm just laughing about it.
``I get to go watch him play football. That's my payment.''
Weingartz, who was recently hired as the head football coach at East Lapeer, was getting a similar amount of slack from his students.
''What's Jake buying you with that guaranteed money?'' a student said to him.
''Just a beverage, man,'' Weingartz replied. ``That'll be good enough.''
It's not hard to figure out where Long gets his simple-minded attitude and strong work ethic. It's also not hard to understand why his family and friends are similar in that sense. Quite simply, it's how he was raised.
Long is the son of a man who spent his life working in blue-collar jobs. John Sr. is preparing to retire from his job at the steel foundry, where he has spent the last decade. Before the foundry, he worked on an assembly line for GE.
''He worked his butt off,'' John Jr. said. ``We grew up as the family of a GM guy, and Mom just worked in a small deli in downtown Lapeer. We're just a blue-collar family. A simple, blue-collar family.''
At the modest house on Mulberry Lane, Long Sr. instilled strong values in his sons. Neighbors of the family say they'd often see the three sons methodically cutting the grass with their father's critique.
''Their father would always be making sure they mowed the lawn perfectly,'' said Lannie Combs, who lives two doors down. ``He'd always be watching, making sure they were working hard. I guess that's how you train your kids to turn out right.
``Those boys were always busy.''
WORK ETHIC
The blue-collar work ethic has clearly paid off. It put a new truck in that same driveway. It put a son in the NFL. And it provided an entire town with someone to follow for years to come.
This week, Long will travel back to Lapeer for a few more days. But then, he'll take that work ethic to Miami, where he'll participate in the team's first minicamp next weekend. Still, although Long will be leaving his town behind, it has been made quite clear by everyone who knows him that he won't soon forget where he comes from.
''Success and money hasn't changed him yet,'' his brother said. ``And I don't think it ever will.''
