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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former Slippery Rock University quarterback Brayden Long was presented with the 2026 NCAA Impact Award Wednesday evening at the NCAA Honors celebration at the organization's annual convention in National Harbor, Maryland.
 
The NCAA Impact Award celebrates the best of college athletics by honoring one exceptional male and one exceptional female senior student-athlete from each division. The honorees exemplify the highest standards of athletic excellence, academic achievement and service to their campuses and communities.
 
Long was joined in winning the Impact Award by Division I honorees Mia Levy (Yale rowing) and Micaylon Moore (Nebraska men's track & field), Division II female honoree Aino Martikainen (Franklin Pierce women's soccer) and Division III honorees Ella Brissett (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis) and Matthew Wrather (John Carroll football).
 
ESPN personality and reporter Holly Rowe served as the emcee for the event.
 
"When you sit in that room and hear Holly sharing the stories of these incredible young men and women, you understand the caliber of person you have to be to earn one of these honors," said Roberta Page, SRU director of athletics. "We could not be prouder of the way Brayden represented SRU while he was here and how he continues to be an ambassador for our university since his graduation. The message he shared last night that SRU was the best fit for him to achieve a balance of athletic and academic excellence is exactly what we are striving for at The Rock."
 
The Impact Award was one of handful of major honors handed out by the NCAA Wednesday. Long shared the stage with some of the most elite student-athletes in the country and some legendary figures in college sports history. Awards presented Wednesday included the Theodore Roosevelt Award (Dikembe Mutombo, Georgetown), the NCAA Woman of the Year Award (Samantha Schott, University of Texas at Tyler), the Silver Anniversary Awards (Drew Brees, Purdue; Tamika Catchings, Tennessee; Dr. Lauren Witmer, Millersville; Nick Ackerman, Simpson), the Gerald R. Ford Award (Charlene Curtis, Radford), the Pat Summitt Award (Nikki Franke, Temple), the Inspiration Award (Frankie Loiseau, Marymount) and the Award of Valor (Alex Guerra, Radford).
 
The Impact Award is the latest on a decorated list of honors that has seen Long become one of the most celebrated student-athletes from any sport in Slippery Rock history. Since finishing his playing career at The Rock in the fall of 2024, Long has been named the 2024-25 NCAA Division II Overall Academic All-American of the Year by the College Sports Communicators and the 2024-25 Division II Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association. He also repeated as both the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and the Atlantic Region Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2024-25 after winning both of those honors in 2023-24 as well.
 
Long, who was a two-time Academic All-American and the 2024 Division II Football Academic All-America Team Member of the Year, recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA in the classroom while majoring in sport management with a minor in leadership.
 
In addition to his performance in the classroom and on the field, Long was involved with numerous community service, volunteer and leadership positions at SRU, including serving as team captain for two seasons. He was an officer with the SRU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was a founding member of TEAM Rock, a student-athlete led campus ministry. Long also served as an admissions tour guide on campus, routinely giving prospective students and their families campus tours throughout the year, even during the football season. He volunteered annually on Dr. Seuss Day by going to local elementary schools to read to children as part of the Read Across America program.
 
Long also volunteered with the Pennsylvania Special Olympics, the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, Hanover Youth Sports, the Slippery Rock Community Library, Slippery Rock Parks and Recreation, Slippery Rock High School Athletics, Westminster College Athletics and the Butler County 3v3 Basketball Tournament during his tenure at The Rock.
 
On the field last fall, Long quarterbacked The Rock football team to the national semifinals and a No. 3 final ranking after throwing for 3,470 yards to rank third among all players in Division II. He also ranked ninth in the nation in passing touchdowns with 28 and was 10th in the nation in points responsible for with 208 after rushing for six touchdowns to account for 34 total TD. He completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 3,470 yards with just eight interceptions on 450 attempts and became the only QB in SRU history to top 3,000 yards in two separate seasons.
 
He left the program ranked No. 1 all-time in completions (631) and completion percentage (67%) and No. 2 all-time in passing yards (7,527) and passing TD (64), despite starting only two seasons. He went 24-5 overall and 5-2 in NCAA postseason games as the starting quarterback and led SRU to at least the national quarterfinals in both years as the starter. Long was named to All-PSAC, All-Region and All-America honors for the second straight year and was one of the eight national finalists for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the Division II Player of the Year for the second straight year. He finished in the top six in the national voting for the Harlon Hill Trophy in both 2023 and 2024 and was named the SRU Male Athlete of the Year in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.
 
Long has turned his playing experience and education into a full-time assistant coaching position at Shippensburg University, where he coaches quarterbacks and wide receivers.
 
The awards ceremony Wednesday night was the third major awards presentation Long has attended in the last year. He was recognized in Las Vegas last December as the only NCAA Division II football player to be named as a member of the 2024 National Scholar-Athlete Class by the National Football Foundation and as the only Division II player to be a national finalist for the 2024 William V. Campbell Trophy, known as the Academic Heisman. Long was also recognized as the Division II Academic All-America Team Member of the Year on stage at the Maxwell Awards Gala at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta last April.
 
 



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